Contact center
Contact center operations
Customer service
Outsourcing
Every organization says they want outsourced customer service to operate "like an in-house team."
It is a common expectation during conversations with potential outsourcing partners. While the expectation is common, its meaning often varies depending on the organization and its business priorities.
Does it mean that agents know the products? That they understand the brand? That customers cannot tell whether they are speaking to an internal or external team?
It can be defined by whether the outsourced operation becomes a seamless extension of the client's organization.
Customers should receive the same expertise, the same tone of voice, the same level of ownership, and the same quality they would expect from speaking directly with the brand.
Perhaps no one describes this better than Dimitri Kołodyński:
Dimitri Kołodyński Head of Advocacy & Care at L'Oréal PolandWith Axendi it actually never feels like outsourcing. It feels like they are real, our own L'Oréal embassy.
That single sentence captures what many organizations are really looking for. Not another supplier. A genuine extension of their own business.
It starts with understanding the business—not just the process
Many outsourcing projects begin with process documentation, system access, and product training.
Those elements are essential, they are also only the beginning.
Customers rarely contact an organization because they need information that appears in a manual. They contact customer service because they have a problem, a question, or a decision to make.
Helping them effectively requires understanding the broader business context.
Consultants need to understand:
- how customers use products,
- which situations matter most,
- what the brand promises,
- how different departments work together,
- what the commercial objectives are,
- which regulatory requirements must always be followed.
This is especially important in industries such as banking, healthcare, and premium retail, where every customer interaction directly influences trust.
As the client explains:
Dimitri Kołodyński Head of Advocacy & Care at L'Oréal PolandQuality does not end at the moment when the product leaves the shelf. Actually, it needs the support of an experienced team to help understand the product, how to use it, resolve any doubts around it, and the whole experience should be smooth.
This illustrates an important point. Excellent customer service is not separate from the product. It is part of the product experience itself.
Customers experience brands—not outsourcing providers
Customers never evaluate whether an agent works internally or externally. They evaluate whether the company helped them. Every conversation shapes brand perception.
That is why organizations increasingly expect outsourced teams to communicate exactly as their own employees would.
- The same tone of voice.
- The same quality standards.
- The same ownership.
- The same professionalism.
For premium brands such as L’Oréal, this means providing highly personalized support that reflects the values of the brand itself.
For banks, it means combining empathy with precision, security, and regulatory compliance. For healthcare organizations, it means balancing operational efficiency with patient care.
Customer service should adapt to the brand. The brand should never have to adapt to customer service.
Partnership means improving the business—not simply delivering the service
One of the biggest differences between traditional outsourcing and an in-house-level partnership is ownership.
A supplier executes tasks. A partner helps improve the way operations work.
The telecommunications case study shows this approach clearly. The project combined outbound sales activities with comprehensive inbound customer service operations, supported by a team of 200 agents and 15 experienced team leaders and trainers responsible for employee development and performance management.
Instead of focusing only on additional capacity, Axendi introduced initiatives that strengthened the entire operating model: redesigned recruitment, structured onboarding, mentoring for new agents, continuous KPI monitoring, personalized coaching, standardized scripts and communication guidelines, regular database maintenance, and stronger collaboration between operations, analytics, HR, and IT teams.
This shows what partnership means in practice. The goal is not only to deliver the agreed scope of work, but to improve operational stability, employee performance, customer experience, and business outcomes over time.
The results included a 20% year-over-year increase in sales volume, a reduction in employee turnover from 25% to 15%, a 30% increase in employee satisfaction, a 24% increase in NPS, and a 20.3% reduction in Average Handling Time.
This is the difference between simply providing people and taking responsibility for operational performance.
Transparency builds confidence
One of the biggest concerns organizations have about outsourcing is losing visibility.
How will we know what is happening day to day? How can we monitor quality? Will we still have control over the customer experience?
Customer service delivered at an in-house level should answer these questions by increasing transparency—not reducing it.
Organizations should understand not only whether KPIs have been achieved but also why performance changes, which customer issues occur most frequently, where operational bottlenecks exist, and what improvements should be prioritized.
That requires much more than periodic SLA reports. It requires meaningful operational insights supported by quality assurance, interaction analytics, business reviews, and continuous dialogue between both teams.
When customer service operates as an extension of the organization, transparency becomes part of everyday delivery rather than an additional reporting exercise.
Quality should scale together with the business
Delivering excellent customer service with a team of 20 consultants is one challenge.
Maintaining the same quality with hundreds of consultants supporting multiple channels, markets, and customer groups is another.
This is where mature operating models make the difference.
Quality cannot depend on individual agents. It must be embedded into recruitment, onboarding, coaching, quality assurance, knowledge management, and continuous performance improvement.
Axendi’s cooperation with Allegro illustrates how this approach works in practice.
What began as a customer service partnership has evolved into a large-scale operation supporting buyers and sellers across multiple communication channels and several languages. Throughout that growth, the focus has remained the same: maintaining consistent quality while continuously improving operational performance.
This is what organizations should expect from customer service delivered at an in-house level. Growth should not compromise customer experience.
Compliance should be embedded into daily operations
For organizations operating in banking, healthcare, insurance, or other regulated industries, customer service involves much more than answering questions. Every interaction may involve sensitive personal information, regulatory requirements, internal procedures, or audit obligations.
Delivering customer service at an in-house level therefore requires compliance to be embedded into everyday operations through standardized workflows, clearly defined responsibilities, documented procedures, quality assurance, controlled access to information, and continuous monitoring.
This approach allows customers to experience seamless service while giving organizations confidence that every interaction meets the required standards for information security, governance, and regulatory compliance.
Customer service should continuously improve—not simply operate
Many organizations measure outsourcing success by asking one question: Are service levels being achieved?
That question is important. It is not enough.
A true extension of the organization should also help answer questions such as:
- Why has contact volume increased?
- Which processes generate unnecessary customer effort?
- Which recurring issues should be eliminated?
- Where can automation improve efficiency?
- How can customer journeys be simplified?
This is where operational expertise creates value.
An outsourcing partner should continuously recommend improvements, identify opportunities to optimize processes, and help the organization adapt as customer expectations, products, and regulations evolve.
The objective is not simply to maintain operations. It is to make them better.
Summary
Organizations should expect an outsourcing partner to deliver:
- customer interactions that reflect their brand, values, and communication style,
- agents who understand products, processes, customer journeys, and business objectives,
- consistent quality supported by structured onboarding, coaching, and quality assurance,
- transparency through operational reporting, interaction analytics, and regular business reviews,
- embedded compliance, governance, and information security,
- flexibility to scale operations without compromising customer experience,
- proactive recommendations that improve customer service, operational efficiency, and business performance,
- a partnership focused on achieving business outcomes—not simply executing operational tasks.
