by Jim Rembach - Vice President, Customer Relationship Metrics
Many call centers have been talking about Remote Agents for the past couple of
years. Until now the technology has been cost prohibitive for companies that have
already made a considerable investment in their communications infrastructure. Now,
there are hosted solutions available that you can rent that will provide you with all
of the solutions needed to be successful. There is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
as well as plain old telephone lines (POTS) solutions. Many companies will provide
you with the connection whether you want one position or thousands. So now you can
alleviate your staffing problems and cut your overhead expense. Yea, right.
This is not the case where, “One size fits all.” In order to determine
if your center can utilize remotes agents you need to thoroughly review your current
operation and its long-term objectives. The fact is using remote agents does not work
for everyone. Many call centers have products and services that are very complex and
it is not possible for agents to work remotely and have access to all of the resources
they need to provide good quality service.
In an effort to control costs many companies have made the decision to hire lower
skilled agents and support them with higher skilled mentors. Using remote agents
would require more self-motivated and higher skilled agents. Recruiting methods and
pay rates would have to be modified to accommodate the higher competencies.
Training practices would also have to be modified to make sure remote agents have the
knowledge they need to be successful. For a significant number of call centers they are
a department in a much larger organization and the training department serves several
areas. Remote agents would require that entirely new curriculum be developed.
Performance measurement is critical in every business. The way agents are measured
is important to their success. In house agents and remote agents more than likely do
not share all of the same requirements for success. Therefore, new methods to measure
success will also have to be created as well.
Remote agents have been utilized by many cutting edge call centers over the past
couple of years. The use of Remote Agents is soon to become more of a mainstream
idea. However, it is very important to analyze your situation so you don’t get
swept away with the tide.
