There once was a time when business process outsourcing companies, also known as a BPO, were used predominantly by manufacturers as part of the supply chain process. Today, the appetite for a BPO has swelled to nearly every industry and into both the production of products and delivery of services—including customer service.

With the rise of social media and online review sites, exemplary customer service has never been more essential. That’s why many have decided to outsource those efforts to a company like ShyftOff. But unlike other third-party contact center operators, ShyftOff harnesses the power of a gig economy BPO, passing the many benefits the model offers on to our clients and agents. Curious about how it all works? Here’s a look at how the gig economy BPO can help customer service.

The gig economy BPO can lead to happier agents

Customer service is a job that can be rather stressful, especially during peak season or periods of high volume, which can lead to dissatisfaction and burnout among employees. But thanks to ShyftOff and a gig economy BPO approach to customer service, that can easily be avoided.

Our agents have full control over the days and times they want to work. We’ve found that this model allows agents to schedule work around their other hobbies, passions, interests and even jobs. In doing so, agents dodge the stress and anxiety many people associate with spending 40 hours a week in an office. Happier workers are more productive and friendlier workers.

Align with more skilled agents through the gig economyBPO

If you’ve ever tried to hire for an in-house customer service role, you know how challenging it can be. The role requires someone with a litany of soft skills but also the ability to solve problems. It takes a very unique skill set, which is why partnering with a company like ShyftOff that specializes in customer service is a smart move.

At ShyftOff, some 80% of our agents are college-educated, a number that far exceeds what you’d typically find in a traditional contact center. These agents are experienced—many of whom serve in leadership roles at other jobs—and they are adept at solving problems. Additionally, the gig economy BPO empowers companies like ours to find agents in all locations, not just where the business is located. In doing so, we can expand the talent pools to help you find the best customer service agents possible.

Scaling up (or down) has never been easier than with the gig economy BPO

We mentioned earlier how stressful it can be to work in customer service but think of these real-life business examples: A florist around Valentine’s Day. A national accounting firm before Tax Day. A swimsuit retailer at the start of summer. In all of these examples, the business can expect a rapid increase in customer contact, and it’s important to plan for such. The problem is that hiring seasonal workers is both expensive and time-consuming—but not so with the gig economy BPO for customer service.

Whether you need to scale up for a certain hour, day, week, month or season, ShyftOff can easily accommodate your need for additional agents. We work with businesses to identify the appropriate number of agents needed at any given time so that the business is adequately prepared. This model also helps companies save money by paying agents for the time they’re working and not necessarily a full 40 hours that may be filled with downtime. We’ve even found that we can save a business an average of about 30% by using our gig economy BPO model over staffing a traditional in-house contact center.

Would you like to learn more about what ShyftOff can do for you? Let’s talk.

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