Outsourcing is one of the best alternatives that businesses and institutions can choose to improve the efficiency of core institutional processes and save money. Instead of having to hire employees full time, you can instead use professional services on an as-needed basis. This serves to both simplify and streamline the way your department and overall institution conduct business.
Still, with a long list of expenses for higher education schools, it can be tough for institutions to imagine exactly where and how money can be saved by choosing to outsource various types of work. To bring light to this frugal advantage, there are several cost cutting services that outsourced call centers can provide in order to save higher education schools money.
The Types of Work that Colleges Can Outsource
Outsourcing offers an exceptional level of flexibility that can significantly free up resources and time for your institution. Earlier this year, it was discovered that California’s university system accumulated $558 million in surprise expenses. With this type of financial burden, your school does not need the trouble of paying for full-time services that are only used on a part-time basis.
When considering the mountain of overheads and expenditures that come with running an institution of higher education, and the recent transition to remote learning, the following work will need to be managed differently:
- Admissions and course enrollment processes
- Information Technology (IT) support
- Student and alumni support
- Reception duties such as answering inquiries and setting appointments
- Data collection
With the impending economic recession and the drastic changes to the education systems in place across the U.S., schools are no longer equipped to dedicate monetary resources to fully staff the departments that would typically handle this work. By outsourcing this work, your institution will no longer have to be concerned with the costs of maintaining factors of on-site employment.
This includes the expenses of office space, equipment such as computers, copiers, chairs, and desks, and of course, a full-time payroll. Outsourcing alleviates these stresses by giving higher education institutions the option to pay only for the services they need, without any overheads.
Why Your Institution Should Outsource to a Call Center
Part of the hesitation that many faces when outsourcing work is the worry that an independent agency may not have the expertise and training necessary to fulfill the role that a full-time employee would. However, this is precisely one of the advantages of outsourcing. You will not have to cover the cost of extensive training and orientation programs to achieve quality work.
Instead, these agencies are fully equipped to perform the work with accuracy and excellence. Whether you need someone to answer phone calls with greetings that are specific to your institution or to follow certain protocols in the admissions process, an outsourcing agency will ensure that all work exceeds your expectations.
Cutting costs does not have to be synonymous with settling for lower quality services. If your institution has encountered economic challenges as of late and needs to free up some funds while maintaining high-quality services for your students and faculty, consider outsourcing as a resolution to these issues.