Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

Today's guest writer is John Joseph, vice president of corporate marketing at Envox Worldwide, a voice solutions provider based in Westborough, MA.

With VoIP and standards-based CTI software, at-home agents can be a practical technical solution.  VoIP puts the voice traffic over the network and makes the contact center software available to anyone on the network, so with as little as a PC, an Internet connection and a phone, agents can work from home and have essentially all the control and capabilities of agents physically sitting in the contact center.  CTI software ensures that calls and data can be routed to remote agents as seamlessly as they could if the agents were all in the same room. 

1. Better qualified agents – Agents with hard-to-find skills can be hired, and retained, regardless of their physical proximity to the corporate office.
2. Reduced operating costs – Organizations can leverage low-cost labor pools to reduce personnel costs and can reduce the square footage of their contact center facilities.
3. Lower attrition – By providing more flexible working situations, organizations using at-home agents have reported turnover rates of less than 10% - a dramatic improvement over traditional turnover rates.
4. Disaster recovery planning – “At-home” capability can be a core part of a disaster recovery plan.  For example, if a hurricane hits your Florida-based contact center, imagine being able to have your employees home and safe and still functioning as if it’s a clear, sunny day.