Virtual call centers have been growing for the past decade, but due to the sudden disruption caused by Coronavirus, call centers are adopting work from the home model by leaving behind the conventional brick-and-mortar form of managing the trade. Moreover, the increasing popularity of cloud platforms empowers call centers to store unlimited data and access call center software from anywhere, at any time. In addition to all these, companies have started developing virtual call center software to benefit call centers that choose to work in a virtual environment.
If a call center is already has a call center solution, the company can get add-ons to seamlessly work remotely and enjoy the functionalities offered by a virtual call center solution
Of course, technology has supported this transition in this modern age call center, which were earlier managed under one roof. Thus, call centers need some new guidelines and best practices.
Presently agents can work from home administration of call center must find innovative methods to accurately train their agents. Any call center or business hiring remote agents must have adequate training and growth strategy.
An agent might be thousands of miles away from the manager it is challenging to conduct a face to face meeting. However, an omnichannel call center solution with a video calling feature or a video conferencing solution can be a surpassing option to have a one-to-one chat. Additionally, regular training gatherings could be arranged with other technological tools such as conferencing software. The prime goal is to provide the required training to agents as they might be new to this remote agent model and need support initially. Thus, arrange the required support for them.
You might have a question of how will you be able to assure that workplace of agents working remotely is adequate to deliver a compelling customer experience to your clients. To make certain that during calls background noise is removed, you can use call monitoring and supervision tools available in the virtual call center solutions. Ahead of supervising, you must convey the sense of taking calls from a quiet setting to your remote agent. This can contribute to the reputation of the call center and its quality of work. A poor call may increase the number of unhappy customers.
If you discover that any of your remote agents do not deliver expected productivity and efficiency, you can also use an add-on available with advanced call center solutions, called, “Agent Screen Capture”. This enables managers to recognize the cause of inefficiency and underperformance. The excellent performance of each remote agent is key to success for all call centers.
Finally, make a strategy to provide the required support to the call center as per the need of the agents. Conventionally, agents could call a manager in the physical office in a predefined manner to receive the required help. However, in a virtual call center, this is not possible. Remote agents work from dispersed geographical locations and away from access to quick support from managers. Remote agents may need more assistance than in-house agents. Thus, you must use technological tools here as well with a positive environment for sure. For example, internal chat and intercom features available in virtual call center software can be used to provide quick support and assistance even if they work from remote locations.
A sudden transition to a virtual call center environment can result in low productivity and inefficiency. However, by using the right tools one can achieve the same or better productivity and efficiency in remote working models as well.