Not so remote

iPhones, BlackBerries, Facebook, Twitter, and other media channels - they've not just changed how people communicate, but also their expectations for customer service and support, as they have made businesses ultimately accessible. As a result, consumers now expect to get the information they want, when they want it, regardless of time of day, day of week, or how they're connecting with a company. This forces companies to be flexible and innovative, finding new ways to provide optimal 24x7 customer service while still keeping costs down.

One way of accomplishing this is through the use of remote agents - contact centre agents that work remotely from their home or in a branch office or other remote location.

Technology has evolved to enable any company, of any size, anywhere, to utilise remote agents. There are many ways to offer remote agent capabilities, but the most effective is a centralised all-in-one IP communications system that can be implemented on-premise or through a hosted offering (also known as communications as a service, or CaaS).

These systems make it easy for IT staff to provide agents with access to the technology capabilities they need, regardless of location. Whether it's a phone call, an e-mail, a fax, a Web chat, or a social media inquiry, all customer interactions can be handled by agents located in a pre-qualified location.

These all-in-one IP communications systems also provide tools for supervisors and managers to effectively manage remote agents - just as if they were in the office - and mechanisms for customers, agents, supervisors and subject matter experts to communicate seamlessly across multiple channels.

The use of remote agents is not for everyone, but it's well worth investigating their use to augment a contact centre. Some of the more striking benefits include:

Organisations can take advantage of a variety of workers that may not be able to work full-time in a formal contact centre.

Dave Paulding is Interactive Intelligence's regional sales manager for UK and Africa.

* Increased agent talent pool - By using remote agents, organisations can take advantage of a variety of workers that may not be able to work full-time in a formal contact centre. Remote agent deployments can include work-at-home (WAH) parents, students, disabled workers, retirees, and others. Organisations can recruit and attract talent globally as well, including people living in small towns or remote locations. This allows access to people with hard-to-find skill sets that are not able to commute to the company's facility.
* Reduced churn - Agent attrition is something every contact centre is concerned with. The average tenure of agents in South Africa is 14-21 months. Adding remote agents has provided an answer to this challenge, enabling companies to better retain educated and motivated workers.
* Cost savings - By using remote and at-home workers, companies can avoid building new contact centre facilities, and can even rent out space in their buildings that would have been used for contact centre agents.
* Flexibility and ability to meet peaks and ebbs in demand - By having the option of bringing remote or home-based workers online quickly, companies can better respond to changing demand on a daily or seasonal basis, or in an emergency, and manage peaks and valleys in call loads, without hiring for peak hours.
* Business continuity - Employing remote agents allows companies to be nimble and responsive in keeping the business going in the face of a natural disaster, or other crisis. When a crisis does occur, calls can be quickly routed to agents that are available remotely.
* Going green - At-home workers avoid commuting, thus reducing their carbon footprint. This saves money for the worker, while helping the environment. Companies avoid having to expand facilities as their contact centre operations grow, avoiding the added energy burden of a larger contact centre.

Employing remote agents has both real and perceived challenges. The following are the three greatest perceptive barriers for uptake:

* Perceived loss of control - Many senior executives don't feel agents can be trusted to work at home without constant in-person supervision. Are at-home and at office environments really that different? Most managers in centralised contact centres don't physically look around the room to see who is on the phone; they use software to determine agent usage and performance. The same is true for a virtual operation where companies rely on technology dashboards to monitor schedule adherence, utilisation and overall performance. To overcome the control issue, some companies require agents to work a shift in the office once a month so they can have face-time with their supervisors.
* Perceived security compromise - Many senior executives quiver at the idea of allowing remote agents to access sensitive data remotely. The reality is that whether or not an agent is in the office has little to do with their propensity to handle customer information inappropriately or fail to follow proper security procedures. Customers that adopt the remote agent model typically lock down a designated computer for company use only and/or provide a thin terminal client, in addition to taking necessary network security precautions to ensure secure, encrypted communication.
* Initial set-up and adjustment - Co-ordinating the initial set-up and getting agents adjusted can be a challenge. This includes making sure the agent's home connection works, they adjust to their new work environment, and family members are trained on how to behave while work is in progress at home.
* Broadband access - Reliability issues and availability of the communications infrastructure and broadband access can limit the locations remote agents can work from. However, progress is being made that will soon remove this barrier.
* Agent isolation - One of the greatest challenges is that agents working remotely can often feel isolated. In fact, some have chosen to come back into the contact centre because working at home just doesn't suit them. To combat this, organisations can use social media tools, such as chat rooms - both social and campaign specific - to keep agents engaged and connected.