Should I Hire a Multilingual Call Center?

There is a very common doubt among business owners who have a company that provides services at an extra-national level: should I hire a multilingual call center? After all, what are these call centers? Are they for me? In this article, the team of BrazilDesk will answer this doubt in a brief and direct way.

1960s–1970s: Bilingual Call Centers Take Off

This type of call center appeared around the 1980s and 1990s when companies started to globalize and reach levels never seen before. In the 1960s–1970s bilingual call centers extended mostly to airlines related to domestic tourism, like American Airlines. Back then, they offered international reservations by phone and handled requests and complaints. With this, a demand arose to hire immigrants for this sector.

1980s: Globalization Gains Momentum

By the 1980s, we can say that globalization began to show signs it would come in full force: large expansion of American, Japanese, and European multinationals around the world. Companies like IBM had multilingual centers in the USA and Europe to provide technical support in English, French, Spanish, etc. Kodak… remember it? Well, it had customers worldwide selling cameras and had support lines in Europe and the United States. At that time, companies still used analog PBX systems and physical spreadsheets to record calls, without software. In that decade, there was also a lot of outsourcing in this sector.

1990s: Outsourcing Customer Support in Full Force

In the 1990s, customer support outsourcing came with full force. With the popularization of the internet and the explosion in the number of electronic products and software, the demand for multilingual support was growing and now 24/7. Companies like Dell outsourced their support from India, HP from Ireland and the Philippines.

2000s: Global BPO and Digital Expansion

The 2000s was the era of global BPO and digital expansion – the BPO sector exploded and companies realized that outsourcing customer support was cheaper and more scalable. Large multilingual BPO operators emerged like Atento and Teleperformance. Companies like Dell, Yahoo, and Expedia outsourced this service to handle such demand. Technologies like Salesforce (2009) and Zendesk (2007) gained strength and are still going strong today.

Also in the 2000s: Automation and Multichannel Services

In the 2000s automation began, besides companies offering their services in multiple languages, they now offered them on multiple channels. Big companies like Airbnb, Spotify and Netflix outsource their support and evolve every year in their way of serving the customer.

Present: AI, Chatbots and Customer Experience

Present – currently, the word of the moment is artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots. The COVID‑19 pandemic caused the demand for virtual service to grow a lot, also bringing the possibility of remote work that until then was still seen with disfavor by many companies. Companies also began to focus on Customer Experience for even more customized service prepared for each type of customer. Companies like Amazon, TikTok and Revolut stand out with multilingual and remote teams equipped with tools like ChatGPT (OpenAI) and bots to assist in support.

Focused call center agent wearing headset working in cubicle office space

How are multilingual call centers structured?

1. Location Models

Onshore: Team located in the same country as the clients, but fluent in several languages.
Nearshore: Team in nearby countries (e.g., U.S. companies hiring in Mexico or Colombia).
Offshore: Team in distant countries, with lower cost (e.g., India, Philippines, South Africa).

2. Service Models

Agents dedicated per language: Separate teams for each language. E.g., a queue for French, another for German.
Multilingual agents: Professionals who speak two or more languages and handle multiple queues.
Support with simultaneous translation: Use AI or human translators as backup (less common due to time and quality issues).

3. Support Channels

Phone (traditional voice or VoIP)
Live chat (websites, apps)
Email
Social networks
Messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.)
Self‑service with AI (multilingual chatbots)

4. Technology and Tools

CRM (Customer Relationship Management): e.g., Salesforce, Zendesk, Freshdesk
Intelligent routing systems (IVR with language recognition)
QA software (Quality Assurance) to ensure proper support in each language
Omnichannel platforms to integrate multiple channels and languages into one system

🧑‍💼 Who needs multilingual call centers?

Companies with international presence, or that want to reach foreign customers, especially in sectors that require constant support.

There are several sectors that require a multilingual call center. If your company has customers who speak another language, you need bilingual or trilingual agents for support. The sectors that stand out are:

Ecommerce – when your online store is selling to people around the world.
Technology/SaaS – generally software or online tools without geographic limits.
Tourism – hospitality, aviation, booking sites need multilingual teams.
Finance (fintech) – a growing market in globalization.
Games and online entertainment – today we have more games than ever, especially mobile.
Education (learning platforms) – for online courses and schools using the internet to help students.
Healthcare / Telemedicine – many hospitals outsource multilingual support to serve large centers.
Services dealing with immigrants – very common, e.g., call centers outsourced in Mexico by the United States.

🌍 Advantages of using a multilingual call center

Improved customer experience (CX) and satisfaction
Higher sales conversion rate
Market expansion with cultural adaptation
24/7 operations with agents in different time zones
Cost reduction by hiring in countries with cheaper labor

⚠️ Common challenges and risks

Maintain quality and consistency between languages
Cultural training for agents
Managing a remote and dispersed team
Dependence on solid QA and monitoring systems
High turnover in countries where BPO is very common

Conclusion

If you have a business in any of these sectors or you notice that there is a demand for qualified support in another language, don’t waste time! It is very likely that you need a qualified support team. Here at BrazilDesk we offer our customer service in three languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. If you are interested in talking to us, click here.