The business process outsourcing world is more than equipping businesses with the ability to cut costs. A staggering 74% of companies are outsourcing business processes. Made evident by the fact that the BPO industry generated 26 billion U.S. dollars back in 2019 alone.

A simple reason why the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has had such success is that it connects individuals and corporations, geographically separated, through powerful technologies that facilitate the flow of human and data interactions.

According to statistics, BPO services in the United States saw a growth of 3.5% as of last year, with over 260,000 BPO service providers. This shows that Americans now don’t have to look over the Pacific to outsource their work. 

Amidst such a competitive market, Atento Contact Center Solutions has emerged as a leader in the BPO industry from San Antonio, Texas. Hence, we need to take a deep dive into Atento.

Atento Contact Center Solutions Review

Established in 1999, Atento provides global BPO and CRM (Client Relationship Management) services. Their services include customer care, sales, back office, technical support, etc. Currently, Atento is the largest provider of BPO services in Latin America and ranks amongst the top five providers globally, year in and year out, basis revenue.

Over the last two decades, the company has developed its business model and expanded it across 14 countries with over 95+ relationship centers, 90,000+ workstations, and over 150,000 people occupying them. Today, Atento is providing its CRM and BPO services to over +400 clients, most of which are multinational corporations leading their industries, i.e., telecommunications, health, banking, and financial services, amongst others. 

When it comes to careers at Atento, the company is a haven for employees. Atento has been recognized by Great Place to Work as one of the top 25 best companies to work for in the world consecutively for eight years. In some countries where it operates, like Spain, Brazil, and Argentina, Atento has also been recognized as one of the Best Workplaces. 

The company has a distinctive trait of combining data technology with digital tools to their vast consumer relationships experience to generate valuable insights throughout the end-customer’s journey. Thus making the experiences of both consumers and companies more valuable and memorable.

What do we think about Atento?

As a small company looking to outsource, Atento will be one of the first names on the search engine. But It lacks personalization, live chat support, and highly complex website design, but we’ll advise you to steer clear.

 A corporation that works and talks about the end-customer experience and the technical brilliance of its contact center is ironically not equipped with the arsenal of the contemporary world. 

For a growing business that needs cost-effective solutions to survive in its initial days, Atento is a hefty title for which you’ll bear a premium that you could utilize elsewhere. This can be attributed partly to the company’s worldwide standing and partly to the absence of skilled and thrifty Asian employees. 

Some Atento Alternatives

We have compiled a list of 5 Atento alternatives to provide your business with the outsourcing help it needs.

1. 1840 & Company

1840 & Company is a favorable alternative to Atento. It’s a Kansas based BPO offering similar contact center services with both onshore and offshore support. In addition to contact center solutions, 1840 provides a wide array of business solutions, such as outsourcing your marketing, finance, sales, back office, and IT.

1840 & Company is dedicated to accelerating business growth through support and outsourcing services. Utilizing their expertise, they bridge the gap by providing valuable talent to companies at an affordable cost, enabling expansion of operations.

Like Atento, they provide comparable call center solutions, but typically at a better price. They also have a large database of LATAM support available as well as in the Philippines and India. 

They can onboard and train support agents in over 150 different countries, who speak in-language, work within your time zone, and are well experienced. Large clients like Groupon use them for outsourcing their customer support. 

Their all-in-one comprehensive solutions make them a one-stop shop for most businesses looking to outsource remote teams and work.  

What do we think?

1840 & Company is an excellent alternative to Atento with lower pricing in the LATAM region, as well as offering exceptional CX in 150 different countries. 

Key Points:

  1. Trained and onboarded talent pool from across 150 countries.
  2. Offers outsourced teams and independent freelancers in addition to contact center solutions
  3. The clientele comprises of both large and small companies like Groupon, LearnZillion, Instacart, Homelight, and Isango!
  4. A global pricing model that is dependent on your needs & cheaper than Atento
  5. End-to-end CX solutions very similar to Atento

2. Signius Communications

Offering your business affordable 24-hour coverage and an extensive selection of call center services to company needs is Signius Communications. Founded in 1994, Signius provides 100% U.S.- based support customized for small businesses. They offer low cost-monthly plans and multi-industry support to ensure that your business needs are met.

From helping you manage day-to-day operations and emergency services to handling call overflow during peak hours, Signius Communications does it all. Their 12 locations across the nine states guarantee that your calls will always be answered. Their bilingual call agents can also assist your callers in English and Spanish both. 

What do we think?

Signius Communications is a purely U.S.-centric call center that solely provides call center services. For a small-scale business that is starting out and is in the market for call center services to not miss out on new customers or customer grievances, Signius is a good option. However, we must warn you that high-volume calls can get expensive.

Key Points:

  1. Never miss a call with 12 call-center locations in 9 states.
  2. User-friendly client portal.
  3. Pay-as-you-go plans.

3. GetCallers

A New York-based business with over 1600 agents working out of the Philippines. GetCallers offers a wide range of services like cold calling, personal life assistance, inbound call center services, solutions, appointment setting, etc. They are renowned for their lead generation and sales ability.

So, stand a chance to increase your revenue by building a partnership with GetCallers, a company specializing in lead generation and deal closing. 

Though the platform relies on agents operating from different locations, you can select your agents by going through their voice recordings and choosing your dedicated team. When it comes to outbound calls, you can utilize a local phone number or use your business number.

As their marketing and sales platform integrates with many available customer relationship management (CRM) programs, you can pick call times while also taking advantage of call recording possibilities. 

What do we think?

Their per-hour fee with a minimum of 30 hours per week might not suit your business needs. However, their weekly packages offer a dedicated account manager, analytics, reporting, and live transfer. For a global brand, their English-only agents might not be suitable, whereas brands operating solely in the U.S. might have negative user experience due to accents or enunciations.

Key Points:

  1. Dedicated Account Manager.
  2. Cancel anytime with a three-days notice option.
  3. Great for lead generation and sales.

4.  MAP Communications

Map Communications has been in the business for over 30 years. Flexible low-volume call center plans paired with 24/7 agent help have helped small companies impress their callers. They never have to pay extra for unused services; their monthly plans are built to support you when you need them.

They operate year-round with 100% U.S.- based services and bilingual agents that speak Spanish and English. Choose how you’d like to receive messages through your secure portal, email, text digital, or alpha paging while also forwarding calls and allowing you to select a new 800 number for customer care needs.

Apart from phone answering services, they offer Voicemail, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Alarm Monitoring Services, and Live Virtual Receptionist. They serve healthcare, legal, hospitality, finance, and other industries. You can trust their agents with private medical data because MAP is HIPAA compliant. 

 What do we think?

Healthcare, Insurance, and such businesses will benefit the most from employing MAP Communications due to their HIPAA compliance. They take pride in working extensively with small-scale companies, which might help you. You cannot customize your on-hold music or leave them without a 30-day cancellation notice.

Key Points: 

  1. HIPAA compliant
  2. 100% U.S. based and 24/7 agents
  3. No long-term contracts

5. Specialty Answering Service (SAS)

SAS call center services might be perfect if you have multiple communication channels across platforms/the internet. This Pennsylvania-based specialty answering service provides 24/7 support for your end-users. Besides taking care of calls, they keep the conversation flowing on social media by replying to messages/cleaning up spam, and many other things. 

They are HIPAA and PCI-compliant and have 100%, U.S.-based agents. These agents are responsible for order processing, help desk, lead capture, and message-taking services via all available social and online media.

What do we think?

The only positive takeaway is that they answer social media messages as well. SAS doesn’t offer bilingual agents in call-based plans. At the same time, the Add-On costs can add up quickly, throwing your budget out of the window.

Key Points:

  1. 14-day free trial, no credit card.
  2. Takes care of social media messages as well.

Conclusion

Atento is a well-known global company in the contact center industry, but it may not be appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses. Consider a customized solution that fits your company’s needs, industry, and team. After a quick go-through of the options mentioned above, it’s always a good idea to get multiple quotes from the other providers above.

Once you have employed a call center solution, you can then measure the success or failure of your customer service through these eight key metrics.  We hope this blog helped you on your quest to find out about the Atento contact center solution and its alternatives!