Outsourcing is attracting attention as a means of resolving labor shortages and reducing costs.

Outsourcing is the contracting out of a specific business to a specialized company, and outsourcing is currently progressing in various areas of business.

In this article, we will explain the outsourcing of telephone response work, which is in increasing demand due to the spread of telework.

In-house telephone support is limited

For a long time, it was taken for granted that in-house staff answered office calls, but in recent years, the option of outsourcing phone answering has become more prevalent.

Answering the phone with only your own staff

• Answering phone calls unrelated to your work and dealing with your absence interrupts your work and robs you of your concentration.
• Telephone etiquette in business is strict and training takes time
• In work style reform, “going to work to answer the phone” hinders the promotion of telework

This is because the drawbacks have become apparent.

If the burden of answering the phone is eliminated, it will not be difficult to improve work efficiency and realize diverse work styles.

Of course, outsourcing costs money, but in many cases, the benefits of shifting resources from phone calls to your core business outweigh the benefits.

What is a service that outsources telephone correspondence?

The content of the telephone response outsourcing service varies slightly depending on the scale and coverage of the business operator.

Here, we will explain the main forms of outsourcing services.

telephone answering service

Outsourcing for telephone business.

Professional operators treat customers as if they were employees of their own company, so customers will not feel uncomfortable.

The scope of support differs depending on the company, but since they offer a wide range of services for both inbound and outbound services, you are sure to find the best service for your business.

Inbound

• Reception of main phone number
• Call handling
• Reservation/order acceptance
• Inquiry correspondence

outbound

• tele appointment
• reminder
• questionnaire

Secretarial service (online secretary)

It is a service that performs clerical work on behalf of you via the Internet, and in addition to answering telephones, it also handles various tasks that can be handled online.

We work as a team in the field of specialized work, and we assign staff with each skill, so you can rest assured.

Secretarial work

• Material creation
• Schedule management
• Email support
• travel arrangements, etc.

professional work

• research
• accounting
• adoption
• payroll, etc.

Call center agency service

This is a service that allows you to outsource the entire call center, customer center, etc.

Initial costs such as recruiting staff, securing offices, and installing equipment can be reduced, so cost-effectiveness is particularly high for small to medium-sized call centers.

In addition to telephone support such as inquiry response and telemarketing, there are also services that respond to inquiries via email and chat, build call centers, and perform data analysis.

Advantages of outsourcing

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of outsourcing your phone calls.

Reduction of response time and cost

Assuming that it takes 3 minutes for each incoming call or responding to your absence, if you receive 10 calls in a day, you will spend 30 minutes just answering the calls.

If you are dealing with a system of 5 employees, the original work will be stopped for 2.5 hours per day.

In addition, if you have employees who come to the office to answer the phone, there is also the cost of commuting.

You can see that outsourcing phone calls can significantly reduce call time and costs.

Improve response quality

It takes time to develop phone skills.

A newcomer who has just entered does not have a perfect response right away.

In addition, depending on the aptitude of the person, there may be cases where answering the phone is not suitable.

If a staff member with poor telephone skills responds, it is likely that there will be mistakes in relaying and messages, and customers may feel uncomfortable because they cannot use honorifics.

In the telephone response outsourcing service, trained professional staff will respond, so the overall response quality will improve and customer satisfaction will increase.

Realization of work-life balance

If the introduction of telework is not progressing due to fixed phone support, outsourcing phone support will solve the problem.

If you don’t have to answer calls outside of business hours or just before the end of the day, you will be able to reduce overtime.

Eliminating phone calls will lead to the realization of diverse work styles and the reduction of long working hours.

Disadvantages of outsourcing

Of course, the outsourcing of telephone correspondence does not only have advantages.

Understand the disadvantages well before considering using the service.

Need manual maintenance

When teaching your staff how to answer the phone, you can have them learn by role-playing face-to-face or by watching seniors answering the phone. must be

Operators have a lot of experience in answering the phone, so they don’t have to worry about honorifics and manners, but they also need to be aware of the company’s philosophy and basic policy for customer service.

Focus on routine responses

When outsourcing telephone support, the operator responds remotely from the service provider’s office, so we do not know the details of the company’s internal situation.

For this reason, instead of responding flexibly while looking at the surroundings, the main focus is on standardized responses according to scenarios prepared in advance.

In the case of customer support, etc., it is possible to respond to detailed scenarios such as product explanations and inquiries, but the more complicated the content, the higher the fee.

Limited response time

Outsourcing service hours vary by company.

Telephone support services are basically available from morning to night on weekdays, and evenings and weekends are sometimes optional.

You cannot receive the service outside the service hours, so check whether the service is available during the time you want to use before choosing the service.

Recommended services for outsourcing representative telephones

Among the telephone answering services, we will introduce recommended services for outsourcing the representative telephone of a company.

Please use it as a reference for service comparison.

Intercode

Intercode Co., Ltd. is a telephone answering company founded in 1983.

Telephone correspondence is made-to-order customized for each customer.

It is a highly reliable service with 39 years of know-how and high-quality operator correspondence since its establishment.

Phone services start from the cheapest plan of 2,900 yen/month. We also provide administrative agency and EC operation agency.

eSecretary (Bellsystem 24 Co., Ltd.)

BELLSYSTEM24 Co., Ltd., known for its call center services for many major companies, is a telephone answering service for small businesses.

Utilizing the know-how cultivated in large-scale call centers, we are proud of stable response quality.

You can customize and finely estimate the response time, number of calls, reporting method, etc., and create an optimal plan that suits your company.

business assistant

At Business Assist Co., Ltd., all staff have obtained secretarial certification. It is a telephone answering service that boasts high-quality correspondence.

We don’t just handle phone calls, we improve the impression of your company by responding to your company’s colors and branding.

The light plan for general companies starts from 20,000 yen per month.

There is also a professional plan (from 30,000 yen per month) that understands technical terms and reports accurately.

Because it is AI, it supports 24 hours! What is “Canario”?

With a telephone answering service, if you add options for after-hours and holiday support, the cost will increase.

If you want to cover calls after business hours and on weekends as well, consider NEC Networks & System Integration’s call forwarding service “Canario” as an option.

In “Canario”, AI answers the phone as your company’s representative.

Because it is an AI that can recognize voice, it is possible to recognize the name of the person in charge and transfer the call.

If the person in charge cannot answer the phone, they will send you a text message.

Setting is easy, and troublesome manual creation is unnecessary. There is no additional charge for nights and holidays.