The champion challenger model is a method that allows different approaches to testing solutions in a production environment. Think A/B testing, but in this case, we’re looking for the most efficient outsourcing solution. There are plenty of outsourcers with a pitch that sounds like they’re the perfect match for you: low cost, high quality, top performers, perfect!
In reality, there are a lot of nuances to partnerships of any kind. Outsourcing is no exception, especially if this is your first time venturing into this space. You may set out to find a partner based on your budget, but after all that work of onboarding, training, and months of effort, you find that your customers need an attention to detail that this outsourcer isn’t equipped to handle. Maybe you partner with a center that delivers on their promise of increasing system efficiency, but there’s an unexpected drop in customer experience that you didn’t foresee. Or perhaps you’ve had an in-house center for years and wouldn’t even know where to start with outsourcing.
The champion challenger framework gives your business the opportunity to test different solutions and avoid those unforeseen circumstances in the long term. This is something to consider with your in-house center or even with your current outsourcer. With a little effort on the front end of onboarding a new vendor, the champion challenger model brings a variety of benefits to your business.
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No Long-Term Commitment
A benefit to champion challenger is that the new vendor holds much of the risk in the relationship. There’s no long-term contract, as the terms will be performance based. If the challenging vendor doesn’t outperform your current contact center, then ending the relationship can be as simple as saying “thanks for playing”. For the challenging vendor, they are competing for a chance to win your business long-term so they’re taking on the short-term financial risk if the partnership doesn’t pan out.
Performance-Based Incentives
The name of the game is simple: the challenger either performs better than the champion, or they do not. There should be no hard feelings if the challenger doesn’t come out on top because the expectations are clear from the start. The goals should be made clear as well, and you should be looking for your challenging contact center to outperform the current solution, not just match up.
Motivation for Your Current Contact Center
Whether your current solution is in-house or outsourced, you may be considering the champion challenger model because there is more to be desired from your existing performance. Sometimes a little friendly competition can light that fire that has slowly fizzled over the years and get your current team back on track. It can also get them moving forward with a renewed sense of pride in their industry when they see the new perspectives the challenger brings to the table. Speaking of which…
New Perspectives
Regardless of whether you decide to go with the challenging contact center in the long term, you will gain new perspectives on how another team would go about running your business. It’s easy to get stuck in the status quo when working with the same provider or in-house team for many years. A new vendor will bring new ideas, training techniques, technology, management styles, and the list goes on. Best case scenario, the challenging team hits their goals out of the water and becomes your new champion. Worst case you decide to keep your current team with some new tips and tricks you picked up from the competing center. It’s worth it just to give it a try!
Get to the Root of Your Performance Issues
Some clients have brought us on as a challenger simply because they’ve been unable to pinpoint the root cause of their performance issues. The process of onboarding a new contact center for this method will give you insight that’s hard to see from a bird’s eye view. The new vendor will learn the ins and outs of your business and current processes, and essentially work as a consultant, suggesting fixes to inefficiency gaps. Your performance issues may not be performance based after all!
Utilize the Extra Help During Peak Season
If you’re in an industry like retail that has staffing ramp ups during busy seasons, this would be a great opportunity to try out the champion challenger model. You’ve already budgeted for the extra staff, you know you need the extra hands, so take advantage of this built-in staffing increase to add a new contact center to the mix and see what they can do with a portion of your volume.
Are you ready to give champion challenger a try? Let us know what your current pain points are, and we’ll go from there. Callzilla is up for the challenge!
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About the Author: Neal Topf
