A low-cost BPO may sound attractive at first. But buyer beware.
A cheaper option may come with hidden risks—untrained agents, outdated technology, lack of robust infrastructure, or insufficient compliance with industry standards—that could cost you more in the long run.
To help you make the right decision, we’ve prepared a comprehensive list of questions designed to help you evaluate the BPO proposal. From assessing the quality of their service to understanding their ability to help you scale, this list will ensure you’re making a well-informed choice for your business and your customers.
Employee Experience
1. Are your agents employees or contractors?
Why it matters: Contractors often lack benefits and create higher security risks.
Peak Support’s Answer: All of our team members are employees.
2. What do you pay your agents?
Why it matters: Well-compensated agents are more likely to stick around. If a BPO is unwilling to disclose this, they could be hiding poor compensation practices.
Peak Support’s Answer: In the Philippines, our all-in monthly cash compensation comes to 27,200 PHP/month. We pay Manila rates throughout the country, so we are significantly above market in rural areas. Wages in our other locations are also available upon request.
3. What benefits do you provide?
Why it matters: Comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits show that a BPO invests in its people. It also makes employees more likely to stick around.
Peak Support’s Answer: Our benefits include:
- Health, dental, and vision insurance starting on day 1
- Paid leave including vacation, sick, maternity, and birthday leave
- Employee Assistance Program for free mental health, financial and legal support
- Holiday pay
- Jury duty, bereavement, and military leave
- 401(k) retirement plan for eligible U.S.-based employees
- Life insurance coverage
- Monthly internet allowance for remote team members
4. What is your all-in attrition rate?
Why it matters: Agents who stick around will know your brand and your processes.
Peak Support’s Answer: Our overall attrition rate is 3.5%/month. This is on-par with the average American company. Most BPOs have attrition of 5%/month or more.
Please note: “All-in” is the key word here. Most BPOs will share an attrition rate with prospective clients. Often, the number they share only includes voluntary turnover, and only for employees who have at least 6 months tenure. Make sure you know exactly what the numbers represent.
Business Continuity
5. What was your downtime due to weather in the last six months?
Why it matters: Extreme weather events are becoming more common all over the globe. Find out whether your prospective BPO is in a hurricane zone, and how well they weather the storms.
Peak Support’s Answer: Peak Support operates a 99% work-at-home environment which minimizes the potential impact of physical or regional downtimes on the business. We also leverage cloud and SaaS providers with contracted SLA for uptime of 99.97% or greater. As of this writing, we have not experienced any incidents that severely impacted our ability to provide service. At most, 0.25% of our agents were absent due to weather disturbances at any point.
6. Describe any incidents in which your center was closed or agents couldn’t work.
Why it matters: Consistency is key — repeated outages are a red flag.
Peak Support’s Answer: At Peak Support, we have a 99% remote workforce, which means the risk of a complete shutdown due to natural disasters is virtually eliminated. Our team members are distributed across the Philippines and around the world, so a disruption in one location will never affect the entire operation. For example, during Typhoon Man-Yi—when over 1 million people were evacuated—our absenteeism rate was only 4% above normal.
We also have robust disaster recovery plans designed to minimize downtime and restore operations quickly, with a goal of having critical systems back online within six hours.
In addition, for clients working with multiple BPOs, we’ve often stepped in to handle additional volume when another provider’s center experiences a shutdown.
Security & Tech
7. Do you provide agents with computers? How do you secure their computers, whether corporate or personal?
Why it matters: Data breaches are common – and extremely costly. Keeping client data secure should be any BPO’s #1 priority.
Peak Support’s Answer: We provide all our employees, including those working remotely, with company-managed laptops. We manage these laptops through Microsoft Intune, a cloud-based service that provides mobile device management, mobile application management, and PC management capabilities. This allows us to control how our company devices are used, including the ability to remotely wipe data if necessary. In addition, we use Island, an enterprise secure browser. This tool allows us to enforce rules and policies for web-based applications, ensuring that our agents can access the internet safely and securely while working. We also leverage Teramind, which records 100% of all activity on the desktop, allowing us to monitor user activity in real-time and retain recordings for three months.
8. What is your BitSight score?
Why it matters: This objective metric evaluates cybersecurity posture. Bitsight is a leading cybersecurity ratings platform trusted by some of the largest organizations globally. Bitsight leverages info from 120+ sources across 25 key risk vectors.
Peak Support’s Answer: We are proud to maintain an industry-leading Bitsight score of 800 (considered “Advanced”).
9. What level of insurance coverage do you have?
Why it matters: If something goes wrong, you want to be covered. Insurance coverage is also an indicator that your BPO is following industry standard processes and practices.
Peak Support’s Answer: We maintain comprehensive insurance coverage to ensure strong protection for our clients and our operations. Our policies cover a wide range of potential risks, including professional, general, and cyber liability.
- Commercial General Liability: $2M
- Professional Liability: $5M
- Cybersecurity Insurance: $5M
- Excess E&O (Error & Omissions) – $5M
- Umbrella – $5M
10. What certifications do you hold (SOC 2, PCI, etc.)?
Why it matters: PCI is critical for handling credit cards; HIPAA is critical for handling health information; ISO 27001 is a best-in-class information security standard; and SOC 2 covers security and organizational practices as well as financial and organizational stability.
Peak Support’s Answer: We are PCI, SOC 2, HIPAA, and ISO 27002 certified, with ISO 27001 expected in Q3 of 2025. Additionally, we are GDPR and CCPA compliant and continuously address regulatory needs as they arise.
11. Will agents be hybrid, in-center, or remote? What are your security protocols?
Why it matters: The BPO should have a comprehensive set of security protocols for both in-person and remote work.
Peak Support’s Answer: Peak Support has operated as a fully remote company since our founding. We recently launched our first physical call center, and will adhere to all applicable security standards for on-site work. But we remain 99% remote.
Unlike organizations that adopted remote work out of necessity during the pandemic, our infrastructure, culture, communication practices, management and security systems were purpose-built to support a distributed workforce.
To ensure security and accountability in a remote environment, we implement rigorous protocols tailored to client needs. We will provide our security processes to any client or prospect who asks.
12. What solutions do you offer for call center software, including CRM, telephony, AI solutions, and more? What does it cost?
Why it matters: Even if you come to the engagement with your own contact center tech stack already set up, you want a partner who can help you optimize that tech stack and evaluate & implement new solutions if it becomes necessary. AI tools, in particular, need to be actively managed. If you’re not doing that in-house, make sure your BPO has the capability to do it.
Peak Support’s Answer: Our CX Tech Team can implement new software or optimize your existing tech stack. We have expertise in dozens of CX platforms, with certifications and/or official partnerships with Zendesk, Salesforce, Intercom, Gorgias, and HubSpot.
We usually start with a CX Health Check, which is 100% complimentary. Our team will dive deep in your systems to evaluate your current setup and identify areas for improvement. Based on our findings, we will scope out a proposed Scope of Work and list all the costs, typically based on a labor rate or $50-75/hour.
13. Do you have a helpdesk for agent tech issues?
Why it matters: Solid IT support prevents downtime.
Peak Support’s Answer: Our helpdesk operates 24/5 on weekdays, and from 9 AM to 5 PM ET on weekends.
Account Management
14. Will I have a dedicated Account Manager? Who is it, and what is their role?
Why it matters: You should know who your account manager is, and whether they are responsible for operations, or primarily a sales contact. If they don’t understand operations, then their primary focus will be retaining and upselling you. If that’s the case, ask who will manage your account on an operational basis, their level of experience, and their role.
Peak Support’s Answer: At Peak Support, you will have a dedicated Client Success Manager (CSM), who serves as your single point of contact and strategic partner. The CSM owns every aspect of your account, including client communications, team operations, training, quality assurance (QA), and workforce management. This means you’re working directly with a decision-maker—someone fully empowered to act in your best interests.
Your CSM can allocate training and QA resources, modify reporting to meet your unique needs, and make operational decisions quickly to drive performance and efficiency. Their role is to ensure your success by aligning our team, tools, and processes with your goals.
A CSM may manage one account, if it’s larger (30 to 100 agents, depending on complexity). Or they may manage a few accounts. Every CSM reports to a Client Success Executive who oversees 1 to 10 accounts depending on complexity.
In addition, Peak Support has Centers of Excellence in Training, QA, and Workforce Management. These teams are composed of our most senior experts who develop and implement best practices across all client accounts. While these Centers provide deep expertise and strategic guidance, your CSM retains ownership and authority to direct resources in a way that delivers the best results for you.
15. What’s the average tenure and experience of Account Managers?
Why it matters: Look for deep industry experience and low turnover.
Peak Support’s Answer: CSMs typically have 10+ years of experience. Our Client Success Executives or CSEs are our most experienced operators across geographies, typically with 15+ years of experience. Most CSMs and CSEs have been promoted internally, though some are hired externally.
16. What is the Account Manager’s role and engagement cadence?
Why it matters: Will you be able to get your Account Manager on the phone whenever you want to? Will someone answer your emails or pick up the phone when you call? Make sure you know what to expect.
Peak Support’s Answer: The specific meeting cadence varies depending on clients. Some clients want or need daily meetings, while others only want to meet once or twice a month. On average, our CSMs meet at least weekly with every client. There are often side-meetings for Training, QA, and other topics. Larger, more complex accounts have multiple points of contact and there may be multiple meetings scheduled every day.
Quality
17. What’s your average QA score across clients?
Why it matters: High scores reflect strong hiring, training, and coaching.
Peak Support’s Answer: We have a 95% QA score on average across all our client accounts, with many clients seeing 97-99% QA.
18. What is your approach to QA?
Why it matters: Make sure your BPO has a robust QA program.
Peak Support’s Answer: We offer both manual and AI-driven QA, depending on client preference.
For manual QA, we have a low ratio of 1 QA analyst to 20 agents, compared with 1 to 50 or 60 at most BPOs. This allows us to do deep analysis so we’re not just collecting data; we’re taking action based on the insights. We also ensure all team members receive coaching based on their QA scores.
Our QA analysts don’t just audit tickets – they dive deep, doing Root Cause Analysis to understand the reason behind common markdowns and recommend action plans for improvement. Those action plans could include agent training and coaching. But we’ll also proactively make recommendations for product, process, or policy improvements based on customer insights we’re seeing.
In addition to our human-powered QA, we leverage AI and advanced analytics to score 100% of tickets for quality and assess customer sentiment. We can utilize or adopt any third-party tool you already use, recommend and implement a third-party tool, or use our own internal AI-powered sentiment analysis tool.
Outside of auditing, our QA analysts also coach Team Members based on audits. They conduct deep dives into ticket data and CSAT scores to develop recommendations that enhance processes and improve customer satisfaction (CSAT), send weekly audit reports and conduct QA calibrations with clients, provide feedback to Team Leads who coach agents, and also provide additional coaching directly to agents when needed.
Training
19. Will you fully own training?
Why it matters: A great BPO will take ownership after initial onboarding. This means one less thing on your plate!
Peak Support’s Answer: We employ a “train the trainer” approach, taking charge of all training post-launch. This includes refining existing training materials and crafting new ones, guided by our in-house Instructional Designers who adhere to adult learning best practices. Should clients desire involvement in training, our trainers collaborate closely with their in-house teams to develop and deliver tailored sessions.
20. Will you create or supplement training materials?
Why it matters: You want your training materials to follow industry best practices.
Peak Support’s Answer: Yes, we offer full instructional design support to create or enhance training materials tailored to your needs. Our in-house curriculum development team collaborates closely with clients to build engaging, effective training programs grounded in adult learning principles.
After receiving initial training content from your team, our trainers partner with our curriculum developers to assess, refine, and expand the materials as needed. This includes creating practice exercises, assessments, and certification processes—ensuring agents are thoroughly prepared to represent your brand.
Our instructional design approach is based on a proprietary training framework inspired by the methodology used by Kaplan to educate millions of adult learners. This methodology ensures that training is not only informative but also actionable, scalable, and aligned with your business goals. Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to improve existing content, Peak Support can deliver high-quality, customized training that drives results.
Reporting
21. What reporting do you provide, and how often?
Why it matters: A good BPO should provide excellent reporting. But they shouldn’t just crunch the numbers – they should use the data to provide pro-active, actionable insights.
Peak Support’s Answer: We provide a comprehensive and customizable suite of reporting solutions designed to deliver actionable insights.
We build client-accessible dashboards that include your internal data; Peak Support’s data, such as absenteeism and attrition; and external data like app store reviews. These dashboards use AI to proactively pull out insights that make your business better.
We use generative AI to ingest and summarize customer-agent interactions, providing real-time CX and agent sentiment tracking, identifying key trends, and isolating critical issues. We leverage MSFT Fabric AI to extract and analyze public sentiment from public reviews, tracking sentiment trends across app versions and ratings
In addition, reports can be delivered on a schedule that aligns with your operational cadence—daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly—and are tailored to meet your specific KPIs and business goals.
Whether you’re looking for high-level executive dashboards or granular operational insights, Peak Support delivers reporting that empowers better decision-making and drives performance.
Financial Stability
22. What are your Debt Service Coverage and Current Ratios?
Why it matters: These ratios reveal financial health and sustainability.
Peak Support’s Answer: We significantly exceed industry benchmarks for key financial health metrics, with a Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) of 4.6x—well above our internal target of 2.0x. This demonstrates our ability to comfortably meet financial obligations and reinforces our long-term sustainability.
23. Who are your banking partners?
Why it matters: Reputable banking partners indicate reliability.
Peak Support’s Answer: We partner with leading banks in the United States and overseas. Banking partners available to clients and prospects upon request.
Cost & Contract Terms
24. Are there any setup costs?
Why it matters: You want to make sure there aren’t any hidden costs.
Peak Support’s Answer: We do not charge any setup fees, unless there is a tech implementation, which we will scope and price out separately. For the vast majority of clients, we charge an hourly fee which covers all costs.
25. Are training, QA, reporting, and WFM included in the cost? If not, what is the cost
Why it matters: Make sure you know what your costs will be – and make sure you’re comparing apples to apples if you have two different prices from two BPOs.
Peak Support’s Answer: At Peak Support, training, quality assurance (QA), reporting, and workforce management (WFM) are all included in our standard pricing. There are no surprise add-on fees for these core services.
26. Are we billed when agents are out? Are there any other hidden costs?
Why it matters: Make sure all your bases are covered when it comes to identifying hidden costs!
Peak Support’s Answer: We bill only for hours actually worked. You are not charged for unbillable time such as paid time off or sick leave. Our billing approach is designed to be fair, predictable, and easy to understand.
27. What is your contract length and termination flexibility?
Why it matters: Avoid long lock-ins and punitive terms.
Peak Support’s Answer: We want to retain clients by doing a great job – not by locking you into long-term contracts. Our standard agreement is a 12-month contract. However, we offer flexible terms: you can cancel at any time within the first 90 days, and after that, we require only 60 days’ notice—often less, for smaller clients.
Make the Best Decision for your Company
Choosing a BPO to take care of your customers should not be determined by price alone. Other key factors such as track record, attrition rate, security protocols, and account management, among others, should also be taken into consideration. In the end, skimping out on quality to save extra money in the short term could prove to be very risky for your business. In fact, it can lead to a ruined brand reputation, or worse even bankruptcy.
We’re always happy to share what we know and help those who need it. We’ve attached a downloadable sheet full of questions that you can ask a potential outsourcing partner so you can make the best decision for you and your company.
If you would like to learn more about how Peak Support takes care of its clients and their customers, or if you would like to inquire about the array of services we offer, then get in touch with us today. We’d love to tell you about what sets us apart and why we could be the best choice for your company.
