Is It Cheaper to Build or Buy BDC Services?

By Rob Canales, VP of Product Development, Traver Connect

This age-old dilemma persists with one key difference, the recent trend has seen an increase in focusing on Service BDCs, not Sales BDCs.  We say, Welcome to the Party!!!

Short version, the answer is Buy.  Here’s why.

• When you outsource your calls to a Service BDC partner, you get more call agent resources and more hours of coverage at a lower hourly rate compared to doing it in-house for fewer hours of coverage. More resources equals more calls answered, lower hold times, and more appointments made.  It’s simply a numbers game, economies of scale is king.
• When you keep calls in-house, the hold times start to grow, the quality of the calls begins to decline, and appointment quality suffers. Guess what else – you lose revenue, market share, and retention.  All this is very costly, far more than having a BDC partner #CatchTheCalls for you.
• Generally speaking outsourcing will cost about half of staffing your own Service BDC.  Don’t forget you’re also probably paying for benefits, having to interview and hire constantly, paying for job ads, etc.  You get the idea.

Alternatively…

• If you simply must have your own Service BDC, there is a hybrid option that you may find appealing. You can take the first stab at answering the calls in-house first with your small in-house team and only allow your Service BDC outsourcing partner to handle the calls you can’t get to yourself.  You get the benefit of retaining control of your Service BDC, not letting calls slip through the cracks, and getting the after hours coverage that you need.  This will cost more than simply outsourcing all your calls but let’s face it, it can be scary to just turn all of your customers over to an outside company.  This might be the happy medium you’re looking to achieve.

Good luck!