Where is the hottest place for your contact center this summer? Should you be looking at cost reductions by setting up in a far-flung climate like The Philippines? Or should you be exploring a solution that provides cost reductions, productivity improvements, and is closer to home \u2013 or even at home?<\/p>\n
Of all the things you really need for your contact center to work productively, a central building is probably low on the list. Why? They are expensive to run, can be far from where your staff live and not very flexible for the constantly varying demands of delivering great customer service. A number of companies are already realizing this and freeing their representatives to work from a remote environment.<\/p>\n
As with any trend, it\u2019s important to look beyond the hype and see what the real benefits are. Customer Contact Strategies worked with a global airline to carry out a two-year case study on home working for contact centers and found a 10% increase in calls per hour, a 12% increase in revenue per hour, and a 15-20% reduction in their contact center budget. These are incredible numbers but there are other significant benefits besides this.<\/p>\n
The major issue facing contact centers is talent retention. With attrition running at an average of 20%, and the cost to replace someone being up to $10,000, home working can help reduce these costs. Initial results from companies implementing home working show a 20-50% improvement per year in employee retention.<\/p>\n
By removing the geographic limitations from your recruitment process, you can increase the number of applicants by 200-500%, giving you a wider choice from which to pick the best staff for your organization.
\nHome working reduces commute time to zero for your staff, which enables you to enforce a significantly more flexible work schedule. \u201cMicro-shifting\u201d (shifts of short duration) and split shifts give you more granularity to shape staff availability to match predicted customer demand.<\/p>\n
For a more detailed view, download a case study (hyperlink \u2018case study\u2019) by Michele Rowan, President and CEO of Customer Contact Strategies and the industry leader in home working programs for contact centers. You will learn about the improvements achieved by American Express and Transcom when they implemented home working.<\/p>\n
You can also tune into a recording of our recent webinar: \u201cEmpower Customer Service Representatives to Work from Home\u201d featuring Michele Rowan and Richard Kenny, Head of Global Contact Center Marketing, Plantronics.<\/p>\n