Can you explain what blendshoring is and how it differs from traditional outsourcing models?
Michael Ferrari: I think the easiest way to explain what blendshoring is, is to think of it as providing a contact center solution that doesn’t necessarily reside in one location only. Instead, it looks at the program as a whole and puts the agents, technology, and interactions in multiple locations based upon geographic best fit. The difference between blendshoring and traditional outsourcing is that blendshoring looks at geographies as the endpoint for part of the solution based upon the value that specific geography can bring. It could be language, employee proficiencies, culture or a myriad of other factors to consider.
Michael Ferrari: There are three main factors to consider when choosing which regions to use for blendshoring: language preference or requirements for your customer, skill-related requirements for the varying aspects of the solution needed, for example, technical troubleshooting versus simple account updates or even possibly regional terms or concepts that your specific customer may be used to or expect. And obviously budget needs to be considered. There are many different regions that can handle many of the same aspects of an outsourcing program, but some are just better than others.
Q: How do you ensure alignment and collaboration between teams in different regions?
Michael Ferrari: In order to ensure alignment and collaboration with teams in different regions, you really need to start with one organization that acts with the same principles and maintains the same culture no matter what region they’re in.
From there, it requires a global executive team that works in close alignment with a team of experienced departmental leaders to routinely share success, areas of opportunity, and plans for evolution.
We leverage a global platform for regular communication as well as routine intercompany collaboration sessions, team “in the know” meetings, strategic roundtables, and other activities to keep everyone in the loop. All of this ensures alignment and a unified team that identifies any areas of opportunity before they become a critical risk.
Q: How does blendshoring contribute to innovation within the company?
Michael Ferrari: Blendshoring can help contribute to innovation within a company through a global team and presence that has opportunities for exposure to different ideologies and even technologies. As each team has both varying and overlapping experience, it is the variation in that experience that really helps drive innovation and others to evolve the solution.
Q: How does blendshoring help mitigate risks?
Michael Ferrari: Blendshoring helps mitigate risks primarily through having multiple geographies or locations that can act as failover points should some majeure events occur in a geography.
Additionally, it can help with staff augmentation or even adapt quickly to changes in your customer profile or scale for your business.
Q: What are the key benefits of adopting a blendshoring strategy for a business?
Michael Ferrari: We believe that there are three main benefits of adopting blendshoring. First of all the ability to align customer expectations to the skill, culture and language of that agent interaction with them. Second balancing a company’s budgetary needs to our right-size solution, and thirdly, the ability to diversify the program while adding additional redundancy.
Q: How does blendshoring impact the customer experience?
Michael Ferrari: The impact of the customer experience with blendshoring has always been positive at our experience. Each CX solution is different, but one of the primary goals of blendshoring is to align the varying aspects of the solution with the geo that meets the expectations of the customer. The impact on the overall cost efficiency with blendshoring compared to a traditional outsourcing model is naturally designed to be positive; by focusing on multiple geographies to source the solution, a company can utilize a higher cost center only for specialized scenarios or work types while leveraging more efficient locations for simple tasks.
Q: How do you determine the right balance for a specific business?
Michael Ferrari: Finding the right balance of geography takes a detailed review of the program’s needs, budgetary boundaries, and the near- and long-term goal of your CX or sales solution. The ideal geography may not fit within budget today, so a prioritization of the goals will help determine the right blendshoring build.
Then, over time, the results of a well-thought-out solution may open up additional resources through company or customer adoption.
Q: How do you customize blendshoring solutions to fit the unique needs of different businesses?
Michael Ferrari: We have customized blendshoring solutions to fit the unique needs of each different organization through a collaborative approach of discovery. Each business and company have a unique customer profile, unique goals, and varying timelines to meet their goals. Discovery is the first step to ensure an aligned approach.
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