Remote contact centres: From necessity to efficiency

Remote contact centres have rapidly become the norm, yet they remain relatively new. Many organisations underwent a crash course in complex workforce management when COVID forced homeshoring and the radical shift to remote work. The hybrid balance that remains isn’t just an acquired industry habit though; clear benefits are driving adoption and workforce evolution. This blog explores the lessons, challenges and opportunities facing remote contact centres.

The scale of the shift towards remote contact centres 

According to data collected by ContactBabel in 2019, 57% of UK contact centres responding to a survey did not use any homeworking. This figure dropped to zero in 2020 and in 2022, 67% of organisations had more than half their agents working at home at least some of the time.  

This change in the status quo has offered multiple benefits: cost savings on maintenance and rent of physical locations, improved agent flexibility contributing to business continuity and rapid crisis responses, as well as opening up the pool of available talent. HR perks also apply when recruiting supervisors or other senior team members. Why have on-site supervisors when everyone else is working from home? Finding a truly talented leader and providing them with the right technology can have a significant impact on performance and engagement. In fact, agent satisfaction appears to be another benefit of the change.

How remote work is benefitting contact centre agents

For agents, remote work and hybrid schedules are changing the appeal of long-term contact centre careers and influencing turnover rates. It’s all thanks to a spectrum of benefits. Of course, agents have individual preferences, but evidence suggests the pros of remote contact centre jobs far outweigh the cons.  

The pros of fully remote or hybrid work 

• Cost savings: travel and potentially even the costs of food, ‘office attire’ and pet sitters. 
• Time savings: eliminating the commute and even the time it takes to navigate around a large office to get to meeting rooms, toilets and catering facilities.  
• Flexible shift patterns: without a commute micro-shifts, split shifts and other scheduling techniques become possibilities giving both the remote contact centre agent and the organisation greater flexibility. 
• Work-life balance: a major boost to agent satisfaction. With healthy boundaries and a clear cut-off point, agents can close their laptops or switch off their PCs at the end of their shift and immediately start enjoying their hobbies or engaging with their families.       

There are concerns over potential downsides though like social isolation, blurring of work-life boundaries and, depending on living arrangements, distractions. Most can be mitigated with technology, training and supervision.

Must have tech for remote contact centres 

While the speed of the change can be attributed to COVID the real driving factor was the existence of tech which made remote work possible. Cloud-based SaaS platforms (Software as a Service), whether CCaaS, CRM or UCaaS allow agents to securely sign in, over the internet, to the tools they need to manage customer interactions and communicate with their team and supervisors. As tech has advanced, several tools which should be on a remote contact centre’s technology wish-list: 

• Real-time analytics help supervisors spot problems and intervene quickly, including agent adherence issues signalling various remote working problems.  
• Advanced security measures are crucial for any contact centre as the sophistication of cyberattacks increases.   
• Workforce management features help balance even the most complex staffing equations and help with forecasting and shift bidding. 
• CCaaS and UCaaS integration not only has the potential to save contact centres money but can also give remote agents access to expert advice or colleague support during customer interactions.  
• Quality management and supervisor features turn necessary quality checks into insights for coaching. Tracking performance trends and real-time intervention means that out of sight does not mean out of mind.      
• AI next-step suggestions use speech and text analytics to make suggestions based on customer speech and text. This provides very real support regardless of where an agent is working.

Training and onboarding remote contact centre staff 

All contact centres should have established onboarding procedures covering call etiquette, technical onboarding, orientation, team building and mentoring. The difference with remote contact centres is that this needs to be done without a supervisor standing next to the agent pointing and providing tips. However, tech can do that too: 

• Co-browsing and screen sharing allow supervisors to walk through exercises with new agents; it’s just that in this situation it’s a cursor arrow not a finger doing the pointing. 
• Knowledge management resources introduced at an early stage, help agents become accustomed to problem-solving on their own when appropriate. 
• Interactive learning sessions which help agents learn by doing, are a good idea regardless of whether an agent is on-site or not. 
• UCaaS or IM applications can be used to set up new starter forums or channels, allowing new agents to support each other and share problems and solutions.      

Training remote call centre agents often involves many of the same resources as for onsite agents, like the resources and training programs offered by technology providers. These online sessions are naturally suited to onboarding remote agents. One other element that shouldn’t be overlooked is wellbeing advice; encouraging healthy coping strategies, working habits and boundaries can set up agents for success. 

Adapting supervision strategies for remote contact centres

As SaaS platforms are designed to work over an internet connection, technology-based supervisor features like reporting, alerts and call whispering or barging features are the same for onsite or remote work. What changes is the communication and contact. Of course, some elements like one-to-ones and team meetings can be held via Teams, for example, but establishing trust digitally can take longer. Regular check-ins, clear goals, targets and expectations and a well-established recognition and reward program create a framework on which to build professional relationships.   

Managing remote contact centre teams requires a thoughtful blend of technology, communication strategies, and recognition programs, underpinned by informed decision making. Visual dashboards and automated reporting help supervisors track and share clear impartial feedback and allow agents to track their own performance.

Designing a remote working policy for your contact centre

It may be that new agents are taken on fully remote but for many, it’s a privilege that comes after an initial onboarding period. This may involve a trial period or meeting KPI targets. Having clear rules or contract types (perhaps based on the distance from the office) is important to set the right expectations and protect contact centres from the appearance of unfair treatment and a tiny number of unscrupulous employees. 

Practically, onboarding needs to get agents off to a solid start with the technology and platforms. Interactive tutorials, walkthroughs and step-by-step guides can be crucial. When it comes to serious aspects like data security and compliance, checklists are an impactful strategy. They are widely used in numerous industries and are a simple way to address common challenges with potentially serious implications.  

Well-crafted remote contact centre policies help balance flexibility, performance expectations, and security measures to maintain the integrity of the contact centre operations.

The future of remote contact centres: beyond the post-pandemic period   

The future of remote work in contact centres looks set to unfold as a hybrid equilibrium between on-site and remote models. Agents and organisations are strategically balancing the pros and cons of each approach, for enhanced efficiency and satisfaction. Technology will not merely facilitate this but transform remote work, introducing micro shifts and innovative patterns that redefine the traditional workday. 

With these changes, advanced workforce management tools, like those in CCaaS solutions, assume a pivotal role. Orchestrating complex arrangements seamlessly, they ensure optimal productivity while accommodating the nuanced needs of a dispersed workforce. CCaaS solutions not only foster collaboration, connectivity, and a shared sense of purpose among agents but also elevate customer service, making it the focal point of this collaborative engagement. 

Discover how Odigo’s CCaaS solution can help you optimise remote contact centre scheduling and hybrid agent performance.