Contact centers faced sweeping changes all 2020.
It’s 2021 already, and while we’re still dealing with the aftereffects of the coronavirus, the corporate sector, contact centers inclusive, is adapting to the sudden COVID-induced disruptions. Here are two key changes;
- Unprecedented increases in demands causing a strain on a contact center workforce that has to remain focused and dedicated even in the face of the new challenges.
- A major shift to remote work in the call center industry and beyond.
Remote Call Center Workforce Management: The New Normal
To maintain resilience, savvy call center leaders saw the need to transition to a remote workforce in the heat of the coronavirus. While this was not all-new, the pandemic caused a significant acceleration in call centers’ adoption of this work model.
Here at One Contact Center, this was already a key part of our workforce model before COVID struck. Not only was this very flexible, but the low overhead also makes it a very cost-effective option.
Several contact centers had to undergo significant digital transformation to make their agency remote-work ready. In a world of social distancing and reduced movement, success depends more on leveraging a distributed workforce always ready to work even not much was happening within the radius of the call center facility.
This shift transcends the call center industry though. Taking the current trends into study, and considering that concerns about business resilience as well as public health will linger on even after we get the whole COVID-19 thing behind us, Forbes predicts that as much as 70% of the workforce will be working remotely by 2025.
Benefits of a Remote Call Center Workforce
Many call centers that were hesitant to try remote work prior to the pandemic had no choice but to do so when the pandemic struck. Not only has this been an opportunity to ensure business continuity in the face of crisis, but there have been several benefits here as well.
Here are just a few;
- Access to a wider talent pool
This workforce model opens up the call center agencies to talents from everywhere legally available. For an agency like One Contact Center that’s heavily invested in diversity and inclusion, this helps drive our goals even faster.
- Improved employee satisfaction
It’s not a coincidence that some call centers reported a boost in productivity and employee morale after the switch to working from home. Again, it doesn’t take a genius to know the level of convenience that this flexibility can bring for employees.
- Flexibility and scalability
There’s a certain level of flexibility when it comes to scheduling work-from-home arrangements. The flexible scheduling capabilities that this brings to the contact center workforce boasts huge benefits for both the managers and the agents.
- Reduced overhead costs
The absence of an on-site workspace, among other things, means that contact center expenses are significantly reduced when a significant proportion of the workforce is working from home. When you consider this and every other benefit, the shift to remote work in the contact center industry makes perfect sense.
One Contact Center helps businesses and organizations of all sizes boost their capability as far as delivering excellent customer service experience with top-notch customer support is concerned.
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