How vital is the customer experience to a company’s survival? Extremely. According to recent statistics, 86 percent of consumers have stopped doing business with a company due to a bad customer experience, a number that is up nearly 30 percent from a few years ago.
In fact, today companies grapple with two main concerns: improving the quality of customer service and broadening channel options while keeping costs under control – possibly even reducing them.
While it might seem impossible, in today’s world there are ways to maintain operational efficiency while achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction -- and all of this is possible with an at-home workforce.
To help others understand how a lower operating cost plus higher quality equals greater client value, TeleTech (News - Alert) leaders P.J. Weyforth-Drummond and Charles Hutton recently hosted a live webinar titled “Creating a Better Customer Experience with At-Home Associates.” The webinar was sponsored by TeleTech, a customer experience management leader and business process outsourcer.
Last week, Weyforth-Drummond, TeleTech’s senior vice president of TeleTech@Home, and Hutton, TeleTech’s vice president of business operations for TeleTech@Home, shared secrets of how at-home associates enable better customer experience management and offered tips to control costs while keeping contact center resources in the U.S., among other things.
The presentation started by sharing the following statistic: at-home workers account for 17 percent of all contact center associates and upwards of 60 percent in key industries. Whether retail, financial services, or healthcare verticals, all industries are driving toward increased use of at-home models. Moreover, other reports estimate a more than 20 percent growth annually through 2012 for at-home virtual centers.
Although some express concern about employing at-home models – such as security, work environment, work complexity and employee oversight concerns – the benefits of a work-at-home model outweigh the concerns, according to Hutton.
Some of the chief benefits of this customer experience management strategy include: higher utilization; a larger talent pool; increased productivity; lower attrition; higher morale; better management experience; and increased loyalty. More specifically, those who utilize at-home models can enjoy a reduction in new hire training periods by 15 to 20 percent; a 20 percent base wage reduction for new starts and 10 percent for in-house transfers; and virtual training lowered by 25 percent.
TeleTech advocates two at-home models. The first is the virtual model which boasts geographic location neutrality; specialized recruiting, training, monitoring and management; and social media community site support. The second is a hub and spoke model which addresses seasonal volatility and has a contact center site that is used for recruiting, training and coaching.
The customer experience management company also took the time to highlight its own at-home model, TeleTech@Home. TeleTech@Home Virtual Workforce Solutions is a comprehensive outsourcing delivery model providing access to highly secure proprietary technology, a well-educated, highly specialized, and flexible workforce, and industry leading learning innovation solutions addressing your complex customer interaction requirements, according to company officials.
To learn more about TeleTech’s at-home solution and to access the recorded webinar, click here.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Tammy Wolf
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