If you’re running a U.K. company, you’re already grappling with rising inflation, recessionary fears, keeping one eye on volatility in the financial sector and are bracing yourself for further interest rate hikes.
Just two years ago, inflation was 0% and interest rates were 0.1%. But today the U.K. price index is 10.4% and after 11 increases in 11 months, the interest rate stands at 4.25%.
While, at a macroeconomic level, the IMF is predicting the U.K. will be the only G7 nation to experience negative growth in 2023. With so many issues demanding business leaders’ attention, where are you going to find the energy to deal with yet another challenge?
And there is another challenge. The first of three annual 9%+ National Minimum Wage rises arrived in April. And, for most companies, each of these increases will mean raising salaries across the business to maintain pay scale differences and to remain competitive within the jobs market.
Thanks to the compound interest effect, these rises could add up to a 30% real-terms increase in operating costs by 2025. What’s more, these cost increases are coming whether or not inflation keeps climbing and regardless of the Bank of England’s future interest rate strategy.
So, what can be done to absorb these costs? You could cut costs in other business areas; raise the prices of products and services; or focus on increasing productivity. But cutting costs to the bone this year leaves nothing left to cut next year. If you pass on the costs to your customers, will they still be there once prices have increased three years running?
And looking to increase productivity without simultaneously investing in technologies and tools for supporting efficiency and automation, or spending money to optimise employee training and development is the fastest route to staff burnout and employee turnover.
Yet, there is a sustainable solution to this problem. Offshoring customer experience operations.
Customer experience is critical to business success, it’s the foundation for customer loyalty and the biggest single point of brand differentiation – particularly in crowded, competitive marketplaces. But it isn’t always a core business operation. That’s why the brands that set the CX standard do so because their operations are being handled by organisations for whom CX delivery is their core business.
With the right outsourcing partner, one that can blend delivery between onshore and offshore locations, it quickly becomes possible to achieve a 40%-50% saving in like-for-like costs.
And the key word is partner. There are still negative perceptions around the topic of offshore outsourcing. And this negativity is born out of experiences of organisations choosing to outsource based purely on cost savings.
If delivered by the right partner, offshoring to countries such as South Africa, Morocco and the Philippines will significantly lower your cost to serve your customers; without lowering the level of CX they receive.
Instead, the service is seamless, mirroring or outperforming existing operations in every aspect other than price. This is because no matter where an operation is based, it will conform to the same operating standards and will be structured around the same service level agreements and benchmarked against the same metrics.
Rightshoring with the right partner.
So, the only obstacle to overcome to benefit from these savings is being able to identify the right partner. Picking the wrong supplier is only going to compound your problems.
With over 30 years’ experience across all business sectors, 170,000 employees and a global footprint that covers 45 countries and 60 languages, Foundever has all of the qualities needed to be that partner.
Adding an offshore element to CX operations will help shield your business from today’s economic uncertainties. However, working in partnership with a CX delivery expert will also prepare you to face tomorrow’s challenges.