In my career, I have worked with many companies from various domains. They all had different approaches to doing business. But what they had in common was their desire to grow without increasing their costs and complicating their processes.
One of the ways to do it was (and still is) outsourcing some business tasks, such as customer support. Professional dedicated teams can demonstrate outstanding efficiency, stay very flexible, and greatly contribute to the increase in customer loyalty. Nevertheless, over the past years, we have observed a clear shift in customer support outsourcing. A lot of UK-based companies prefer to work with nearshore teams and hire agencies from Poland, for example.
But why is it so? I have defined three key factors that drive such changes in the BPO space.
Time zones are much more important than you may think
Quite often, managers believe that differences in time zones are just a minor scheduling inconvenience. In reality, they may cause serious issues when it comes to agility and responsiveness.
When your outsourcing partner is based in a nearshore location, you are operating in similar or overlapping hours. As a result, you can enjoy seamless real-time collaboration, smoother issue handling, and faster decision-making. All this is highly valuable in the business world, where time is money.
The offshore outsourcing model can’t ensure such benefits. When the team that provides you with omnichannel contact centre services is located on another continent, you should be ready for delayed feedback loops and asynchronous rhythm.
If speed, agility, and issue resolution are priorities for you, nearshore wins. Distance will significantly slow you down.
Cultural fit means better results
One of the most overlooked failure points in outsourcing is misalignment in business culture. Communication styles of teams with different mentalities may greatly vary from each other, as well as their expectations around feedback, decision-making, and problem-solving. Even small gaps in understanding can quickly lead to frustration on both sides and the need for rework.
Deloitte reports that 22% of outsourcing failures are caused by poor cultural alignment. And in my practice, I’ve also seen such cases.
When your nearshore team shares similar business norms, less time is lost in explanations,
and more time can be spent on driving results and solving problems collaboratively.
Security and oversight are stronger at shorter distances
If you deal with sensitive customer data and regulated processes, legal compliance and operational oversight are major factors for you. You should keep this in mind while hiring an outsourcing customer support provider.
When you are working with a nearshore team, it becomes much easier to conduct on-site visits, keep direct visibility into operations, and make sure that all processes align with UK data protection requirements.
In the case of offshore setups, monitoring becomes much more challenging. Meanwhile, regulatory issues can cause serious financial and reputational damage.
Financial factor
When business managers ask me to name any weaknesses of nearshore outsourcing, I am always very honest with them. As a rule, nearshore rates can be higher on a per-hour basis.
Yes, it may seem that the offshore model will help you save money. But can you really rely solely on these numbers?
With fewer delays, minimized rework, and process visibility, nearshore outsourcing often ends up saving you more over the course of a project. What is even more important is that it will help you not lose customer trust. That is an invaluable asset.
But to enjoy all these benefits, you need to have a professional outsourcing partner by your side. If you have already started your search for call centre outsourcing companies UK, you may have seen that there are plenty of offers today. For example, Simply Contact is one of those professional teams that can deliver seamless, high-quality support while aligning closely with the operational standards of UK-based companies.
How to make the right choice?
I am not going to say that nearshore BPO is the only possible option today. The truth is that the best outsourcing model depends on your specific needs. I strongly recommend that you deeply analyse your priorities, the complexity of your processes, and how closely your external team needs to integrate with your internal one.
The key is to weigh all factors, including speed, communication, cultural fit, and data security, not just the hourly rate. That’s how you will make a solution that will drive performance and support your sustainable business growth.
Read more:
Expert View: Simply Contact’s John Cole On the Strategic Rise of Nearshore BPO