Was I wrong about outsourced customer support all along? Here's my story.

I used to think outsourced support was always a disaster-robotic scripts, no real help. Then 6 months ago I hired a small team in Phoenix for my SaaS company, and they handled a major outage with actual empathy. Now I'm wondering if I just got lucky or if the model works if you vet them right. Anyone else flip their opinion after a specific experience?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannah_west397d agoTop Commenter

Actually, Phoenix is in Arizona so that's still US-based, not really outsourced in the traditional sense. Most people mean offshore when they say outsourced support.

josephbailey7d ago

Ugh, tell me about it. It drives me nuts when people throw the word "outsourced" around like it only applies to someone in another country. Moving a call center from one state to another is still outsourcing in my book, it's just domestic instead of international. I totally get why people make that distinction though, since the cost savings and time zone differences are way different when you go offshore. Still, dealing with a support team that's three states away and doesn't know the local market can be just as frustrating sometimes. I think people just want to feel like they're talking to someone who gets their situation, whether that's in Phoenix or Peoria. Either way, it's nice to see someone actually break down the terminology instead of just complaining about it.

mark_chen627d ago

Genuine question then - where do you draw the line? If a company moves support from New York to a cheaper city like Boise, that's domestic outsourcing for sure. But what if they contract a third party company to run it in Arizona instead of hiring their own people? Still feels like outsourcing to me even if it's the same time zone. I've called Comcast support in Oklahoma and they clearly didn't have the same tools or training as the in house team. The lack of knowledge is what kills you, not just the distance.