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NOTE: This blog also appears at the inContact Blog.

Is 2011 the year where US companies realize its failures in outsourcing call center operations to offshore sites? A TheStreet article announcing Delta’s (airlines) plan to shut down its call center in Montago Bay, Jamaica, is just one of the bad news circling around. In 2009, Delta also closed a reservations call center in India, stating that “customer acceptance” of outsourced, offshore call centers are low. In addition, TheStreet also reported that US Airways will close a passenger call center in the Philippines later this year.

Many companies in the developed world joined the fray of outsourcing parts of their operations to Third World countries like India and the Philippines primarily because of cheap labor, much as decades-ago manufacturing firms have done so. However, this often results in low quality of workmanship because there is not a lot of thought placed with this “blatant outsourcing” before moving parts of a company’s operations abroad. Boardroom decisions usually only look at the pennies saved without much thought placed in operational challenges to make it work. Hence, failures result in bad press and publicity for both the outsourced country and the US industry that the corporation esteems itself to be part of.

Correct use of technology, hiring the right people and establishing optimal processes are the three basic rules for successfully outsourcing a company’s operations elsewhere. Though a premise-based solution is often implemented, the problem with this model lies in dealing with several points of command, control and information between all parties involved – end users, software vendors, telecommunications providers, and managed networks, to name a few. Thus, a solution where every point of contact uses the cloud is something a business must start taking advantage of. Therein lies cloud-based providers like Kunnect, a perfect conduit for outsourcing because not only does it provide the best-in-class SaaS call center technology and employs hundreds of people with decades of expertise in the industry, it also has access to thousands of seats with hundreds of its clients, many of which are outsourcers within the United States and in countries like the Philippines. This immediate access to technology, people and process from one entity gives businesses the optimal leverage to move operations outside its location but correctly manage and monitor it using the cloud and employing tried-and-tested resources that  they can deliver. With its overseas offices in APAC and EMEA (Asia and Europe), US businesses can now rely on the perfect SaaS technology, the best expert advise to create workable processes, and access to thousands of qualified and skilled human resources from its 750+ clients at favorable rates.

Call Center Outsourcing 2.0 defines a new way to help US businesses face its challenges of fiscal growth by leveraging the best, hassle-free, single point of outsourcing contract for SaaS-based call center technology, people and process. In this all-in-one model, it’s apparent that these providers stick out to be best, ready-to-deliver service provider in the call center space.