The Business Reflection Zone

Why Clear Harbor Detail

Identifying New Opportunities for Business Reflection Across the Spectrum of Customer Care Services

Customer Care Future

The chart provided in this analysis represents the full spectrum of customer care work, spanning in-house operations and third-party outsourcing contracts.
Everything to the right of the center line represents work where a direct response or interaction with a customer is required.
Everything left of center represents indirect back-office processes, paperwork, administrative tasks, etc., where interaction with an end customer is not required to accomplish the work.
Clear Harbor business extension zones
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Outsourcers Avoid the Hard Work

Zones 3 and 4 represent simple BPO and call center workload where there is low impact to the brand if errors occur and performance is inconsistent. “Big-box” outsourcing generalists gravitate to this type of work, which is typically governed under a service level agreement (SLA).
Zones 1 and 6 represent complex tasks and requests using specialized expertise, with work almost always handled by in-house experts and licensed professionals (e.g., physicians, nurses, attorneys, engineers, financial agents).
Work in zones 1, 2, 5, and 6 is traditionally perceived to be too risky to delegate to third-parties due to the negative brand impact of poor performance or a bad customer experience.

Succeeding in the Business Reflection Zone

Clear Harbor focuses almost exclusively on workload represented by zones 2 and 5, referred to as “business extension” zones.

Zone 2 back-office work requires sustained accuracy, consistency, speed and tenacity. Zone 5 contact center work requires out-of-the-ordinary, intuitive thinkers with advanced training and better oversight to address more challenging customer requests.
Although work in these zones is also typically SLA-driven, there is an added “expectation level agreement” (ELA) in play due to the rising overall expectations of consumers for a flawless, frictionless experience when using a product or service. From a corporate perspective, a brand is put at risk if work in these zones is not performed with ultimate precision.

Clear Harbor achieves success in these zones through a business extension approach we call Brand and Strategy Mirroring.

Clear reflection differs from outsourcing in that it requires a closer relationship with the client, seamless strategy and brand alignment, deep management commitment and better personnel with more training. It requires a precision management mindset, full mirroring of client objectives and culture, and the attention and tenacity of specially-trained people working in a highly collaborative manner as a seamless extension of the client’s business.

Brand and Strategy Mirroring Allows Clear Harbor to...

Resolve challenging customer requests using carefully selected and trained agents with exceptional language skills and a strong inclination for problem-solving
Perform back-office tasks that require machine-like speed, accuracy and consistency but are difficult or cost-prohibitive to accomplish with internal personnel

Clear Harbor achieves brand and strategy mirroring for our clients through our
Clear Reflection Services for Customer Care.

Clear reflection can bring significant cost savings while achieving as good or better results than in-house personnel doing the same work, while also preserving CSAT and brand equity.

Learn More About Clear Reflection Services