Today, widespread adoption of IP communications has removed the primary technology barrier to putting your agents where you want them - and where they want to be - and forward-thinking companies have aggressively embraced these capabilities with innovative remote and outsourced/offshored agent resources. There are many examples, one of the best-known being JetBlue which provides customer service through remote, usually home-based agents who are able to work flexible hours and eliminate their commutes - the fact that the ‘call center' agent may be sitting in their kitchen is completely transparent to the customer.
It should be noted that Virtual Contact Centers are not for every situation. For instance, in a situation where (usually) lower-cost agents are deployed - such as in a simple order-taking center - it is often necessary for those agents to be more closely-managed by supervisors, which is much more easily accomplished when those agents are located in one place.
In addition, there has also been a significant (and I believe, quite unfair) backlash against outsourced and particularly offshore labor. While the number of companies who deploy offshore agents is significantly higher than most consumers realize, many enterprises still prefer to keep their agents not only centralized, but closer to ‘home' and ‘onshore' - in some cases for customer service purposes, but in other cases for PR reasons so they are not portrayed as sending jobs ‘offshore'.
The benefits of Virtual Contact Centers are numerous. They include:
Flexibility - the ability to put your agents where it is most convenient - both for your organization, and for the agents. This potentially opens up the labor pool tremendously, and creates opportunities for such employees as part-timers, seasonal employees, students, retirees and stay-at-home parents to work hours and locations that fit their lifestyles, and who may not be interested in a traditional ‘Call Center' job.
This flexibility also it makes it easier to integrate outsourced operations - onshore or offshore - more tightly into your operation. This is often seen, for instance, in retailers who have seasonal spikes in demand such as retailers at holiday time, who often use outsourced and virtual resources to handle those spikes.
Cost - Cost savings are significant - and include:
Before it became a necessity during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, many companies had already begun realizing the benefits inherent in embracing remote work. These benefits are substantial and signal that (even when the pandemic is but a memory) remote work will continue to flourish and become a mainstay in the redefined workplace - particularly when it comes to VoIP. This guide will demonstrate how the workforce is changing and leaning toward remote work as a permanent business choice, explain the critical role VoIP will continue to play in supporting remote work, and highlight some of the new trends and innovations coming in 2021 for VoIP. more