5 Ways to Support Your Remote Call Center
As the shift continues to grow from on-premise to remote call centers, agents must have the communications tools they need to ensure excellent customer service. It is equally as crucial that supervisors have the analytical tools they need to make sure remote workers remain productive and provide the best customer experience.
With the right tools and effective leadership, agents can ensure seamless communication and uphold the customer service they are accustomed to providing. An omnichannel approach enables callers to use the communication tools they are most comfortable with and provides a seamless customer experience from any device. Mobile access to the following digital channels provides added value to both customers and agents:
- Phone
- Chat
- Instant Messaging
- Social Media
Determine How Your Teams Work
Identify the digital channels your agents are using and assess your call management process to ensure workers have what they need to be successful. Business continuity is more important than ever these days – set clear expectations to keep remote agents productive and accountable. Call center managers require a different set of tools to help monitor, coach, and mentor agents.
Effective call centers will arm both agents and managers with the technology they need to ensure they are delivering the best customer experience.
5 Tips to Support Your Remote Call Center from Anywhere
Providing call center agents and managers with the following tools will enable remote workers and managers to succeed from anywhere:
- Internet Connection
Make sure agents are using a high-quality internet connection, which is essential for running a seamless call center. A broadband ethernet connection is preferable to Wi-Fi to provide the best call quality. - Contact Center Software
Supply agents and managers with easy to use call center software. Call routing, call forwarding, email, CRM integration, chat & SMS queues are among the call center features necessary to ensure agents are providing the most timely and accurate information. These tools ensure that callers are getting connected to the right person quickly to help resolve problems. Learn more about must-have contact center features here. - Enable managers to monitor and supervise calls so they can be more proactive with agents. Listening in on calls allows managers to more effectively gauge customer interactions and provide agents with constructive feedback and training opportunities. Call and screen recording, barge, and whisper capabilities enable managers to monitor calls without interrupting the workflow of ongoing conversations. If a severe problem arises, managers can barge in or instant message with agents to help resolve issues before the call escalates.
- Agent Monitoring
- Reporting & Analytics
Equipping call center managers with call metrics gives them the call data they need (call volume, handling times, traffic, etc…) to analyze and identify what is working and what is not. Managers can save time and money by generating customized reports to track productivity and access information to help make improvements. These reports provide the information managers need to identify issues or support gaps, make adjustments, and provide training opportunities to enhance agent effectiveness and improve problem resolution. - Feedback
Agents and managers can get customer feedback with post-call surveys to help improve scheduling, identify potential problems, and highlight areas of strength. Use this information to recognize agents for a job well done as well as single out ways to strengthen agent skills, improve quality, boost productivity, and enhance the overall customer experience.
Enabling Work from Home Managers & Agents
With the right call center tools in place, your contact center can run smoothly and efficiently from anywhere. Agents can provide the same level of customer experience your customers are used to while managers can get insight into quality of care, agent effectiveness, and productivity with recording tools, call metrics, and custom reports. Providing callers with omnichannel contact center tools allows them to communicate the way they want to without compromising superior customer service.
Managing a remote call center? NetCarrier partnered with Technology Source to discuss ways businesses can enable remote workers in a video round table discussion.