Is Remote Call Center the Future?

Posted by Mike Hussain on November 12th, 2020

Remote call centers are not new. For many years, many people have been running virtual call centers. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, in the past few months, the number of virtual call centers has increased like anything. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 26 million people are working from home, which is a 115% increase in this number.

These statistics have encouraged many predictors to announce that remote call centers are the future of the call center industry. However, the question is, is it really?

In this article, we will examine this possibility from three different aspects to check whether virtual call centers are the future or not.

1. Business point of view

The first thing to inspect is whether businesses would like to move to a remote call center or not. Let’s see some of the pros and cons related to the same:

Pros:

• Reduced expenses as staff and call center solution do not need any physical space or infrastructure
• Access to the pool of international talent
• Increased hours of working without losing productivity at all. Possibly increased productivity
• Remote supervision using call center solution, so added supervisors might not be needed
• Ease and speed to scale up the capacity and team

Cons:

• Need additional arrangements to use the call center software. For example, either add a VPN or adopt a better option of getting work from Home module to operate truly virtual.
• Physical supervision not possible.

2. Technology point of view

To support remote call centers, technology needs to be in the mature phase. Working remotely with a cloud call center solution, Work from Home module, and a distant technology needs high security mechanisms and reliability of the software.

Technology is in a mature phase to not only support, but also to empower remote call centers. Whether one wants to use a cloud contact center solution or one wants to use Work from Home module, technology supports it. Right now, virtual call center software is as easily available as one gets installed on a physical server.

3. Agent point of view

We have covered the business and technology point of view. Now, it is the time to see whether the remote working model is beneficial to agents or it causes more harm. Here are some of the major pros and cons of a remote working environment for agents:

Pros:

• Increased job opportunities as agents can join any international organization
• Increased flexibility of work as agents can work from the comfort of their home
• Increased work life balance as agents do not need to live in different cities away from their families for work. Also, they save time on traveling.
• Better performance and productivity
• Saved money on the commute
• Better packages. As jobs increase, the packages also increase

Cons:

• They need to have an internet connection and a computer. Work from Home module lets agents work without any of them or both of them. So this is not a big issue.

Conclusion

As we can see, the benefits of remote call center models are more than the drawbacks. This indicates it is the future for sure.

Author Bio

Author works in a company that offers a call center solution, hosted call center solution, cloud call center software, call center solution India, omnichannel call center solution, call center software Philippines, and other call center solutions.