Making the Case for Home Agents
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion around home-based agents and the trend of “homeshoring.” For many good reasons–like cost savings and environmental conservation–these concepts are gaining traction within many companies. Several of our customers, not to mention a number of Enghouse Interactive employees, have been part of the virtual workforce for years. Here are a few benefits that we have observed:
Expanded pool of job candidates. Many of the most qualified job applicants may live outside of a reasonable commute radius to your corporate offices. With the rising cost of fuel, many workers cannot afford to spend more time on the road to and from work. By removing geographical limitations, companies can retain workers with the right combination of skills and motivation to support the best possible customer experience and work product that your company desires.
Reduced carbon footprint. Many companies are seeking ways to “go green,” and home agents can play a significant role in meeting that goal. With more home workers, there are fewer cars on the road contributing to pollutants and greenhouse gases (not to mention traffic gridlock!). As mentioned above, this also benefits workers’ pocketbooks because they are no longer paying high fuel costs and are freed up to spend more time with family instead of on the roads to and from work.
Improved employee morale. Working from home also offers employees to work to their comfort level — whether bundling up in their favorite sweatshirt to take calls or curling up in their favorite chair to respond to customer inquiries — employees can adjust their work environment to suit their needs. In an Aberdeen survey of 150 companies, underwritten in part by CosmoCom, it was found that over 35% of Best in Class (BIC) companies have seen a greater than 10% improvement in customer satisfaction upon implementation of remote agents. View the complete white paper now.
How does an enterprise enable home agents? Often, traditional contact center technologies cannot gracefully support at-home workers. IP and the advent of virtual contact center technologies have made it both possible and practical to extend contact center technology to home agents and beyond. CosmoCom’s unified, all-IP platform makes it cost-effective and easy to include home agents with the same control, reporting, and monitoring tools available for premise-based agents.
Contact your Enghouse Interactive representative to learn more about how virtual contact center technology can benefit your company.