Outsourcing customer service can be a strategic move to enhance customer satisfaction and gain access to scalable, specialized expertise, all while reducing operating costs. If you're considering leveraging an outsourced team to handle your customer support issues, this comprehensive guide will cover the pros and cons of outsourcing customer service and how to find an outsourced customer support partner that matches your needs.
Outsourcing customer service involves partnering with third-party providers to manage customer support inquiries—including phone calls, social media, support tickets and live chat solutions—on behalf of your business. Companies across all industries choose to outsource their customer service to maintain high service quality while lowering costs.
For instance, an eCommerce retailer might partner with an offshore call center to reduce annual costs and gain additional scale to handle higher inquiry volume during the holiday season. In the healthcare industry, providers often outsource after-hours support so patients can always reach an agent for non-emergency assistance. On the other hand, a SaaS company might rely on an outsourced team to offer 24/7 technical support across multiple time zones.
Meeting customer needs with an in-house customer support team is a feasible solution for some companies, but it’s not always the best option for every business.
With an in-house team, your business has full control over who handles customer interactions and messaging to maintain consistency with your brand voice. However, this also means your business is fully responsible for sourcing, training, and managing that team and setting up the technical infrastructure for customer service operations.
Partnering with an outsourced customer service provider offers the advantage of rapid implementation and scalability. A trusted outsourcing provider can align messaging with your brand voice and offer the same level of product knowledge, all while reducing costs and operational complexity. By selecting a provider with a proven track record of excellence and expertise tailored to your business's unique needs, you can enhance your customer experience in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
So, what impact can outsourced customer service have on your business? Here are the key capabilities an outsourcing partner can provide:
Depending on your business and specific needs, an outsourced customer service team can help you set appointments with your customer base and manage them as they happen. Customer support agents can also contribute to revenue growth by identifying opportunities to recommend complementary products or services to enhance both customer retention and satisfaction.
Not sure which services align with your business needs? TDS Global Solutions can help identify the ideal services—or combination of services—for your needs.
Let’s explore the key benefits and strategic advantages finding the right solution offers:
Companies can reduce operational expenses by 30-60% when outsourcing their customer service team. You’ll save money directly on:
Indirectly, business process outsourcing is also a more cost-effective solution because you don’t need to set up the infrastructure, inclusive of facility, local IT, and front-line management team costs.
At TDS Global Solutions, we’ll connect you with a leading service provider, allowing you to access skilled agents and high-quality solutions—without the expense of a costly in-house setup.
Timely responses are essential to customer loyalty and retention. In fact, 82% of service professionals report that customers expect immediate resolutions, with an average maximum wait time of just three hours on ticket resolution. However, maintaining a full in-house team around the clock can be cost-prohibitive and operationally complex.
Outsourcing to providers in different time zones enables round-the-clock support, ensuring your customers receive prompt, efficient assistance whenever needed. By leveraging a distributed team, you can create a follow-the-sun model, where agents in different regions take over as their local workday begins. This approach guarantees 24/7 coverage, prevents agent fatigue, and improves overall service quality. In most cases, strong outsourcing companies deliver 24/7 services regardless of where they’re located.
A study by Microsoft revealed that 97 percent of customers say customer service is a key factor in their decision to continue doing business with a company. Yet many businesses struggle to meet these expectations, especially when scaling operations or handling high inquiry volumes. In many cases, onshore teams are no longer the best solution for delivering high-quality CX.
Rather than stretching your in-house team thin or relying solely on automated responses, outsourcing provides access to dedicated, professionally trained agents. These agents are equipped with industry-specific knowledge, customer engagement techniques, and problem-solving frameworks designed to improve satisfaction. By implementing structured quality assurance programs, outsourcing providers create a consistent experience that aligns with your brand’s service standards.
Outsourcing customer service allows businesses to dedicate more time and resources to core operations like product development, marketing, and growth. By handing off the management of customer inquiries to a specialized provider, teams can focus on in-house initiatives and pursue strategic goals.
This shift enables companies to prioritize what matters most—launching new products, refining marketing strategies, or scaling their operations—while ensuring customers continue receiving high-quality support.
For businesses that require flexible staffing, outsourcing is an ideal solution. During seasonal peaks or surges in demand, providers can quickly scale operations to meet increased call volumes. And when demand decreases, scaling down is equally seamless, allowing your business to maintain cost efficiency without compromising on service quality.
While outsourcing customer service can be a game-changer for many businesses, partnering with the wrong provider can lead to challenges that undermine its benefits. Working with TDS Global Solutions to find a trusted outsourcing partner allows you to avoid common pitfalls, such as communication barriers, data security risks, or inconsistent quality.
Below, we explore potential issues businesses might face when outsourcing and how the right provider can mitigate them for a seamless customer support experience.
Outsourced agents are not part of your internal team, which may result in reduced oversight and influence over how customer interactions are handled.
Solution: Work closely with your provider to share product knowledge, brand guidelines, and other resources that enable agents to maintain consistency and leave a good impression of your brand. A high quality outsourcing partner will ALWAYS welcome full participation of and integration with your team, to create a customer service department that feels like it is a natural part of your business operations.
Offshore outsourcing can sometimes result in language or cultural differences, potentially leading to misunderstandings or diminished trust in your brand. Additionally, agents may lack familiarity with industry-specific terminology, making communication less efficient.
Solution: Work with a partner who can help you vet and choose a service provider that aligns with your company culture, and meets your language fluency and industry knowledge requirements. For example, TDS Global Solutions connects healthcare businesses with specialized providers whose agents are already trained in medical terminology and HIPAA guidelines.
Additionally, we can assess agent language proficiency using the TDSGS Versant English Score requirements to ensure that outsourced teams meet the necessary communication standards for your industry.
When working with an outsourcing partner, your customer data's safety becomes dependent on that third party's security practices. Since they’re handling sensitive customer data, the risk of a data breach could be higher than with your in-house team.
Solution: Before partnering, review security certifications, discuss data protection protocols, and ensure their practices align with your compliance standards.
Maintaining high-quality customer interactions can be challenging with an outsourced team. Monitoring your call center and evaluating performance may feel less direct compared to in-house operations.
Solution: Select a partner with robust training for call center agents and best-practice, transparent quality and performance tracking. Discuss KPIs, training methodologies, and reporting processes.
Our outsourcing partners achieve average client CSAT scores of over 90%, providing high-quality customer support experiences for your customers.
While onshore options are available, partnering with a nearshore outsourcing or offshore call center offers the unique advantage of accessing highly skilled professionals at a significantly reduced cost.
We've built relationships with and personally vetted over 1,000 call center agencies worldwide, connecting businesses with the industry’s leading outsourcing destinations. Below are some of the top regions that specialize in customer support services, presented in no particular order.
Known for being one of the world’s leading locations for business process outsourcing, the Philippines offers highly qualified, English-speaking agents who are familiar with Western culture. There are around 1.7 million Filipino workers employed by contact centers, and even though these agents are some of the highest-paid workers in the country, the cost for your business is still 60-70% lower than outsourcing within the US.
South Africa is seeing rapid expansion of outsourcing services and is quickly becoming a premier outsourcing destination for businesses needing high-quality English support, as well as multilingual support for German, French, Dutch and other European languages. With a strong education system and a skilled workforce, it offers a sophisticated service environment well-suited for companies servicing European and U.S. markets.
Colombia’s outsourcing industry is driven by its strong alignment with North American business culture and time zone compatibility with the U.S. This allows US customers to access seamless, real-time support—an advantage for companies prioritizing responsiveness. Combined with a stable infrastructure and a cost-effective workforce, Colombia continues to attract businesses seeking high-quality service at a competitive rate.
Belize is a rapidly emerging location for high-quality English and Spanish bilingual support. Belize is the only Latin American country where English is the primary language, so accents are minimal and support costs are some of the lowest in all of Central and South America. The BPO industry accounts for over 20% of the GDP and significant infrastructure investment has been made to ensure secure, resilient services.
Egypt has positioned itself as a go-to location for multilingual customer service, particularly for companies serving Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its workforce is known for strong language skills, its strategic location allows for broad time zone coverage, and outsourcing costs are extremely competitive. With ongoing investment in telecommunications and government-backed initiatives to support outsourcing, Egypt provides a reliable and scalable solution for global customer support needs inclusive of English, Arabic, French, Spanish, German and Italian support.
India has always been a leader when it comes to business process outsourcing. As an English-speaking country with the right infrastructure in place, India continues to see growth in the BPO industry. However, we’ve placed an asterisk here as many companies shy away from India for voice interactions due to the English accent. We highly recommend India for non-voice interactions like chat and email, or back office functions. The main advantage of outsourcing to India is still the cost—companies can save 60% or more by outsourcing call center services to India.
With promises of lower costs and an enhanced customer experience, you may already be convinced that outsourcing is the right choice for your business.
The next step is finding a reliable outsourcing partner. Here’s how you identify the right partner:
Before reaching out to potential outsourcing partners, it's crucial to assess your current customer service operations and set clear goals. Consider these questions:
Once you have a clear picture, you can set realistic goals for your outsourcing partnership. Define what a successful partnership will look like and which services you require.
How TDS Global Solutions can help: Our team will guide you in identifying outsourcing objectives and connect you with the right partner to meet them. Just contact us to get started.
Now that you’ve established your goals, it’s time to search for suitable outsourcing partners. Start by:
How TDS Global Solutions can help: With over 30 years of experience in the call center outsourcing industry, we’ve developed a proprietary database of heavily vetted call center providers, covering all locations around the world. We use this network to help businesses like yours connect with aligned outsourcing providers that have proven success in your industry.
Once you’ve identified a few potential partners, evaluate their experience and capabilities to meet your specific needs. Before making a final selection, confirm that they offer the exact services your business requires.
Here are some key questions to ask when outsourcing a call center:
How TDS Global Solutions can help: As part of our work with outsourcing providers, we also assess service teams, reviewing their training, communication, and alignment with the client’s brand standards. That way, you can rest assured that the agents working with your customers are high quality.
After reviewing potential outsourcing teams and selecting your final partner, finalize the support services to fit your business needs. All of these service offerings would have been confirmed during the evaluation process, so this step should be about fine-tuning the implementation rather than discovering limitations.
Your customized support solutions might include:
Work with your chosen provider to determine the right combination of services, taking into account query volume, resolution time, and technology integration.
How TDS Global Solutions can help: By working within our network of high-quality outsourcing partners and advanced technology solutions, we help you navigate this process and find tailored solutions to optimize your business operations.
Once you and your partner agree on terms, it’s time to finalize the contract. Key considerations for negotiating SLAs and contracts include:
How TDS Global Solutions can help: Our services include facilitating coordination and contract negotiations to set clear terms and measurable outcomes with your outsourcing partner.
You have performance goals and expectations outlined in your contracts, and your call center provider is most likely monitoring the quality of their agents' service. But it’s up to you to make sure that the service continues to meet your requirements.
Review key performance indicators (KPIs), customer feedback, and conduct regular check-ins with your team. Whenever possible, conduct regular site visits to see your call center in action.
How TDS Global Solutions can help: We support ongoing performance tracking, helping you stay on top of KPIs and conducting audits to keep your outsourcing strategy effective.
A strong onboarding process sets the foundation for success, ensuring a smooth transition while maintaining high-quality service. The best practices below will help you optimize this process:
Set measurable performance goals to maintain the best customer service possible. Here are some metrics you can establish with your outsourcing partner:
Regular performance reviews with these and other metrics will help you align your offshore customer service team with your in-house standards.
While your outsourcing partner will focus on skills-based training for their agents, it is crucial that you participate in training, specifically when it comes to your brand, your product, your specific processes and systems, and the voice you want to portray. Here are some of the custom training resources you can provide for a better result:
Best practice training approaches include initial Train-the-Trainer sessions, whereby your experts train the training and supervisory staff of your outsourcing partner. In most cases, it is recommended that your team lead training of the first class of agents, supported by the outsourcer trainer(s). Future classes can then be led by the outsourcer training, perhaps initially with your remote support until you are fully comfortable with training success.
Regular communication between your in-house team and offshore agents is essential for improving customer experience. Continuous two-way communication isn’t just a way to monitor the performance of your offshore agents—it’s also a way for you to hear feedback about what your customers are saying on these calls.
If time zones are an issue, use asynchronous collaboration tools like Slack, Skype, or Teams to connect your in-house team to your outsourced customer service agents, and facilitate regular check-ins and performance updates.
The most efficient way to integrate a new outsourcing partner is by granting them access to your existing tech stack. At a minimum, this includes your CRM for customer data, including your helpdesk and ticketing systems, and in many cases will include your CCaaS or call delivery systems .
Additionally, check that your agents have access to your product knowledge base and are up-to-date with any relevant materials about your product or service.
Your needs today will not be the same as next year (or even in six months). As you go through onboarding and further into any partnership, look for ways to set up flexible systems that can scale with your business over time. Talk to your outsourcing partner about potential seasonal spikes. Build a plan for how things may expand in the coming months or years. Use customer feedback and quality assurance reports to refine your processes over time. The best outsourcing partners should bring you regular suggestions for how to improve processes and technologies, as aligned to improving customer satisfaction and reducing cost.
Taking a flexible approach will help you build stronger outsourcing relationships that can adapt over time to continuously meet your customer’s expectations.
Customers demand high-quality support interactions, and outsourcing customer support services provides the assistance they need while you focus on growing your business.
For over 30 years, we have matched businesses with outsourcing partners that align with their specific industry, business, and customer needs. Our deep understanding of this landscape can give you a headstart on the path to a successful outsourcing strategy, and peace of mind that you are gaining a proven partner.
Ready to begin? Contact us to see how we can help you outsource your customer service.
Our custom-built solutions are specially designed to meet your business objectives, connecting you with the right provider for your needs. Connect with us today, and find out how we can drive your business to new heights.
