What can a contact center gain by working remotely?

Working remotely is becoming more and more popular. In the United States, as many as 43% of employees work remotely at least once a month. Whereas in Poland, according to the latest research, already 1/3 of employers create the possibility of remote work for their employees. No wonder. The Randstad Employer brand research 2018 report indicates that 27% of Polish people consider flexibility first when looking for employment.

How does the remote work model influence the organization of contact center departments? What are the challenges of working in a dispersed team? What possibilities does it create?

Working remotely in a contact center means greater efficiency

Many people associate home office work with a lack of control over work efficiency. People believe that without looking over employee’ shoulders, employees have a problem with concentrating on tasks and cannot mange time properly.

However, research shows that it is quite the opposite.

In 2014, Ctrip in China, in cooperation with Stanford University, conducted a survey during which call center employees could work from home for nine months. The control group, which remained in the office, accounted for half of the employees calling the clients. It turned out that remote employees were more productive than their office colleagues – they conducted 13.5% more business talks on average.

The introduction of remote contact center employees can therefore increase productivity. Employees who value out-of-office work tend to have more self-discipline and have a stronger internal motivation to work.

So if you are thinking about how to improve your company’s communication with clients, introducing a remote consultant work model can be a great solution.

Remote contact center work means less
employee turnover

In the study described above, attention was also drawn to the employer experience. The interviews showed that remote workers felt much greater satisfaction from work. As many as 50% of the respondents resigned from work less frequently.

Employees who can even partially work remotely are simply more satisfied with their work situation. This is confirmed by other studies. More than 95% of the participants in the Remote Work Market and Employee Expectations Survey 2018, conducted by Kantar TNS and the Remote-How startup, speak positively or very positively about remote working.

It is the remote work model that can solve one of the biggest HR problems of call and contact center departments – very high turnover of employees. An employee, having a chance to combine work in the office with work at home, will appreciate such a solution and will be less inclined to change the employer.

A stable team of consultants has a direct impact on the quality of customer service and on the financial condition of the company itself. When we do not waste time on implementing new employees or finances on training, we can better focus on developing the existing team and improving the quality of contact center services. In turn, high quality customer service is a condition for client loyalty. A satisfied client is a returning client, which translates into increased company turnover.

Remote contact center work means higher qualifications of employees

The modern contact center covers all business areas of companies – not only the helpline, but also marketing, sales, back-office or debt collection departments. On the other hand, clients expect a professional, quick acceptance and solution of the request, regardless of the type of case.

Therefore, the demands on contact center employees are increasing. In addition to obvious soft skills such as communication skills, reflexes and stress resistance, knowledge of a specific field (e.g. sales or negotiation techniques) or perfect mastery of foreign languages are increasingly valued.

Where to recruit employees who will improve the quality of the company’s contact center? Everywhere. Provided we introduce a remote working model. This will enable cooperation with people who live far from the company’s headquarters and are not able to work on a stationary basis. More and more young, talented workers are the so-called “digital nomads” who want to combine work with numerous travels. The priority is therefore to be able to work exclusively online.

Are you complaining about too few qualified contact center employees? Introduce the possibility of remote working and you will surely find suitable candidates.

Remote contact center operation means lower department maintenance costs

The fewer stationary employees, the lower the costs of office space maintenance and equipment operation. Remote working allows you to reduce the expenditure on the organization of workstations and infrastructure necessary to perform your duties.

According to the HBR magazine, companies whose employees work from home at least 3 days a week declare an annual turnover growth of 10% higher than companies that have not introduced the possibility of remote working.

Are you looking for savings? These will be formed on their own when your employees will be able to perform their duties from behind a desk in their own home.

Remote contact center work means modern technologies

Although remote working brings many benefits to contact center departments, it requires appropriately advanced technological background.

Above all, the contact center platform must support solutions that enable the system to work from anywhere in the world and from any device connected to the Internet. That is why modern contact centers use cloud solutions, which provide fast and secure access to data from any location.

Another indispensable element of remote contact center operation is a convenient and lightweight mobile application, which enables the consultant to communicate flexibly with both the client and the stationary contact center branch. Working on mobile devices should support the consultant’s communication on multiple channels.

Working in a dispersed team also includes video conferencing, webinars and group calls via telephone or chat. Therefore, an important functionality of the contact center software is the possibility of organizing virtual meetings in real time in high quality audio and video.

Remote work is also supported by a virtual branch, which allows to serve clients from any location, thus increasing the reach of the company.

Do you want your contact center platform to utilize the latest tools? Introduce a remote working model, which is an impulse for the technological development of contact center departments.

Remote contact center work is the future
of customer service

Undoubtedly, the introduction of remote work to contact center departments is a solution from which companies can benefit greatly:

increased efficiency of consultants,
enhanced stability of contact center teams,
extended staff with better qualified employees,
increased earning capacity,
modern technologies.

The remote labour market will continue to develop. Those companies that already offer the opportunity to work outside the office in a contact center will reinforce competitiveness and attract the very best employees. And the very best clients.