At the beginning of COVID-19, there was an urgent need to switch to remote work in call centers while maintaining a positive experience for customers and employees. To help maintain business continuity, a TTEC article had shown that 89% of respondents pivoted more than 75% of their agents to work from home during the pandemic.
While the majority of businesses worked to pivot to remote work, we wonder how this change has impacted remote call center agents over the past few years. Continue reading to learn about the five ways that remote agents have impacted customer experience, and how to uphold the importance of the customer in your organization.
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Challenges of Virtual CX Success
59% of customers care more about CX when they decide what company to work with or buy from, and they’re willing to spend 17% more to do business with companies that deliver excellent service. But, moving from the traditional office work environment to a completely virtual setting affected call center agents, customers, and their overall experiences in a few ways:
Problem Resolution
When an agent is in the office and experiences issues on a call, they are able to talk to a supervisor to work through the problem. But, If a remote agent is having issues on a call while working from home, it becomes a challenge to reach a supervisor in a timely manner and solve the problem. Luckily, browser-based call center software exists. This software allows managers to actively listen to agent calls, train through whisper coaching, and receive real-time updates to help resolve problems as they occur.
Collaboration
Service employees say they are collaborating less frequently since transitioning to a virtual work environment. To help resolve this issue, finding the right tools can help your team succeed and give clients the time and energy to have an exceptional customer experience. Collaboration tools, such as a laptop, internet hardware, or a work management platform will allow your team to collaborate from anywhere.
Performance Management
With virtual work environments, it has become more difficult to have human interactions between management and agents for individualized feedback. There are several reports that suggest that video calls can alleviate feelings of social isolation in situations where physical contact is limited. Having video calls with remote agents can help to alleviate the disconnect and provide time to discuss employee performance. Also, managers can implement time tracking tools to monitor remote agents’ time, have accountability, and reduce the possibility of burnout from overworking.
Technology
Tech issues seem to be a recurring theme in the virtual work environment. In 2021, 36 percent of respondents working from home stated that their internet connection is slower than in the office. With some remote agents having a slower personal internet connection, it can be difficult to stay productive and allow employees to work from home. To combat tech issues, having a help desk can support remote agents when things aren’t working for them. Also, make sure that your team has the hardware and ability to connect over ethernet instead of only having their personal WIFI connection as an option.
1. Increased Automation
“Finding the right balance and bridging between the world of chatbots and human beings, whilst ensuring the customer experience is not compromised, is key.”
Did you know that there has been a 30% increase in customers reaching out to companies in 2021? With the increase of customer inquiries with companies, there needs to be the right balance of human connection and automation to bring value to the customers. The objective of developing remote customer service strategies, such as automation, is to benefit both the employee and the customers, allowing agents to deliver genuine and superior service to their customers at every point of need. Automation allows call center agents to spend more time on complex issues while still giving other customers the gratification of a response to frequently asked questions. With more agents working from home, automation helps to deliver great experiences for customers while optimizing operational efficiency.
Therefore, by investing in more self-regulating responses, with AI tools such as a conversational assistant, organizations are able to maximize revenue and lower costs with a more productive and satisfied virtual workforce.
Related Post: 5 Reasons to Add Live Chat to Your Customer Experience Strategy
2. Recruitment Possibilities
An opportunity for businesses and remote agents is that the recruitment possibilities are endless. Companies are able to hire from anywhere around the globe and save money from not having employees in the office. Estimates from Global Workplace Analytics suggest that companies can save around $11,000 per employee per year if they allow their employees to work remotely 50% of the time.
Likewise, employees are empowered to move to places they are interested in, have increased flexibility, and maintain their job security. In the 2021 Gartner Hybrid Work Employee Survey, 75% of hybrid or remote knowledge workers said their expectations for working flexibly have increased, and a Salesforce survey found that 62% of people believe remote work empowers them to live where they want.
With being able to recruit globally, companies have the opportunity to find the right fit for their teams with the exact skills, experience, and personality to fit into your company’s culture. With cost savings, increased flexibility, and better candidates, your team can be more successful and productive while your customers can retain the valuable experience they deserve.
3. Availability of Agents
“CX teams will be much more flexible, enabling them to resolve customer queries faster and more efficiently assign certain channels to the right agents.”
When recruiting virtual call center agents, your company has the flexibility to hire candidates from outside of the local prospect pool. Because of this opportunity, employers are able to have a variety of call center agents in different time zones to give customers constant support beyond regular business hours. For example, maybe you want to stay open until 9:00 PM on the west coast but are an east coast company and are having a hard time staffing the later hours. Or maybe your cost to recruit a weekend employee is 2x that of recruiting one that works 9-5.
The increased availability of remote agents employed in different time zones can help improve customer service without needing to pay extra to staff those hours since your team will have that flexibility of time zones. Therefore, if your company empowers agents to work from home, at the hours that work for them, and allows them to live where they want, then your team feels supported and is more likely to provide a better response time and customer experience to individuals.
4. Larger Scale of Call Center Agents
According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace Report, organizations with highly engaged employees have 17% higher productivity, 10% higher customer satisfaction metrics, and 21% greater profitability. One article stated that 85% of businesses believe that productivity has increased because of greater job flexibility. So, remote agents have the opportunities to move and have less desire to leave their organization, and companies don’t have the restrictions of local employee shortages since they can expand and hire people that live elsewhere.
This creates an environment of possibilities for both the employee and the organization which nourishes a better work atmosphere and provides consumers with a great customer experience. Companies should consider promoting flexibility to work from home to help increase job satisfaction, engagement, productivity, and create a beneficial experience for the customer.
5. Better Training Opportunities
Regardless of time zone, your team of remote agents has the capabilities to learn more in-demand skills at their own pace. Your company can offer interactive training as part of the onboarding process, but your organization can also offer courses for agents to learn about skills to help their career development. Tim Murphy, chief administrative officer at Mastercard, says the company has created on-demand training across topics ranging from handling basic tasks in Microsoft Word to programming in different languages. This provides employees with the ability to learn a variety of skills needed for the job and gives them the opportunity to learn a skill to help with their personal career goals.
Remote agents that are continually training and learning give your company the competitive advantage in being more prepared for customer interactions and providing a better experience for your clients. Offering call center agents continued education, the power to learn at their own pace, and the ability to learn innovative skills better prepare your team for industry changes and create more skilled employees.
Did you know that a LaSalle survey found that 71 percent of respondents said the opportunity for growth was the number one factor when considering a new role? Learn more here.
The pandemic has affected the way call centers have to operate and has disrupted agents’ work environments. But, remote agents have worked diligently to help preserve normalcy for customers and continue to provide them with a valuable and memorable experience. In 2022, the customer experience is crucial to maintaining success for your business, but call center agents deserve recognition for their flexibility in working from home and their abilities to create an exceptional experience for customers.
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