preparing for outsourcing implementation

RIDICULOUSLY GOOD OUTSOURCING 800-400-TASK TASKUS.COM

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Preparing forOutsourcing: Implementation

Ridiculously Good Outsourcing | 800-400-TASK | TaskUs.com


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Preparing for Outsourcing: ImplementationWhen engaging in an outsourcing project, particularly for customer care, one

of the primary concerns clients have is how to ensure that performance targets

are hit efficiently, without compromising on the quality of service delivery. It’s

an important consideration, and one of the most important aspects of meeting

performance goals without compromising quality is a successful implementation

and launch.

A critical component of a successful outsourcing implementation is following

staffing and training best practices, to ensure that beyond meeting volume and

output marks, you’re meeting performance goals. Here are a few best practices

to ensure that your outsourcing partner is hiring and managing the right talent to

develop long-term growth strategies for your business.

Business Alignment: Establishing the Right Goals

Most organizations outsource customer care for a number of reasons, but one

business circumstance that we at TaskUs have seen pop up time and time again is

the need to meet aggressive performance benchmarks and revenue goals, which


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more often than not require additional staffing volume and support. Another

common reason organizations outsource is their desire to keep internal teams

lean, meaning they neither have the resources nor the proficiency to perform

customer support as their business requires.

In either case, it’s critical for an outsourcing partner to understand what a

client’s business goals are, and how the outsourcing partnership is intended

to meet those goals from a short to potentially long-term engagement. While

performance benchmarks are certainly important for training and staffing, it’s

also critical to understand the client’s long-term business goals as an outsourcing

partner, and how to add value to that long-term strategy. After all, there’s a

difference between recruiting for a company whose focus is acquisition, versus

a company whose focus may be retention, for example -- and each circumstance

elicits two very different hiring and training methodologies for an outsourcing

provider.

Also key to this alignment process, is a foundational understanding of your

outsourcing partner’s organizational chart -- who are your go-to resources

when you need to have issues escalated? Who do you contact for day-to-day

operations? Clear communication is critical for a successful implementation

plan, and should be crystal clear from the get go so that it is clear how well your

outsourcing partner can meet staffing goals within certain timelines as well as

support the launch of your program.

Naturally communication is the bedrock of the alignment process and plays

a critical role in establishing the correct hiring profile and maintaining the

level of brand fidelity that the client and their customers expect. Without clear


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communication around objectives, recruiting timelines and recruiting profiles any

hope of achieving benchmarks becomes tricky.

Source the Right Talent: Meeting Timelines for Recruitment

Easily one of the biggest challenges for most organizations is the cost and time

associated with recruiting and hiring the appropriate people and this is no

different with an outsourcing partnership where the process of attracting and

hiring the right talent is absolutely crucial.

To ensure that the hiring process is not reactive (resulting in poor matches

and lost revenue) or inefficient (putting delivery at risk), it’s critical to have a

shared and detailed understanding of the job requirements and skill sets of the

individuals being recruited for the position. It’s also important to have a clearly

organized database of people capturing this information, with a system of

assessment -- for example, using tests and other competency-based programs

to analyze whether a prospect is correct for the role in an objective way. TaskUs

engages in language (written/oral) testing, technical exams, quality testing,

competency based interviews and a series of background checks. This helps filter

out individuals who may not be the best fit in the most efficient way possible.

Having an appropriate hiring profile is also helpful in finding different sources

and avenues for recruitment -- whether through physical locations like college

campus recruitment and job fairs, or through online recruitment via advertising

and social media campaigns.


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Building a Foundation for Success: Training

There are two critical components to successfully retaining and growing your

team once they are hired: you first need to develop the right training design

methodology and strategic training materials to support it.

Work with your outsourcing partner to ensure that you’re leveraging your hiring

profile to develop the right kind of training (physical, trainer-led or on-demand

training) with guidelines that take advantage of your employee’s strengths.

Another important thing to note is that you’re appropriately documenting internal

processes so that onboarding is as streamlined as possible -- be aware of the

way information is shared, and any knowledge that might be colloquial. Properly

documenting training and other workflows helps mitigate any miscommunication

and speeds up the on-ramp process.

Ensure Performance: Establish Management

So your team is hired and the campaign has kicked off -- how are you tracking

performance and ensuring that you’re meeting benchmarks on an incremental

level? One way is having an open conversation with your outsourcing partner

about the technology that’s being used for project management, so that you’re

able to gain visibility into the process without micromanaging the team -- after

all, one of the main benefits of outsourcing is that your outsourcing team can

act as a self-sufficient and efficient entity with only the level of interaction and

involvement you want baked into the relationship.


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Another important element of ensuring performance is cultural, and within the

control of your outsourcing partner. When selecting a partner, check in to see

what they do to ensure that their teams are integrated with your own, as well as

the measures they’re taking to help their teams stay motivated and committed to

performance. Attrition is a huge concern for most outsourcing companies, and

while unavoidable to a certain degree, it’s a good indicator of your outsourcing

partner’s commitment to their employees to see what they do in order to mitigate

it. How does the outsourcing company you’re evaluating make sure their teams

are feeling valued, challenged and prepared for growth?