Creating a virtual contact center -- Step 3: Reviewing Technology

Technology is one of the three pillars of contact centers (technology, people, and processes). You need to ensure that this pillar is working and strong otherwise your entire vision of a virtual contact center collapses like a three legged stool with a busted leg. Before any agent or supervisor is allowed to be remote, a complete review of your technology should be completed. The last thing you want is to have half your agents at home and not able to connect or receive calls. Furthermore, just sending a couple of agents home to test is not sufficient enough. As stated in my previous article of this series, “Gathering Help”, your IT department needs to be part of the visioning process and you should meet with your IT department early in the process. A review is also warranted if you plan on placing agents in a remote office. WAN bandwidth will be affected, especially if you currently use an IP based contact center application and VoIP communications. Your vision may also require changes to IT policies and procedures. Working with the IT department to determine the level of support they can provide will greatly affect what type of virtual contact center you can deploy.

The first and most important task in your technology review is to be address is how will your agents receive calls and other interactions? In short, do your current ACD and IVR support remote agents? Some solutions allow agents to use a normal POTS phone to call into the ACD and others dial into the agent’s home phone before transferring calls which may increase the cost of your virtual contact center. Still other contact center solutions support only VoIP and require the agent to use a router or VPN. The method used by the ACD to pass calls to remote agents will greatly affect your cost/benefit calculations as well as the type of virtual contact center you can establish.

Next you need to determine what type of PCs will the agents need and who will issue it. Some companies issue agents laptops. They are easier to transport and ship, but, they also can be more easily stolen and harder to track than are desktops. You need also to ensure that policies are in place with regards to installing personal software on a company owned PC and that those policies are reviewed by the remote personnel. Finally, how will the PCs receive periodic upgrades? Will the agents need to send them in to IT or can the software be loaded through a VPN?

Some virtual contact centers use terminal services such as Citrix XenDesktop or VMWare View , which removes the need to send PCs and associated software to the agent’s house. If you are considering a terminal service application, you need to make sure all the agent software supports terminal services and if you currently record the agent’s screen, the terminal services you select supports desktop recording.

If your contact center currently uses a workforce management and/or quality management solution, you need to determine if the solution or solutions remote agents. If you are not using a workforce management solution (and you should be), how will the supervisors monitor calls when the agents are connected to the ACD remotely. Some workforce management solutions, especially older versions, require an IP address to map the screen with the call. PC connected to a corporate network through a VPN or a terminal server, many times do not supply IP addresses. How will this affect your solutions and procedures? Finally, do the whisper modes, call break-in, and emergency recording applications work remotely?

In in-house contact centers, managers and supervisors have the opportunity to physically walk around calling floor. But in a virtual contact center, management by walking around changes greatly? In my article “Managing in a Virtual Contact Center” I discuss some options in communicating in a virtual contact center.

While technology can enhance the remote experience, it can also stop you if establishing a virtual contact center costs too much. Many contact center solutions require additional components (such a routers or specific IP phones) for agents to work remotely. These costs need to be factored into the cost/benefit analysis in your vision. Finally, a through review of the technology you currently use will determine what the agents and supervisors need to have in their houses. For example, will the agent need a POTS line or will VoIP over their broadband connection work? Also how much bandwidth is needed and in the case of rural agents, do satellite internet suppliers provide enough bandwidth?

When reviewing your technological infrastructure, you will need to determine a plan of action if your solutions do not support remote workers. Of course one option is to scrap the project or delay implantation for a year or two until the solutions are replaced or upgraded. You could instigate an upgrade or replacement of your contact center solution with one that supports remote agents. Another option is to replace your current solution with a hosted (or on-demand) solution such as ones offered by Contactual , Five9, and Echopass, which were designed with virtual contact centers in mind. You should also consult with your telco vendor because many offer on-demand contact center solutions and can provide discounts and other incentives.

Technology is the foundation of a virtual contact center and it will not matter much if you have a champion and all other pieces in place if your technology cannot handle a virtual environment. By ensuring the technology works well, you avoid events that could lead to decreased customer satisfaction, such as bad phone lines or agents showing active but are actually not on line. Without knowing your technology infrastructure is solid, stable, and capable, your vision of a virtual contact center may come crumbling down like a house built on sand.