outsource customer orders/contact to call centre

You're going to get a lot of response to this! My advice would be to keep an open mind. If you've made up your mind that outsourcing is the route to take, have you considered all the options? Increasingly we see partnerships and co-sourcing models working very well in the UK. In answer to your question, to create a framework for assessing suppliers or partners is crucial. This needs to be based on definitive business needs and align to your strategy. Cultural fit is often talked about but rarely explored properly. The ability for outsourcer and client to connect at a cultural level is a foundation stone of success. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Good luck!

I agree with the previous responding post fully. With over 100 outsourced call centres within the UK it can be very challenging to select the right partner, most will have some degree of experience supporting mail order and e-commerce businesses. Personally, being a Business Development Manager working for a major outsourcer that specialises in the area, follow the previous advice to the letter, ensure you create a framework as to clearly see through the smoke and mirrors that exists in our arena.

You should look for a company that conforms firstly to PCI compliance,if they do, they are serious about supporting e-commerce and retail businesses. Make them demonstrate and provide references to having a wealth of experience in managing customer services, not simply order capture related enquiries. The reason I say this is that over 60% if not 70% of outsourcers are just data capture specialists and will have lots of order line clients to demonstrate to you. Look for a partner that manages the full suite of call types and focusses on Customer Services, I can not stress this enough.

Good Luck!

Mark - Confero

I fully agree with ComptonScotty, that there are a lot of options and I am pretty sure that co-sourcing models and alike will work for a lot of companies. Serveral companies I've worked with had their call centers outsourced in order to cut costs but returned them back inhouse within a couple of months simply because they weren't happy with either the qualiy or the costs they were really able to cut through outsourcing.
So you really have to be sure that you want to fully outsource. If you're just looking for a way to cut cost cloud-based call centers could (!) be a possibility as well: