Managing a business from within the workplace can be intensely complicated in itself. Not only do you have to worry about your own responsibilities as a manager, but you’ll also have to motivate each member of your team for maximum productivity.

Now imagine how much more difficult these things can get in the world of call center outsourcing services. Sure, there are useful websites that help you better monitor your outsourced team, but there are just some obstacles that technology can overcome. So, are you considering to outsource some of your company’s services? If yes, then here are four challenges that you should be prepared for:

Poor Understanding of Contract and Decision Rights

To put it simply, service providers and clients usually have a hard time working together. This is because both the client and the service provider have their own team members who might not be familiar with what is included in the contract. The client’s team might treat the task with a personal bias and affect their relationship with the service provider.

On the other hand, the service providers might rely on techniques they used for other clients that might not exactly work for the current client. The contract should be designed to address these concerns, making sure that both the client and the service provider are on the same page from the get-go.

Lack of Participation from Client Leaders

There are client leaders who do not actively participate or check-in with the service provider. The reason their participation is important is because they are the ones who get to evaluate the output first-hand while they are updated with the overall status of the project. Any lack in these will result in either miscommunication, slow progress, or a failed project altogether.

Client leaders should have dialogues between the company and the service provider to check whether both teams are working on the task harmoniously.

Culture Differences

This particular challenge can be seen in two ways: first would be the work culture of both the client and the service provider while the second deals with national cultural differences, which is clearly become more rampant nowadays.

Clashes in work culture can pertain to the disagreements in output standards, techniques, and decision-making schemes. On the other hand, national cultural differences refer to language barriers and complications in understanding various accents.

There is no other way in dealing with this challenge than to simply free yourself from all pride and prejudice with the intent of creating a solid relationship between the in-house team and the outsourced talent.

Expectations vs. Reality

Companies often believe and expect that service providers will be able to take care of everything. Though optimism is always healthy, unreasonably high expectations can lead to conflict. Not only will the client feel disappointed and frustrated, but the service provider will also end up demoralized with their output.

Other than the cost of outsourcing projects, the client should also consider the risks that comes with it. Once a service provider is hired, the client should be constantly updated about the project’s progress. Managing expectations is easier said than done, but it is essential so that both the client and the service provider can avoid conflicts altogether.

Both client and service provider should identify the objective of the project followed by a strategy that would conquer or even prevent the challenges listed above. A harmonious work relationship will go a long way.