The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way businesses work. With lockdowns being implemented across the world and social distancing guidelines being issued, we saw organizations adopting a work from home model. Contact centers were no exception. Businesses moved their contact center agents to work remotely.
Saying that remote working for a contact center poses its own challenges will not be wrong. From proving agent infrastructure like a chair, table to laptops, etc to a secure network and right tools and technology to handle calls – its a process in itself. However, having the right technology partner by your side significantly takes off the burden.
In this article, we will discuss some reasons why its time for contact centers to go for a work from home solution.
Remote Working is Here to Stay
Even though businesses were forced into going for a work from home arrangement due to the pandemic but now they are considering this as a long term solution. Partly it’s because of the uncertainties due to the COVID-19 virus but a lot of it is due to the benefits of working remotely too. May big brands like Google, Twitter, Salesforce, etc have already announced the extension of work from home, From cost to maintenance of contact centers – organizations are realizing the pros of remote working outweigh the cons. Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that remote working can very well be the new way of working.
Cost Benefits
One of the biggest reasons why remote or virtual contact centers are gaining popularity is due to the cost benefits. With the agents working from home, the companies are saving up on the infrastructure cost – office space, electricity bill, furniture, and other overhead costs. More importantly, now the organization can go for a cloud contact center solution that requires minimum to no infrastructure – the agents and supervisors can log in from anywhere, anytime using just a laptop/mobile phone and internet connection. Thus, eliminating the need to set up a dedicated space for an on-premise solution.
Overcoming Agent Infrastructure Challenges
For the call center agents to work effectively from their homes, they need to have access to similar, if not the same tools and technology at their homes. When working from office the agents have a laptop, call center software to manage calls, a secure network along other internal systems that they might be using. However, things become tricky when the agents are working remotely and don’t have the same infrastructure available. That’s when a work from home solution comes in handy. You need to opt for a remote call center solution vendor that lets your agents work using their laptops, smartphones, or even their feature phones or fixed lines. Only then can you expect to maintain consistently high agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
Remote Monitoring of Agents
Now that your agents are working from home, as a supervisor you need to be able to track their performance and take corrective action. Having a work from home contact center solution that allows you to do that remotely is what you need. A remote contact center solution with live dashboards to monitor the number of available agents, call volume, average wait time, etc while also providing reports for a detailed analysis. At the same time, a work from home solution is also needed to identify any gaps or issues with the agents’ devise. As a manager, you need to be able to trust the data and make well-informed insightful decisions.
Conclusion
If the pandemic has taught us anything, its that one should always be prepared for uncertain and difficult times. As a business too it is important for the management to ensure that they are investing in technology that will last in such times too. Thus, it is essential to choose a contact center technology partner that allows you the flexibility to easily migrate from your existing setup (eg, on-premise) to the new one (on-cloud) or vice-versa when the need arises. The true testament of a contact center solution lies in the way it makes the lives of your agents and supervisors easier while ensuring consistently high levels of customer satisfaction. Because if your agents and customers are happy, your bottom line will be happy too!