As COVID-19 spreads and impacts work around the globe, work-from-home options become more enticing to keep contact center business continuity customer operations running smoothly. To help prepare an organization for the shift to an at-home workforce to ensure business continuity and employee health, we’ve outlined key benefits of using home-based contact center agents for some or all of your customer sales and support.
Business continuity
When a crisis hits, geography can be the deciding factor if your business succeeds. Moving work to an at-home model reduces geographical risk of an on-premise contact center. A remote workforce is especially crucial during pandemics like COVID-19, where close contact among large groups of people is discouraged, and in some places banned. Moreover, if unforeseen regional macro challenges occur in offshore contact centers, e.g. ISP failures, remote workforces in more stable regions can offer a viable contingency plan.
Significant cost savings
A home-based model provides much more value to a business (and customers) than traditional contact centers, both in terms of cost savings and the quality of the customer experience. Low operational costs make it an attractive onshore option for companies looking to move back to the U.S., and the highly skilled and trained associates provide a higher standard of service.
When moving to a home-based model from a complete brick-and-mortar contact center operation, TTEC clients typically see real estate and equipment costs shrink by 70% and 25%, respectively. At the same time, employee retention increases by 65%, and performance management efficiencies increase by 20%.
A broader (and deeper) talent pool
Recruiting for home-based associates isn’t limited by geography, so the quality and volume of the talent pool automatically rises. Companies can find the best employees for both part- and full-time work from anywhere. And with an average age of 40 and an average work experience of 11 years, at-home associates bring professional and life experience to a client program, along with higher educational backgrounds.
Keeping data safe and secure
Information security is the number one concern when it comes to the at-home model. Often, fear of data breaches prevents companies from implementing home-based associates. TTEC takes data security very seriously, whether our agents work at home or in our brick-and-mortar sites. We have been operating an at-home environment for different industries for almost five years and can rapidly stand up PCI, HIPAA, HITRUST and GDPR complaint at-home solutions. Our on-going investment in best practices, into training, and vulnaribiity testing positions our clients for success when they use our at-home platform.
Playing the long game
Forward-looking businesses recognize the benefits of flexible staffing far outweigh sticking with a static, traditional work environment. When it comes to meeting customer expectations and maintaining productivity, the more flexibility companies have in ramping up or down quickly with a variety of dispersed staff; the better organizations will be at meeting service levels and delivering a great customer experience—regardless of what comes next.