Remote Call Center Solution

What is a Remote Call Center?

A remote call center is simply a professional inbound call center service that utilizes remote employees. Compared to an on-premise call center, where customer service professionals work side-by-side at an in-person location, a remote call center hires customer service professionals that work from home (or remotely, off-site).

Why are Remote Call Centers Becoming Popular?

Now that cloud-based VoIP phone systems are widely available to professionals all over the world, the need for an on-premise call center is becoming unnecessary. Remote call center agents can easily stay connected with their team via VoIP solutions for call centers, unified communication systems, and other efficient technology.

Additionally, at-home Internet is improving and many professionals have the broadband needed to take calls from home. Call center providers no longer need to set up their agents on-premise and provide them with equipment. Most remote agents are self-sufficient and already have the equipment they need to work at home. From there, the call center provider simply pays the agent based on the number of calls they take. All in all, remote call centers are actually saving both providers and businesses who hire the company lots of money.

What Tasks Can a Remote Call Center Agent Handle?

Remote call centers are just as efficient as on-premise call centers. Most remote call center agents are trained as professional customer service representatives prior to working remotely. Therefore, they have experience handling common call center needs. Just like an on-premise phone answering service, remote call center agents can handle tasks for your company such as:

• Appointment setting
• Questions about an account
• IT and technical support
• Order processing
• Message taking
• And much more

Pros and Cons to Using a Remote Call Center

Many businesses acknowledge the benefits to using a remote call center, but want to weigh the pros and cons before hiring one. When deciding whether you want to outsource your call center needs to an on-premise call center company or a remote call center, make sure to review the following pros and cons.

Pros

Cost-effective. Many times, a call center that utilizes remote customer service agents will save you some money monthly and annually. When a call center doesn’t need to incur maintenance and equipment costs of on-premise operations, they save money and you do too. And the best part is that you are not sacrificing on quality.

Higher quality staff. Since the labor pool is not confined to a single location, this means that the call center company can choose from the best customer service representatives out there. Oftentimes this means they are able to hire a higher-quality and more experienced staff.

Niche customer service needs. Similarly, since the call center is pulling talent from anywhere, it usually means they’ll have professionals on their staff that are a great fit for your business’s particular niche customer base.

Around the clock service. Many on-premise centers close down during certain hours. But most remote call centers are able to hire professionals to cover customer service needs 24/7.

Cons

Training and coaching. Since remote agents are working away from a central location, they won’t be able to get hands-on training directly from supervisors when an issue may arise. This can sometimes cause communication break-downs.

No unified work culture. Partnering with a company with a strong sense of culture and teamwork is important to many companies. When hiring a remote call center, you may be missing out on the feeling of working with a company that has a sense of pride in who they are.

Accountability. Remember that remote agents usually work privately from home. In this sense, there’s no one to take direct accountability over their conversations with clients and customers. An unmotivated remote agent can possibly cause customer dissatisfaction.