Advances in technology, shifts in attitudes, and competition for workers has resulted in more contact centers embracing remote work. Many contact center managers realize that the shift away from brick-and-mortar offices has its share of advantages, such as lower costs and increased employee satisfaction.
An essential element of any successful transition from an in-office to an at-home contact center is finding the right technology to support your remote team.
In this article, we’ll cover must-have features for your remote contact center, including:
- Benefits of a remote contact center workforce
- Cloudhosting
- Remote management capability
- Security features
- Agent-Friendly Design
- Integrations
- Reporting and Analytics
Advantages of Work From Home
A remote contact center workforce benefits the organization and its employees.
For the organization, a distributed team can provide for increased agent availability, allowing you to provide better customer service and handle more calls. Additionally, it can result in lower costs as there’s no need to pay for physical workspace and equipment. Remote working eliminates geographical boundaries when it comes to finding the right people for the job – something that is especially useful if your contact center receives large volumes of calls from all over the globe.
Agents benefit from a remote structure in several ways. A remote environment enhances employees’ work-life balance by enabling them to work from anywhere. Allowing employees to work from home can increase employee satisfaction while reducing stress. Studies have shown that people who work remotely tend to be more productive, happier, and experience less stress due to fewer distractions, resulting in improved job satisfaction and better customer service.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is the foundation of a remote contact center.
With cloud hosting, remote contact center agents can access data from anywhere at any time. This allows for uninterrupted workflows and improved productivity.
For contact center managers, cloud computing provides numerous advantages. Remote access to data from any location enables organizations to maintain a competitive edge and foster collaboration. This allows for uninterrupted workflows, improved productivity, and efficient resource management. By leveraging the power of cloud computing, contact centers can receive all the benefits of working remotely, such as increased availability, cost savings, improved communication among team members, and greater employee satisfaction thanks to a more flexible work schedule.
Robust Security
Keeping your customers and your contact center’s data secure is paramount.
Centers need to choose software that ensures their agents can capture sensitive information (e.g., financial and medical information).
When you’re shopping for software, look for tools that are PCI-certified, SOC 2-certified, and HIPAA-compliant to ensure your security, data collection, and encryption levels meet industry standards. Additionally, your contact center should stand firm on fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness amongst agents and managers by providing proper training on handling confidential information safely. These steps will help create a secure infrastructure that keeps sensitive data safe.
Remote Management Capabilities
Managers need a way to supervise their agents despite not being able to physically see them at work. Contact centers center software like SingleComm can provide this function with a few clicks – allowing companies to assign, transfer, monitor, and coach employees during calls without interrupting interactions with customers. By making it easy for managers to track the time agents are actively working, and by making it apparent to agents that managers are supervising them, remote contact centers can ensure productivity and customer satisfaction stay high.
Agent-Friendly Design
Remote agents need to be able to quickly navigate their contact center’s interface to access the information they need to help customers.
SingleComm’s single pane of glass interface has emerged as a game-changing solution for agents seeking to streamline their workspace and enhance their ability to address customer needs. By consolidating all the essential resources, such as workflows, triage tools, rebuttals, and FAQs, into an easily accessible and user-friendly environment, agents don’t have to juggle multiple tabs, allowing agents to focus solely on the needs of the customer. As a result, agents can deliver a higher caliber of service, fostering stronger customer relationships and driving business success.
A streamlined, user-friendly interface also has the benefit of speeding up onboarding times. On average, SingleComm clients see a 50% reduction in agent training time after switching to our platform.
Integrations
Software with open architecture makes it easier for your contact center to integrate third-party applications giving you access to powerful solutions.
The right integrations facilitate seamless and efficient operations for contact center managers overseeing a remote workforce. They make it easier for managers to tailor solutions to achieve a streamlined workflow and to create synergy between different systems. This not only enhances productivity but also helps in maintaining compliance with industry standards. In addition, integrations give contact center managers added flexibility in scaling their operations, tailoring solutions to meet specific needs, and providing a consistently high service delivery level.
Reporting & Analytics
Contact center managers overseeing a remote workforce face the unique challenge of maintaining high-quality customer interactions while optimizing agent performance from a distance. Enhanced analytics offers a powerful solution to this challenge, empowering businesses with crucial insights to drive performance improvements and ensure optimal decision-making.
By leveraging comprehensive data on performance metrics and agent assessment, managers can effectively identify areas of success and opportunities for growth. This enhances the customer experience and fosters an environment of continuous learning and development for remote agents. Ultimately, incorporating advanced analytics into daily operations ensures that contact centers can confidently navigate the complexities of a remote workforce by fostering an intentional, data-driven approach to performance evaluation and decision-making.
Schedule a call to learn how SingleComm can help you track performance metrics, measure agent performance and make data-backed decisions.
How SingleComm Powers Your At-Home Workforce
Having the right tools makes managing a remote call center much easier while providing you with all the benefits mentioned above.
SingleComm takes the hassle out of running a remote contact center. With advanced features such as powerful team management dashboards and automated multi-channel surveying tools, you can rest assured that your business operations will be running just as smoothly (if not better!) from your employees’ homes as they would from an office setting.
SingleComm’s cloud-native software offers omnichannel communications, dynamic and customized agent workflows, and enriched analytics in a single pane of glass. So whether you want to compete with the big players or optimize your existing business, our virtual contact center platform can save tens of thousands of dollars each year while boosting customer satisfaction.