Which is Best for Your Business? Outsourced vs. In-House CX

It’s important to consider both the pros and cons of outsourced and in-house CX teams before deciding which approach is best for your business. 

When it comes to customer experience, you need a dedicated CX team that matches the high caliber of your organization. Your customers love your top-tier products and services — they must also love the customer support you provide. 

With outsourced CX, you get a third-party team whose sole job is to answer your customers’ important questions and make sure they feel heard — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Many leaders are turning to outsourced CX to fill a gap in customer support that they alone can’t fill. In fact, outsourced CX ranks alongside accounting, IT, and marketing as one of the most commonly outsourced services in today’s business world. 

But while the advantages of outsourcing are clear from a business point of view, many leaders are hesitant to jump on board. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of outsourced vs. in-house CX to help you decide which approach is right for you. 

Why Outsourced CX Could be Best for Your Business

Outsourcing CX offers a wide range of benefits for your business, from cost savings to improved customer satisfaction. But while there are many pros to partnering with an outsourced CX team, there are some cons.

Before you invest in a new CX strategy, it’s important to understand the topic from every angle.  

The Advantages of Outsourced CX:

• Cost savings. Outsourcing CX is a great way to save money with faster customer service from more knowledgeable CX experts. A third-party team also means you’ll experience less dead time when your CX services aren’t in use. 

• Scalability. When your business shrinks or grows, CX outsourcing offers a flexible solution. Without the scalability of off-site CX, you can quickly find yourself short-staffed or overstaffed in the CX department. 

• Omnichannel support. Omnichannel support means your customers can reach your CX team in a variety of ways — from phone calls, to emails, text messages, and more. 

• Greater customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is arguably the most important metric of any CX service. CX outsourcing services provide dedicated agents who are focused exclusively on addressing customer questions night and day.

• Better business outcomes. A qualified and capable outsourced CX provider will ensure a level of service in line with your own business’ goals and expectations for customer interactions. 

Potential Disadvantages of Outsourced CX:

• Lack of expertise. All too often, outsourced CX connects your customers to ill-equipped agents unable to answer your customers’ important questions. A strong third-party CX service must include extensive training to ensure CX partners know your product inside and out.

• Security risks. CX partners need to understand your industry’s security regulations, respect your customers’ personal information, and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive company and customer data. As with most industries, results will vary between different outsourced CX providers, so doing your research is key.

• Language barriers. Outsourced CX that is staffed by offshore agents can lead to misunderstandings as a result of call center employees who may not speak perfect English. But not all outsourced CX is led by offshore teams. Find an outsourced CX partner with an onshore team that can provide real-time support. 

When to Turn to In-House CX 

Despite the industry’s gravitation toward outsourced solutions, some leaders still prefer in-house CX. As with outsourced CX, there are pros and cons to relying on an in-house team to staff your customer support lines. 

The Advantages of In-House CX:

• Company knowledge. Your team knows your business inside and out. There’s no denying that the best experts are often your own employees. An outsourced CX team needs reliable training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills necessary to serve your customers. 

• Control. Many leaders prefer the control they have over in-house operations. Outsourced CX can create uncertainty about the security of your data, the effectiveness of your customer service, and the speed of your operations. 

Potential Disadvantages of In-House CX: 

• Gaps in service. On-site CX simply doesn’t have the capacity to answer customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Outsourcing your CX allows you to engage with customers ASAP, while providing multilingual support for a diverse client base. 

• High costs. Dedicated on-site CX can cut into your profit margin. Internal customer support agents may experience periods of low demand that result in expensive downtime. 

• Low productivity. When developers and engineers have to focus on CX it often becomes overwhelming and dampens productivity across the board.

• Poor scalability. A fully in-house CX team isn’t able to scale up or back depending on customer demand. Should an issue arise, staffing up to handle large influx of customer calls isn’t an option, whereas an outsourced CX team can adjust and increase or decrease customer support resources as needed.

Meeting Customer Demand for World-Class CX

An outsourced CX partner lets you focus on your core business while they focus on theirs – world-class customer support. With the right partner, you can deliver great customer support, reduce costs, and remain productive at all times. Epiphany can be that partner. With our multilingual, 24/7 CX team, your business can work with dependable experts who will learn your business inside and out to make your brand shine. Entrust your CX strategy with a world-class partner like Epiphany today.