Here, Jess Pritchard, who heads the corporate sector at Moneypenny, shares seven business benefits of outsourcing switchboard provision:

1.Meet changing needs and expectations – Especially since the pandemic, customers no longer feel the constraints of traditional 9-5 office hours and will research and reach-out to businesses at all times of day and night. Customers know what they want and if they don’t get it, will find a business that can. Outsourced switchboard means that organisations don’t have to worry about meeting these demands with in-house resource, can offer a consistent 24/7 service and that they’ll never miss a call or valuable new enquiry. 

2.Quality, professionalism, and consistency - Tardy responses to phone calls are among the regular gripes levied at companies, but they don’t need to be. Outsourcing customer care guarantees consistency and a high-quality experience, smoothing out the bumps that occur when front of house teams are busy elsewhere and calls are redirected to other departments (which interrupts others and can compromise professionalism and customer care.) Missed and poorly handled calls cost goodwill from existing customers and new business too.  

3.Protect the front of house experience - Reception and front-of-house teams work incredibly hard. They typically handle the switchboard and greet people – two tasks that can be at odds with each other. Outsourcing switchboard handling, even if just at peak times, lets front of house teams concentrate on giving visitors a ‘warm welcome’ in person and a positive first impression. 

4.Free up internal resources – With a talent shortage affecting all sectors, it’s become especially important for businesses to deploy their resources carefully and where they have most value to the business.  Outsourcing switchboard gives management their time back and allows organisations to repurpose staff and focus them on more productive business critical duties. 

5.Scalable support – In-house call handling resource is a fixed cost.  Moving to outsourced provision turns it into a variable cost, and a solution that can scale in line with demand. So busy periods needn’t compromise the caller experience as you have to draft in other departments, and quiet periods needn’t incur hefty costs while staff wait for calls.

6.Flexibility and agility - Outsourcing doesn’t have to be an all or nothing approach.  Finding a partner which you can turn on and off as your needs flex, is a huge part of the value of having an outsourced solution. So, that could be simply providing overflow support for your in-house team or becoming your 24/7 fully outsourced switchboard provision.  Plus, outsourced support can form part of your business continuity plan and provide peace of mind and protection from the unexpected.

7.Harness technology –  Outsourcing also allows smaller businesses to make use of tech-led services that would normally be outside their reach, such as AI powered telephony, which helps to create greater organisational agility and competitive advantage. Innovative outsourced partners will also help your business become more efficient by harnessing the tools your people use.  Our integration with Microsoft Teams is a perfect example as it enables incoming calls to business switchboards to be directly transferred to employees’ Teams platforms, wherever they’re working and only if they’re available.  For multi-site operations and those businesses with increasingly hybrid teams, the ability to handle calls seamlessly is key.  

Established in 2000, Moneypenny is the world's market leader for Telephone Answering, Live Chat, Outsourced Switchboard, and customer contact solutions. More than 21,000 businesses globally benefit from Moneypenny’s mix of extraordinary people and ground-breaking technology.