Outsourcing call center operations in Nigeria—Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms.
Business Process Outsourcing, or BPO, is a subset of outsourcing that involves contracting out the operations and responsibilities of a specific business process to a third-party service provider. It is simply the process of hiring another organization to perform a specific process, task, or service. Call centers in Nigeria are quite few because of the obvious infrastructural challenges in the country, However, due to rising local demand, this sector is expected to create more jobs in Nigeria over the next few years. Across the world, the term BPO is actually more commonly used to describe call center solutions, but the top BPO companies in Nigeria are more often referred to as call center solutions providers.
BPO originated in manufacturing firms, where companies such as Coca-Cola outsourced large portions of their supply chain. BPO is typically divided into two functions: back-office functions and front-office functions. Back-office functions include services such as external accounting and audit providers in Nigeria. recruitment service providers in Nigeria quality control in the software development sector in Nigeria, payment processing businesses in Lagos, and top IT recruitment agencies in Nigeria.
Some of the newest BPO companies in Nigeria provide virtual assistants, software development outsourcing in Nigeria, and front-office services like customer and PR support, sales, and marketing.
A call center is a specialized division where calls from current and prospective customers are routed and attended to. Large companies primarily use them to handle customer service tasks.
I’ve always been curious as to why Nigeria is not listed among the top five call center providers in the world, even though English is officially our first language here and we have a talented population. During our conversation, I spoke with a friend who works for DelonApps, the top call center provider in Nigeria. She explained that the main reason business has remained difficult in Nigeria is the significant infrastructure challenges that Nigeria faces in comparison to Asia.
DelonApps offers its clients in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and English-speaking European and African nations first-rate 24/7 call center services.
A significant amount of incoming (inbound) and outgoing (outbound) calls are handled by call centers. Using speech recognition software and an interactive voice response system, inbound call centers answer consumer calls. To handle consumer questions and concerns and transfer calls to the appropriate call center agent, many call centers make use of automation and new technologies. Call centers have two main functional areas: inbound calls and outbound calls, like business process outsourcing. While outbound calls offer services in customer retention, lead generation, charity, fundraising, surveying, appointment scheduling, and telemarketing, inbound calls offer services in account management, scheduling, technical support, complaints, and product and service inquiries.
A Synopsis of the Past
Similar to the hypothesis that man originated from apes, specifically the genus Homo, and that evolution led to the emergence of Homo sapiens as a separate species, belonging to the hominids group, which included the earliest great apes that resembled humans, call center solutions also has a history. The evolution of telephone technology began with Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 test and continued until the 1950s, when automatic call distribution emerged.
While phone directories are used by businesses to generate client lists and make sales to customers, the usage of telephones as marketing tools dates back to the early 1960s. But in the 1950s, housewives were the first people working in call centers; according to TCN (2015), they would “diall friends and neighbours in an attempt to sell baked products to bring additional money into the household.” In the 1960s, more advanced dialing technology and training were introduced by Birmingham Press and Mail, a UK-based company. They installed Private Automated Business Exchanges (PABX), which resulted in rows of agents managing client relationships.
The 1970s saw the transition from analogue to digital settings, from PBX to PABX systems, the first multilingual system, and the advent of ACD technology, which made it possible to run large-scale call centers. These events marked the beginning of telephony systems. The 1980s gave us great music, and with its phone banking solution, First Direct set the foundation for the banking industry of the future. By the 1990s, everyone became not just aware but involved in the process.
The dash2 system was replaced by ISDN, bringing about a revolution in the communication protocol. Contact centers linked ACDs systems with one another, enabling companies to route calls to the most appropriate channel which later supported IVR and speech recognition.
Companies started to offshore their customer care departments in the 2000s. Cloud centers started to appear around 2004 and were effective in becoming popular over the next fifteen years. But by 2007, these businesses started to relocate back home, reversing the previous trend. Why? Most likely a result of rising salaries, volatile exchange rates, labor productivity, and the cost of energy in that nation at the time. The rise in online jobs in recent years has contributed to an increase in the need for BPO providers. Barriers of geography and culture are being progressively overcome by technology. Additionally, this has increased the number of IT job prospects in Nigeria.
Nigerian Call Center Solutions
Call centers were invented in the 1960s, but they weren’t widely used in Nigeria until 2009–2010. The number of call centers in Nigeria has gradually grown, resulting in the creation of more jobs in Nigeria as well as more chances to relieve businesses of the burden of managing an internal call center given the associated costs, technology, and security. Leading recruiting firm DelonJobs in Nigeria claims that, in addition to the significant growth of IT career in Nigeria in recent years, the aftermath of COVID-19 would result in the creation of numerous new job kinds nationwide by 2022, including hundreds of job positions in Lagos.
The largest obstacle for Nigerian contact centers has been the extreme lack of infrastructure in comparison to other Asian nations. Currently, the two leading nations in the world producing the most business process outsourcing are India and the Philippines. Prior to the Philippines’ entry, India ranked as the top call center globally. BPO is also highly prevalent in Mexico, Central America, and Eastern Europe in addition to these two nations.
The unstoppable growth in technology and the swelling competitions existing among organizations has ensured “security, market, and compliance issues”. Therefore, a need for the adoption of a pragmatic approach needs to be enabled to ensure customers loyalty. This has led to the active employment of call centers in organizations, whether in-house, virtual or outsourced.
Therefore, you should carefully examine how call centers, particularly those in Nigeria, operate before deciding whether or not your company should use the services provided by outsourced call center providers.
This is a quick overview of how BPOcall centers operate, but I’m also using this platform to tell Nigerian students and job seekers about this industry, which might employ thousands of Nigerians in the coming years, in case they’re interested in customer service jobs in Nigeria. Additionally, you may read free job articles on jobs.delon.ng and watch free career webinars to learn more about this and many other career-related issues.
Why hiring a call center outside of your own company is frequently preferable to doing it yourself?
Cost reduction – equipment, facilities and training cost can be spread by outsourced call centers to make their clients have a beautiful return on investment since the client pays only for services needed. Call centers can also “share agents with multiple clients if desired by each client, reducing idle time, and delivering a lower-cost-per-call-rate.”
The finest “brand ambassadors” for a business are its outsourced call center employees, who are educated to handle lengthy customer lists and are thus “trained” representatives of your firm. In certain situations, these agents can effortlessly transform into the ideal “brand ambassadors” for your company. Because call centers employ multilingual operators, outsourcing a call center may also provide your clients with opportunity to access diverse yet successful multi-channel and multicultural experiences.
Professionals in call centers, such as managers and support personnel, are typically more skilled at their jobs than generalists. Due to their training and specialization in customer service, call center representatives are often able to win over customers’ loyalty.
Effective management tools: As an outsourcing company, contact centers frequently spend a lot of money on pricey equipment to evaluate calls every call in an economical way that helps ensure profitability. Additionally, clients receive automatic access to cost details, “which lets them analyze the effectiveness of initiatives.”
Large data collections may be managed and analyzed by data outsourcing centers with ease. Agents are familiar with a range of clients and the data that numerous campaigns have produced. Technology investments made by outsourcing companies, the cost of which is divided among several clients, include analysis systems that extract valuable insights from massive volumes of unprocessed data sets.
Customers are delighted to find that customer support representatives are available around-the-clock to assist them with all of their inquiries, whether they contact the customer service department via phone, email, or web chat. Most companies’ internal call agents hardly ever provide this round-the-clock service, which detracts from the outstanding client experience. This can therefore result in a decline in clientele. “Services that ‘follow the sun’ can be provided by outsourcing providers with global contact centers at a significantly cheaper cost than in-house.”
These are not the only advantages that companies have when they outsource their call centers, particularly in Nigeria. There are more items on the list.
Selecting the Appropriate Outsourcing Service for Call Centers
Selecting the best call center outsourcing provider for your business is just as important as employing the best employees. DelonApps is a well-known call center provider in Nigeria that offers top-notch call center services to customers worldwide. They also run the most popular classified ads website in Nigeria ,as well as the top job portal in Nigeria, jobs.delon.ng, and they offer agile transformation services in Nigeria.
A poor recruit has the potential to destroy your company or drastically reduce job efficiency. Through stronger ties and customer loyalty, call centers assist businesses in increasing business success over time. By continuously producing leads and fostering client loyalty, they operate as your best friends, actively contributing to the success of your company. Thus, you don’t want to select the incorrect option.
One of the first things to consider when choosing reputable outsourcing providers is pricing. In actuality, the top outsourcing providers aren’t usually those with the lowest costs; nonetheless, there are a few excellent BPO providers that have perfected the efficient use of technology to save operational costs. These are typically able to offer excellent services at reasonable costs.
When partnering with an outsourcing company, it is crucial to consider several factors. Firstly, you should assess the type of service they specialize in, whether it’s inbound or outbound, or both. Additionally, determine if they offer an omnichannel service or if their expertise lies in non-voice services. Another key consideration is the availability of around-the-clock service or a limited number of hours per day, depending on what suits your business best. As your company grows, it’s important to ensure that the outsourcing firm can scale up to meet your increasing needs.
Culture and accent also play a significant role when choosing a BPO provider. For example, if a European client hires an Asian BPO company with call agents who have a strong local accent, it may result in customer dissatisfaction. It’s beneficial for call agents to understand the culture of the client’s retail customers and communicate effectively with them.
The training process employed by the outsourcing company is another crucial factor to consider. You should inquire about the extent of training provided to call center agents and whether they have experienced staff. Understanding the techniques taught to agents who will handle your customers’ inquiries is essential. To assess their training and response quality, you can periodically make test calls at different times. Some companies even offer trial versions for evaluation.
Technology is a significant aspect to evaluate when outsourcing a call center. Pay attention to AI trends and ensure that the technology used aligns with your specific business needs. Upgrading your existing infrastructure can be costly, so outsourcing to a company already equipped with suitable technology is often preferred. Considering the importance of a positive customer experience, it’s crucial to align the outsourcing firm’s technology with your requirements.
Another vital consideration is the security measures implemented by the outsourcing company. Whether the call center operations are conducted on-site or elsewhere, it’s essential to discuss cybersecurity architecture and strategies in advance. Ensuring data privacy and security is particularly critical in today’s business landscape.
In summary, when selecting an outsourcing company, consider the type of service they offer, their cultural fit, training procedures, technology used, and security measures implemented. These factors will contribute to a successful partnership and meet your business requirements.
I wish to encourage Nigerian students seeking jobsto work hard to develop their skills in customer service, digital marketing, software development, quality assurance, UI/UX, and devops. The Nigerian economy is likely to produce thousands of jobs in these categories over the next five years. I will write more about software development in my next article, but I wish to highlight here to my readers that the software developer jobs in Nigeria is experience the highest growth rate in Nigeria as at today 12 March 2021. So if you have a relative with sound background in Mathematics and Science that is still confused about a career of interest, you should encourage that person to think about an IT career in Nigeria.
Lastly, to learn about changing needs and create relevant curriculum to address the gaps, Nigerian universities and polytechnics should routinely collaborate with the corporate sector in partnership with the government. To help students get ready for the workforce before they graduate from college, the private sector should also offer internship and training opportunities. The Nigerian economy would benefit greatly from this, and the private sector will be encouraged to contribute in this way by a strong government incentive.
