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Home sweet call centre
More call centre operators are changing their attitudes on having customer service representatives work from home, swayed by the reduced operating costs and increased productivity associated with a home-based agent design. Plus, technological advances have enabled home-based agents to communicate more effectively with customers.
Working from home has become an acceptable option for a wide range of professionals, including salespeople and lawyers. Until recently, this option, dubbed "homeshoring", was unpopular in the call centre, although that perception has been changing.
"Companies are becoming more comfortable in letting their customer service representatives (CSRs) work from home," stated Stephen Loynd, program manager, contact center services, at market research firm IDC.
The change stems from vendors addressing logistical problems found with home workers and managers changing their attitudes. Until recently, technology presented a major stumbling block. Traditional time division multiplexing (TDM) equipment was expensive, and wide area network services typically charged customers by the minute, which was not a good fit with contact centre applications.
In addition, the technology did a mediocre job of supporting simultaneous voice and data connections, so it was often impossible for an agent to be on the phone and access information in a company database. Compounding the problem, the installation and maintenance of such devices often exceeded the typical worker's expertise.
