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Telecommuting or the concept of virtual call-center, is one area,
which Indian BPOs have stayed away from due to lack of broadband
infrastructure-a key to make this concept work from homes. As
broadband infrastructure in the country improves, telecommuting will
open a huge opportunity for companies to explore.
Call-centers of tomorrow will not be the ones operating from
under a single roof, instead, it will be a network of customer
service agents (CSAs) working from their own homes miles away from
each other. Telecommuting or virtual call-center, as it is known
elsewhere in the world, is probably the ideal solution to the
biggest challenge that BPOs face today – which is that of high
attrition rate.
The concept of working from home is quite popular in the USA with
almost 30 million people already working from home, according to
international statistics.
Indian enterprises are yet to explore this huge business
opportunity due to lack of infrastructure. The 'real' broadband,
which is the key to make this concept work, is yet to penetrate in
Indian homes. However, with all the push that the Government is
giving to increase broadband penetration, this concept will trigger
a revolution in the way call-centers of today operate.
Few months ago, Hyderabad-based HyperSoft announced its intention
to begin the concept of virtual call-center here in India. However,
Dadi Bhote, Director, HyperSoft, has put this decision on hold until
the country gets a robust broadband infrastructure. "The Government
is serious about building the broadband infrastructure in the
country. Hopefully, in six months we should be ready for it," says
he.
ADVANTAGE ABOUND
Telecommuting offers plenty of
benefits to both the employer and the employee. A survey conducted
in the US suggests that a growing number of call center agents have
shown liking towards telecommuting. Given a chance, they would
prefer telecommuting for many reasons.
 Who wouldn't like to work at will?
Most call-centers in India work in three to four shifts. CSAs are
usually put on different shifts on a rotational basis. This causes
many agents to upset their biological clock and eventually get bored
of this schedule. While some get used to this irregular schedules,
many drop out from the job.
Call-center companies are aware of this fact, but are not in a
position to come up with an alternative that can make the life of
CSAs easy. So, to compensate for the same, they continue to lure
youngsters with high salary, perks and a high fashioned lifestyle.
Most youngsters get attracted to this lifestyle and once they
realize the tough part of working in odd shifts, they leave the
job.
Telecommuting gives agents the opportunity to take up flexible
working hours. Since agents are given the option to operate from
home, they save on the commuting time and get a chance to choose
multiple shifts broken in to slots of different hours.
The survey also suggests that giving flexible options to the
agents improves employee retention and productivity. The agents
become more productive when they work from home. According to the
survey, the productivity of the agents working from home is much
higher than the agents of traditional call-centers.
WIN-WIN SCENE
For the employer, the telecommuting
business works out a lot cheaper and is an efficient option than
setting up huge contact centers. Companies need not invest in huge
real estate and expensive infrastructure. By letting employees work
from home the company is saving almost 80% of the infrastructure
cost.
The company saves on indirect costs like Internet connection,
telecommunications equipment, computers, buildings, transportation,
electricity, air-conditioning, allowances, bonus, insurance,
medical, leaves, and many other associated expenses.
In the case of telecommuting, companies make use of CSA's home
infrastructure to provide customer service. A typical qualified
agent is required to have an up to date, reliable computer at their
home, with a minimum of 128MB of RAM, and at least a 350MHz
processor is recommended. A broadband Internet connection (cable,
DSL, T1, ISDN, satellite) is required for most projects. Call center
projects also require a telephone line, telephone headset, and most
importantly, a quiet, uninterrupted work environment during all
working hours. Some companies recommend installation of VoIP gateway
to efficiently handle voice calls.
Using web-based technologies, all calls are routed right to the
agent's home office. The chances of work getting disrupted due to
transport strike or natural calamities like heavy rains causing
trains to stop and road blocks can be avoided with
telecommuting.
TECH HURDLES
The concept of virtual call-center appears
optimistic, but there are experts who believe that telecommuting is
not the ideal alternative. According to them, without in-house
agents, the quality of service can be an issue.
Telecommuting may not be a good idea to provide technical
support, which involves frequent updates and training on new product
releases. A lot of call-centers in the country provide extensive
training to its CSAs, which enables them to handle voice-based calls
with the right accents. This may not be possible in the case of
virtual call-center. Even if the agents taking the calls at home are
trained to do so, the company will have to spend on additional
infrastructure to monitor them, which defies the purpose of saving
cost.
So the best service a virtual call-center agent could provide
could be limited to general inquiries with standard, unvarying
scripts and, therefore, do not require daily hand-holding. These are
jobs that can be monitored easily and productivity measured as
well.
While many call center managers remain unconvinced that they can
get quality service from remote agents, call center managers that do
buy into telecommuting, need to ensure they hire agents suitable to
the job: those comfortable with the work-at-home environment and who
have the discipline to separate work from personal distractions.
OPPORTUNITIES
For solutions providers who have grown
big with large customer base, the usual practice has been to provide
technical support and telemarketing activities with a large work
force. In many cases, they have even opened their own call-centers
within their office premises to do this. Some have even outsourced
their support activities to other firms. Setting up in-house
call-centers involves tremendous cost. Telecommuting can be a
feasible option here. Solution providers can think of telecommuting
for its support activities and apply its existing work force for
other productive work.
Similarly, a number of vendor companies believe that spending big
money on call-center activities can adopt telecommuting for their
own needs. Even BPOs currently having call-centers can expand their
enterprise by embracing the telecommuting business.
According to William F Marren, Senior Project Manager with
Colorado-based Telecommuting Success, call-Centers are an ideal
environment for telecommuting. Call-center employees adapt well to
telecommuting and are accustomed to performance measurement based
upon Automatic Call Distributor reporting and monitoring
systems.
Each project can be different, with scopes ranging from phone
work to data entry projects. Call center projects can include order
processing, reservations, enrollments, customer service, sales,
market research, technical support, etc.
"For a telecommuting program to be successful, and the results
sustained over time, the telecommuting program within the call
center network requires an Integrated Approach to program
establishment and ongoing administration. Balancing and blending the
people, technology and work environment factors are the key
components that differentiate a successful telecommuting program,"
says William.
GOVT CAN CHIP IN
The Government should actually promote
telecommuting for the simple reason that it has environmental
benefits too. Besides the benefits that business houses and customer
service agents have. If telecommuting becomes popular in every
business and not just call-centers, it would mean fewer vehicles on
the road, creating a less polluting environment.
In some countries, the state governments are taking note of the
benefits of telecommuting and giving tax benefits to employers
encouraging telecommuting. Rising real estate costs, increasing
competition, better life for CSAs and need for increased
productivity are some reasons why enterprises should explore
telecommuting.
NELSON
JOHNY
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