Call centers are expensive to run. That point is indisputable. Whether they serve as a net drain or a net gain for companies, however, depends on them. Often treated as a cost center – or a necessary evil – in the past, many call centers found their operations shipped offshore in previous decades in an effort to offer the most basic – sometimes mediocre or even downright bad – service while keeping labor and facility costs low.
For companies that cared about quality and keeping agents based on U.S. soil, costs have been rising and they've been under pressure to make more with less. Traditional brick and mortar contact centers require extensive investments in real estate, facilities and on-premise equipment. They're also faced with difficult tasks, particularly when it comes to hiring. Physical limitations mean talent recruitment is generally limited to a 30-mile radius around the call center facility.
Many forward-thinking companies have opted for neither route: they are unwilling to ship agent jobs offshore, and unwilling to continue paying an arm and leg for a physical call center facility. They've engaged in something referred to today as “home-sourcing,” or using American agents working from their own homes in a virtual call center structure, operating and managing the whole call center through a variety of IP-based and Web-based technologies and services.
The results these companies have seen are impressive. With the ability to recruit anywhere in the U.S., companies can be very choosy and keep their standards high, recruiting agents with the right qualities, experience and education, regardless of where they're located. Without the need to pay for physical facilities, companies can use the best possible technologies and services to support their agents, while still reaping huge cost savings. It's also a great way for a company to meet corporate sustainability goals: eliminating hundreds or even thousands of commutes by auto or mass transit can shrink a company's carbon footprint.
To learn more about how the home agent model could work for your organization, attend a new Webinar sponsored by TMC and home-based call center outsourcing company Alpine Access called, “Work @Home vs. Brick & Mortar: How @Home is Transforming the Contact Center Industry.” The event, which will take place on Tuesday, April 17, will help participants understand how they can improve scalability, recruit higher quality agents and achieve greater overall value.
Click here to register.