Call Center Industry News and Tips
Companies Use Home Call Center Agents To Reduce Carbon Footprint
By Christine M Harrell
Organizations look for ways to reduce their environmental impact to improve public relations, reduce expenses or just because it’s the right thing to do. [Read more...]
Virtual Call Center Requirements – Part I
By Allan Purdue
In our last article, we explored the concept of a Virtual Call Center and its many advantages over a traditional call center. Today we will look at how you could actually implement such a center. [Read more...]
Virtual Call Center – What It Means, and How It Differs From Traditional Centers
By Allan Purdue
The term has become widespread, but exactly what is a virtual call center?
Let’s begin by examining the concept of traditional centers and how they are used.
We will then delve into how the virtual equivalent differs in operation, and what the benefits can be of switching to a virtual configuration.
What is a Traditional Call Center?
The simplest definition of this term is: a group of people who make and/or receive calls for a given purpose, which can be but is not necessarily commercial in nature.
What are they Designed to Do?
Call centers can be used for many purposes. Business uses include:
However, they are not used only by businesses. Many non-profit organizations, hospitals, emergency personnel and various other parties use these centers to manage their call flow and ensure that urgent calls are quickly attended to and routed to the proper party.
If you have ever had reason to call 911, you’ve spoken to call center staff. You most likely heard “911, what is your emergency” or a similar question. This is an excellent example of such a center at work. You were briefly in a queue, your call was routed to an employee, they quickly gathered the information, and they then dispatched your information (hopefully!) to the appropriate party.
Survey and statistics organizations also employ call centers to gather useful data on a wide range of subjects. Employees in centers such as these might be placing outbound calls to gauge public opinion on important issues, collect general demographic information, perform market research, and more.
Even political parties use them. During election seasons, hundreds of call centers spring up across the US and Canada. The staff place canvassing calls to constituents, hoping to elicit voter support for a given candidate.
What are the Differences between traditional and Virtual Call Centers?
Simply put, a virtual call center offers a number of important differences and advantages as compared to its traditional equivalent. We’ll briefly list these in a top-level view, and then explore each in further detail.
Decentralization/work from anywhere: In a virtual configuration, center staff can work from nearly any physical location, in contrast to a traditional setup in which staff must work from a central office. The benefits are numerous: elimination of commute time; savings on vehicle costs; savings on a range of office costs; more flexible work schedules; and environmental benefits such as reduced vehicle emissions, office waste, hydro usage and more.
Cost savings: With a virtual configuration for a call center, cost savings can be realized in a variety of areas. One major factor is capital outlay for initial deployment – in a traditional setup, companies typically must purchase a complex and therefore expensive on-premise PBX system, pay for installation and hardware, and, in addition, still have to purchase software and possibly per-seat licenses to integrate advanced features such as tracking and reporting tools. The virtual configuration eliminates many of these costs by using a web-based service to deliver the same features and functionality as an on-premise alternative. In addition, quality virtual call center management software allows administrators to complete initial configuration themselves, eliminating the need for a potentially costly on-site technician.
Manager control and tracking: Crucial to success is the ability to track and measure agent performance. Good virtual call center software allows managers to track and produce reports on a variety of metrics, such as average hold time, number of calls answered vs. abandoned, time spent on each call, and more.
Scalability: As with initial configuration, growth and expansion present potential costs and logistical considerations. A virtual call center configuration can significantly reduce these costs by allowing administrators to quickly and easily add members to their staff via a simple web interface. This approach saves money by removing the need for another technician visit, and also saves valuable staff time by greatly simplifying the addition of a new staff member.
Ease of maintenance and changes: Most centers will experience the need to modify or “tweak” their configuration as they gain experience in handling calls and identify more efficient means of conducting business. A robust web interface, as previously mentioned, is again of great benefit. Administrators and managers can for example easily change the center’s call flow, add new prompts to existing auto-attendants, shuffle the priority of staff in a queue, or determine where unanswered calls are sent.
We hope you have found our initial article on virtual call centers to be informative and helpful and we invite you to peruse our subsequent articles on the topic as they are published.
How to Ensure Your Remote Employees Work Effectively
By Mark P Palmer
In today’s business world it has become increasingly common for employees to work from home. [Read more...]
Effective Online Meetings: 3 Steps to Ensure Productive Meetings
By James Hamby
Online meetings are a staple in today’s high tech business world. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to take steps to ensure the efficacy and productivity of your meetings. [Read more...]
Lone Workers
By David Lynes
As the way we work, where we work and how we work is forever changing, we are seeing a certain swing away from office based jobs and into people working alone, either by working from home or as part of a company that employs workers to go out and work remotely.
[Read more...]
Issues Related With Managing Virtual Employees
By Bill Walsh
In the Internet era, one remarkable development in personnel acquisition is saving office spaces by outsourcing work. The shift now goes toward hiring off-site employees with good skills set and keeping in-house population to a minimum. [Read more...]
The Real Challenges of Remote Leadership
By Duncan Brodie
Whether local, national or even international, leaders are finding more and more that they are having to lead teams of people who are remotely based from them.
New Rules for Virtual Management?
By Nancy J. Williams
"In the next three years, public and private sector IT decision makers expect telework to increase by sixty five percent and thirty three percent respectively."1 According to the Office of Personnel Management, in 2009 they reported that approximately 102,000 Federal employee's telework.
[Read more...]
Top Seven Benefits of Implementing Telecommuting Policy
By Larence Cok
Gone are the days when people have to buy new professional outfits to attend a meeting or to finalize an important business deal over lunch meetings. The advancement in technology has helped in improving connectivity by reducing the distances to a great level.
VoIP Contact Center: Why Shrinkage is Your Worst Nightmare
By Business Software
Whether you run an on-premise or virtual contact center, you know that shrinkage is your worst nightmare. This time that your agents spend doing anything other than interacting with customers is a drain on your overall budget. The biggest challenge for you is that some of the activities they are completing are necessary to the overall job.
[Read more...]
Know Something About Virtual Call Centers and Contact Center Solutions
By Walt R Robertson
To set up a virtual call center we need a contact center solution. A contact center solution comes in varied size depending on the size and the type of the business you are trying to set up. Virtual call centers are well equipped call centers to provide the quality service to their customer, for that they need the help of contact center solution.
[Read more...]
