Throughout many industries, outsourcing has become a powerful tool for supporting overall productivity and ultimately, the bottom line. Outsourcing and third-party augmented support can give financial institutions in particular the opportunity to focus time, attention, and resources on the core competencies of the institution, while allotting more time for setting new goals and finding ways to achieve them.

Given the importance of customer satisfaction and engagement, the contact center plays a critical role in your financial institution’s growth and overall success. Clear benefits such as increased capacity and greater flexibility for variable call volumes make perfect sense when weighing whether to implement a third-party support partnership for contact centers. But, let’s take a look at some more specific situations where outsourcing can become an advantageous (and strategic) solution for institutions:

Planned events: Using contact center outsourcing as a strategic solution for large marketing initiatives or other planned events can save your institution a lot of time and resources. When inbound call volume spikes, having calls answered promptly by knowledgeable representatives goes a long way towards creating a positive customer experience that lasts. Augmenting staff with support from a third-party supplier can position your institution to deliver on account holder expectations while freeing your internal team to focus on what they do best.

Digital banking conversions and upgrades: Changing online banking providers can generate a substantial increase in inbound call volume. When these events occur, it’s been proven that inbound call volumes can more than double, and too few institutions are adequately prepared. Having a knowledgeable, patient voice guiding customers through the process can mean the difference between a pleasant and unpleasant experience (which, in turn, can determine whether the conversion was a success or failure for your institution). With help from an experienced, third-party supplier, conversions provide an excellent opportunity to reinvigorate your account holder relationships and build loyalty.

Outbound call support: “Trigger-based” loan programs and other promotional campaigns can benefit from outbound call support. Account holders want to hear from you about services that will benefit them. This is when a third-party contact center supplier can help. A personal communication is a best practice that boosts the likelihood your account holder will follow through with the loan or other offer — helping turn your contact center into a revenue generating center.

Onboarding: Welcoming new account holders can feel like a challenge since it’s often hard to find the internal resources to undertake outbound calling campaigns. Outsourcing onboarding calls not only offers a seamless method for connecting with new account holders, but it is an improved way to answer initial questions and concerns. Having a successful onboarding campaign lays the positive foundation for customer engagement and promotional success down the road.

Your brand can benefit immensely from employees focusing their strengths in the right places. Chances are your financial institution is already outsourcing other functions such as payroll or employee background checks. So you may have already experienced a productivity uptick when your staff can focus on their greatest strengths and what they do best.

As the role of the contact center evolves and becomes more sophisticated, outsourcing becomes a competitive advantage. Outsourcing helps to improve internal efficiency, use resources more strategically and provide access to specialized expertise that typically isn’t available in house. By using an outsourced resource, financial institutions can focus on core competencies, delivering the best opportunity for success.

> Download Vericast’s “Ultimate Guide for Successful Contact Center Outsourcing”.