The call center industry is faced with rapid growth driven by upgrading technology, social media and consumer behavior. Customers demand superior service which will ultimately drive higher profits. For this reason, the call center should be handled by a team of professionals and this has led to virtual center services.
What Is A Virtual Call Center?
A virtual call center is a call center or a contact center whose customer service representatives or sales agents work remotely. Instead of working from an on-site business location, these virtual representatives help customers from a different third-party location. They are trained to handle queries and answer customer calls on behalf of an organization with efficiency. Since virtual call centers are not dependent on being in the same location of the business, they leverage cloud-based software or VoIP. Virtual call center solutions are becoming increasingly popular and it is also known to increase worker efficiency. Let us understand how a virtual call center can benefit your business.
Geographical Independence
A virtual call center allows you to harness to power of hiring agents from across the globe. By opting for this, you have a wide pool of talent to choose from to get the best for your company. You are not limited to only the talent pool from around your locality. If you have customer service representatives from different time zones, it will greatly benefit your organization. This will enable you to extend your office hours or go all out to offer 24/7 customer support.
Lower Capital Requirement
A virtual call center will already have invested in all the equipment required to run a contact center. You will also be able to use your office more efficiently as the hardware will take up space which you can use for other purposes. If you are setting up your own call center, you will be required to invest in IT services, staff, furniture, hosting servers, PBX and phone terminals. There are also other amenities such as staff facilities and repair and maintenance which will all add up over time. You will also need to have a backup in case of failure. Virtual call centers will eliminate this entire additional burden. Traditionally, cloud-based software is billed per user, per month which will reduce your overall costs with no adverse effects on your staff.
Easy Designing, Training, Support, and Deployment
By outsourcing customer support operations, you have freed some time for you and your team to focus on other critical business operations. By partnering with a well-experienced virtual call center service provider, you will gain access to professional project managers who can help design, deploy, train, and support staff for better and efficient processes.
Impact on the Environment
For your employees to reach your own office, it means that they will need to travel. However, companies that offer virtual call center services attend to multiple clients from the same premises. Outsourcing your requirement to these companies will enable you to eliminate daily commutes to your premises, enabling you to reduce your carbon footprint. Virtual call center software is usually cloud-based which has a number of positive effects on the environment. The reduced dependency on paperwork and corresponding energy savings are beneficial to your business as well as our planet.
Mobility
Most remote call centers allow their agents the flexibility to work from anywhere. If these agents work from home, they will not need to commute. This will eliminate the possibility of lateness and will lower stress caused due to travelling. Studies indicate that stress is most commonly triggered by work-related factors. The call center industry is also notorious for its high employee attrition rate and staff turnover. When staff is relaxed and stress-free, their productivity is exponentially increased and this will have a positive effect on your business. A virtual call center can reduce employee turnover and boost employee morale, improving your overall customer service experience.
Scalability and Adaptability
One of the advantages of a virtual call center is that you really do not have to worry about seasonal staff requirements. In case your business faces a slump and you are not receiving as many calls as you used to, you could cut down the number of agents. Whether your requirement is 10 staff or 100, virtual call centers have the capability of ramping up operations quickly.
Preparedness in Case of Emergencies
Virtual call centers are well equipped to face any exigencies. Centralizing all call center operations in a single location is not a good idea. In case of a fire or any other unforeseeable calamity, there will be no back up to take care of your valuable customers. This issue can be completely avoided with the help of virtual call center agents.
You will need to scout around for the right virtual call center for your business based on their past projects and market credibility. Once you have understood how to pick the right solution, you are ready to take a big leap forward to enhance the customer service experience.
