Financial Services Call Center: How It Works

Updated: 24.09.2024

Information security is more crucial than ever in the age of data breaches, and this is especially true in the banking and financial services industry. Outsourcing a financial services call center offers everything you need, from handling account balances to troubleshooting online transactions, while ensuring robust security protocols to protect sensitive information.

Companies heavily rely on their financial service contact centers to maintain strong customer relationships, particularly during challenging times. Studies show that 79% of customers in the financial services industry are satisfied with their call center experience, highlighting the critical role these centers play in customer engagement​. In this article, we cover key points on why a well-managed financial services call center is essential for enhancing customer engagement and building trust.

What Is a Call Center in a Financial Company?

Companies that provide financial services play an essential role in helping individuals manage their finances. In most cases, nearly everything your financial services firm can offer in person can be handled just as efficiently through a call center.

Trained call center representatives can assist customers with a wide range of tasks, including making deposits, withdrawing funds, checking account balances, and paying bills. Additionally, mortgage companies, lending institutions, and investment firms can leverage call center services to enhance their customer interactions and streamline operations.

A certified financial services call center is crucial for managing or overseeing certain types of transactions. When a customer needs personal assistance, call center software can seamlessly route them to the most qualified representative, ensuring a smooth and efficient interaction. Ultimately, the goal of a financial services call center is to enhance the customer experience while optimizing operational efficiency for your business.

Outsourcing Financial Services Call Center

Call center outsourcing involves hiring an external service provider to manage the operations of a call center. This includes recruiting and training employees, maintaining software and equipment, and overseeing the day-to-day management of call center activities. By outsourcing, businesses can focus on their core competencies while the service provider ensures the call center runs smoothly and efficiently.

The financial services industry, in particular, is highly specialized, demanding stringent standards for employee training and data security. Given the sensitive nature of customer information and transactions, bank call centers require a higher level of expertise and security measures to maintain trust and compliance.

Many firms take a hands-off approach to managing operations once the choice to outsource their call center operations has been made, and contracts have been signed. So, when outsourcing, it is better to look for the call center security standard for outsourced customer support. 

Benefits of The Outsourcing Call Center of Financial Services

A call center can assist your in-house financial staff with their daily tasks. In addition, the financial service call center should integrate to help your operations and your company's growth and client perception. Let's explore some of the key benefits that outsourcing call center services can bring to your financial business.

Professional services

Staff in call centers are trained to provide adequate and correct service information to financial industry clients. As a result, call centers assist you in resolving your clients' issues professionally and efficiently. In addition, it offers clients a positive impression of the company's brand.

Cost-cutting

Outsourcing call center services keeps your company or organization focused on the most critical parts of keeping it running smoothly day in and day out. Production, sales, and distribution are examples of essential tasks that may or may not be constrained.

If you take advantage of the improved assistance and workforce, you won't have to worry about support professionals handling too many issues while providing poor service to your consumers.

Offshore outsourcing proponents say that it drastically decreases or eliminates the costs of maintaining a call center. 

Scalability and adaptability

Customers will be subjected to periods of high call volumes and a shortage of accessible agents if you run a call center in-house. Outsourced call centers can anticipate call volume peaks and troughs, allowing them to arrange the necessary personnel at the proper times.

Outsourcing companies have the capacity and staff to swiftly ramp up, allowing your employees to focus on other crucial duties that are critical to the improvement and growth of your company. For example, if you run a small auto loan firm, your crew will likely be small. 

As a result, their attention is disrupted, and productivity suffers when they're continually getting sidetracked by filling in customer care gaps.

Industry knowledge

You want to make sure that the call center staff has experience in all aspects of customer service. Essential client services will be provided by a skilled and experienced call center team, including:

• Responding to inquiries regarding your loan initiatives
• Make welcoming calls to new clients to explain your payment procedures.
• Advising on any position a client can be in, such as financial difficulties or how-to requests

At Simply Contact, we bring over 11 years of experience in outsourcing across various industries, ensuring that our teams are well-equipped to handle these responsibilities with professionalism and expertise.

Long operational hours

Customers would want to be able to contact a live agent at any time of day or night, seven days a week, by calling, sending an email, or starting an online chat. Unfortunately, having a limited in-house call center that only provides support during business hours isn't always practical because everyone has a varied schedule.

Most auto loan companies cannot afford an in-house call center available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It would necessitate round-the-clock employment, management, and equipment. Even if you can locate skilled workers to work the "graveyard shift," you'll face hefty pricing increases.

Resolving concerns with staffing

External service providers often handle call center agent hiring, training, scheduling, and management. It can save your business time, money, and stress by eliminating the need to hire additional staff.

24/7 customer service

For a fraction of the cost, you can get 24/7 customer assistance. Outsourcing call center functions allows businesses to deliver 24/7 customer service at a price that isn't prohibitive.

Handling a high volume of overflow calls with ease

Outsourcing a portion of your call center operation to a service provider who is only responsible for taking overflow calls during peak call volume periods can be a cost-effective solution to a costly problem.

Better control over operations with a call center

Companies can have greater confidence in their call center providers when they guarantee 100% uptime. This is made possible through strategically located servers across multiple geographic regions, ensuring continuous availability. Additionally, dedicated teams work around the clock to monitor and maintain exceptional call quality, providing consistent service to meet customer needs at all times.

There are many benefits to outsourcing customer service. Therefore, it is necessary to know how to outsource customer service.

Technological integration

Outsourcing to technologically advanced call centers enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of customer service in the financial sector:

• Advanced technology for enhanced service: Utilizing AI and machine learning, call centers streamline customer interactions, leading to more efficient and personalized service. For instance, after implementing AI-driven systems, we noticed a 30% increase in query resolution speed, demonstrating a tangible impact on service efficiency.
• Automated solutions for efficiency: Automation tools like chatbots handle routine inquiries, freeing up human agents to address more complex customer needs.

Regulatory compliance and security

In the sensitive realm of financial services, outsourced call centers ensure adherence to strict regulatory and security protocols:

• Adherence to financial regulations: Outsourcing call centers comply with financial regulations such as GDPR and PCI DSS, ensuring legal and secure handling of customer data.
• Robust data protection: Advanced security measures, including encryption and regular audits, safeguard sensitive customer information, maintaining trust and integrity.

Customization and flexibility

Outsourced call centers offer tailored and scalable solutions to meet the specific requirements of different financial institutions:

• Tailored services for specific needs: Services are customized to address the unique needs of each financial institution, ensuring specific customer and product requirements are met.
• Scalable operations to match demand: Call centers can scale their services in response to the fluctuating demands of the financial sector, ensuring efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Channels of Communication Do You Need To Cover

Understanding and effectively utilizing communication channels can significantly enhance the customer experience. Let's delve into some key communication channels and their importance for call center services in the financial industry.

Email

Send tailored emails to consumers informing them of any changes to their bank accounts, special offers, or other pertinent information.

Mobile phone

Even though it is the most expensive channel, 80 percent of customers prefer to speak with agents over the phone. As a result, when it comes to call centers, phones aren't going away anytime soon. Furthermore, when things get tough, the tendency to communicate via phone jumps into high gear. For example, consumers are more than twice as likely to prefer talking to a person over sending an email when tackling more complex problems.

Video calls

Intelligent callback systems are unquestionably at the forefront of the call center industry's rapid technological developments. In turn, the video is a close second. In many ways, video help is a technological advancement over phone calls. 

For example, a near-face-to-face discussion with an agent is possible via video. The personal connection that video features provide is appealing to call centers that are starting to use them. Troubleshooting services can also benefit from video. 

Ikea, for example, utilizes movies to demonstrate how to build furniture, and some phone companies use videos to answer frequently asked problems. Video can also be used as a chat function, allowing the agent to see the customer.

Different social media

Contact centers have increasingly embraced social media as a communication channel for customers. Instead of dealing with hold times, many customers now prefer to reach out via platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

This shift can be beneficial for call center agents, who typically spend the majority of their time on phone calls. By incorporating social media into their workflow, agents can engage with customers more efficiently.

Additionally, social media interactions are faster. What might take several minutes to resolve over the phone can be tweeted in a matter of seconds. Social media’s public nature can also help agents manage multiple customer inquiries at once. However, speed is crucial—agents need to respond as quickly as possible when interacting on these platforms.

Conclusion

Customer service is likely a top priority for financial services or insurance companies when considering call center outsourcing. More and more financial institutions are investing in call centers, recognizing their role in saving both time and money, while also enhancing customer interactions.

In today's market, customers in the financial services industry expect personalized experiences, tailored to their specific needs and preferences, no matter how they choose to contact your company. As a result, financial services contact centers are adopting mobile apps and web chat functionalities more frequently than other sectors.

Want to learn more about how call centers can transform your financial services operations? Contact us and take the first step towards enhancing your customer service. Discover our tailored call center solutions and see how we can support the growth and success of your financial services business!