Call Center Outsourcing Services

Work-from-home customer service reps are a rapidly growing trend, with the number of such workers predicted to rise 375% by 2012

The trend for call centre workers to be based from home is set to increase rapidly over the next five years as businesses look to cut customer service costs. Analyst Datamonitor claims the use of outsourced home agents is now becoming a mainstream option for businesses. There are currently around 47,000 home-based outsourced call centre workers working 20 hours per week or more globally - predominantly in the US - and Datamonitor predicts this will rise to almost 224,000 by 2012.

Peter Ryan, Datamonitor senior analyst for contact centre outsourcing and offshoring, said in a statement: "It is clear home agents are no longer a passing fancy, and are rapidly becoming mainstream." The different demographic profile of home-based agents is one of the reasons companies are going down this route. They tend to be older and have more work experience than typical call centre workers, have higher customer satisfaction levels and lower attrition rates, according to vendors of home-based agent services.

There are security concerns about the safety of customer data with this model but the report found home agent providers use thorough background checks on prospective recruits and use real-time monitoring analytics. The main industry sectors embracing the home call-centre agent model are healthcare, insurance, technology, tourism and travel. In the UK the AA is a big user of home-working call centre agents, although it employs these workers itself rather than using a third-party.

The AA has almost 300 home-based call centre agents across its roadside breakdown and insurance businesses taking calls from motorists and dealing with insurance quotes. Trevor Didcock, who has just left the AA as IT director, said: "People will be in their homes with a dedicated workstation that is plugged into the automatic call distribution [system]."

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Many firms rush through the important organizational stages of call center technology selection projects and chaotically leap into analyzing products based only on the functionality that's needed -- or worse, they start the selection process with a specific vendor already in mind, Brian Hinton warned a roomful of ACCE attendees.

Selecting effective call center technology is a matter of following a highly defined process and identifying the risks associated with each product being considered.


"How are you going to sort through all of the options?" said Hinton, a senior consultant with Strategic Contact, who boasts 10 years of call center consulting experience. "The way to find the right [software] is to apply a structured process to analyze your options."

First you need to decide the call center and organizations goals. Hinton suggest a series of tips for approaching the vendor selection process with an open mind.



• Call center technology selection: Things to avoid
• Be open-minded for selection of call center vendor.
• DON'T consider products before thoroughly defining your requirements.
• DON'T think solely about functionality.
• Do not let the vendors control the process.
• Do not make cost a top priority.
• Never ignore the RFP.



Other factors to consider during the initial stages of a call center technology selection project include whether to go with a hosted or on-premise provider, a niche offering, or a software suite to handle call center processes.
Involve a cross-functional team in the decision-making process
Including on the selection team someone from IT and from the telephony group, in addition to call center representatives, will help ensure that the needs of all departments are considered during the call center technology selection process.

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