It’s a dilemma faced by many organizations in the era of rising customer expectations: should you keep customer communications management (CCM) in-house or move to an outsourced model?
What is outsourcing?
Organizations often turn to outsourcing to fill gaps and drive value. Outsourcing is the business practice of hiring outside specialists to do specific tasks that were traditionally done in-house. It’s a way to reduce costs and free up time for employees to focus on more critical tasks.
The main reason companies use outsourcing is an overall need to cut costs – cited by 57% of respondents in the 2022 Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey. Close behind are business strategy and operating model shifts – noted by 51% of respondents – and to gain access to new capabilities (49%).
Outsourcing can help businesses be more agile with faster turnaround times, access specialized talent and services in addition to the main benefit of cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, outsourcing brings its own set of challenges. Communication difficulties, a lack of understanding of the business, quality control issues and slower response times can all add up. There’s also the risk of giving up control and relying too heavily on one vendor. What if you suddenly had to change providers – are you able to quickly make the move?
Outsourcing vs. insourcing: the top three things to keep in mind
1) Ownership of templates and documents
No matter which path you take, ensure your company owns the IP for its templates and documents. Document composition, generation and customer communications management is a critical business function. Being able to communicate in a timely and effective manner is a commercial imperative and sometimes a regulatory requirement.
2) Input into the change management process
How quickly can you make changes to the customer communications process? It’s important to understand the impact any changes might have and how these changes are managed to allow your business to react quicker to market conditions.
OpenTextTM provides simple, intelligent migration pathways that help make it easier to move from a vendor into Exstream. The PDF Design Import Tool along with Content Rationalization can help make your migration seamless.
3) Support for digital-first communications
Communications are always evolving. Research from Aspire Customer Communications Services has shown that millennials aged 18-40 were in every case most likely to have taken steps toward digital adoption for the first time at the beginning of the pandemic while Baby Boomers older than 56 were the least likely to have taken those actions. Younger consumers were the least likely to positively rate these digital experiences. Digital communications are often an afterthought with documents designed to mimic print. Young consumers’ desire for personalized interaction and a seamless experience is at the root of their dissatisfaction with the current state of digital communications.
Design once, deliver anywhere
While Boomers prize data security and Gen X prioritizes mobile communications access, Millennials and Gen Z value relevance and personalization based on their purchases and preferences. They also want a consistent experience across channels, and they want to choose how and where they receive communications. OpenTextTM Exstream helps you engage customers with highly personalized content across the channel of choice along their journey. See how Broadridge personalizes billions of communications per year with Exstream, creating dynamic and engaging experiences for customers.
The bottom line – how important is control of your customer communications? How you engage with customers is crucial to fulfilling your brand promise. It’s how your mission, vision and values come to life. Take control of your brand voice – learn more about how OpenText Exstream can help.
