As we’ve seen in our previous blogs there are many benefits to outsourcing your customer support either as an overflow service to complement your own staff or as a complete outsourcing solution.
Outsourcing can be a challenge to implement as there may be technical or manpower and fear of the unknown but they can be overcome with the right partner. Of course, different projects have contrasting requirements, however, in most instances, it’s a similar onboarding process that is followed.
Here at Arema Connect, we place emphasis on providing our clients with a seamless onboarding experience, you could say start as you mean to go on! Our Client Development Manager Katherine Sutton is hugely involved in the onboarding process. Over the last 10 years, Katherine has become somewhat of an expert in this field. She draws on past experience to reduce bottlenecks for our clients and comes up with new ways to streamline various processes.
As a high-level view, there are 5 key steps that we follow when onboarding any new client accounts. We aim to provide each of our clients with a speedy and efficient onboarding experience. The strategy that we follow at Arema Connect is as follows –
1.Service Fulfillment Specification: As a first protocol we meet with the client face to face or virtually to gain a comprehensive understanding of the solution which they require. This meeting involves gathering information on each of the following –
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- Start Date: the desired date to commence service delivery;
- Channels: what support channels are required;
- Hours of cover: Hours of cover can differ depending on each client’s needs, we offer clients:
- Office Hours – this consists of the standard office hours of 9 am to 5 pm;
- Out Of Hours – outside of typical office hours (after 5 pm), weekends and public holidays;
- 24×7 Support – around-the-clock cover on 365-day basis;
- Seasonal Cover – supporting clients during periods of high demand;
- Overflow Support – managing transactions when an in-house team are unavailable or experiencing high volumes;
- Emergency Support – supporting clients during adverse weather or emergency events, ensuring their customers are continuously supported.
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- Volumes: what are the volumes across each channel, is there any spikes in demand experienced? Some clients experience peaks and troughs on different days of the week or particular months of the year. By reviewing current or forecasted volumes we can establish whether you require a dedicated team or if a shared agent model is more suitable depending on the volumes.
- IT and Systems requirements: In some instances, clients have their own in-house Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems which our team integrates with. Others require to use of our bespoke n-house CRM, Corteza. We have extensive experience with the most popular CRMs including – Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and Zendesk.
2. Development of Knowledge Base: We handle transactions based on our client’s instructions. At the start of each new project, we aim to develop a comprehensive Knowledge Base to guide our agents’ actions. Our Client Development Manager and Team Leaders work closely with our clients to create in-depth training material and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). We upload this information to our in-house Knowledge Base – the Wiki. This information is made available to all agents assigned to the account.
3. Training: We schedule training with the client and ensure all assigned team members are fully up to speed on our client processes. We have a variety of options to ensure training is completed to the highest standard including –
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- Classroom-Based Training – Arema Connect has the facilities to host onsite classroom-based training, if this is the preferred method of training for the client;
- Client Office-Based Training – The team can travel to the client’s offices to receive training;
- Teleconferencing training;
- Train the Trainer sessions can be carried out with the team, where the Team Leader receives training from the client and shares this knowledge with the rest of the team.
4. Testing: Prior to going live with service delivery we carry out thorough testing. This includes testing the phone lines, CRM system and any other processes as required. Any amendments required will be made prior to going live.
5. Go Live: After thorough testing, our team goes live with service delivery, using the pre-agreed scripts and SOPs. Our Client Development Manager and Team Leader maintain daily contact with the client, and any emerging issues or trends are flagged and resolved immediately.
Each client account varies in the timeframe for onboarding depending on the complexity of the project. If you would like to find out more about our onboarding process and services contact us today – info@aremaconnect.com.
