Top 5 Industry Developments Prove Virtual Contact Centers are Becoming the 'New Normal'

Recently, Bloomberg Businessweek featured an in-depth discussion on what it called the "New Normal." When boiled down, the "New Normal" is the widespread belief by politicians, academics, businesspeople, and many everyday Americans that the past few years of the "Great Recession" have irreversibly altered our country’s business and economic environment.

While the "New Normal" certainly poses serious challenges to the global community, it can also be viewed with opportunity and optimism. This "New Normal" will reward industries and companies that find more efficient ways of doing business. Winners will be those that focus on providing higher quality products and services at a more competitive cost. For those in the CRM industry, one of the most compelling ways to survive and thrive in this "New Normal" is through the implementation of a virtual, home-based contact center solution.

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As this column has addressed in the past, the at-home call center market has grown by leaps and bounds despite the contraction of the broader brick-and-mortar (B&M) call center industry. According to recent market research from Datamonitor, the number of U.S. home-based agents grew 23% in 2010, while revenue at the largest B&M companies declined 10% or more. Virtual call centers are now the "New Normal" for delivering high-quality and cost-effective customer interactions, and the following top five developments illustrate why the sector will continue to grow in significance for the foreseeable future.

Companies Flocked to At-Home Model

Three-fourths of Fortune 500 companies currently are using or developing plans to deploy virtual agents. Frost & Sullivan estimates that at-home agents now account for 17% of all call center agents and upwards of 60% in some industries. For 2011, the at-home model is predicted to experience accelerated adoption. Datamonitor projects over 20% growth annually through 2012 for virtual call centers – more than four timesfaster than the forecasted growth for the global outsourced call center industry. Companies across the world are now turning to at-home call centers to provide consumers with the highest level of service and the best overall business value. Analysts suggest there will be even further global expansion of the at-home model this year, with growth in at-home deployments in countries like Canada, the UK and Australia.

U.S. Government Gave Strong At-Home Endorsement

With 14.5 million Americans unemployed,it is understandable that government officials continue to look for ways to support domestic businesses. 2010 saw a flurry of legislation introduced at the local, state and federal levels aimed at either discouraging the practice of offshore outsourcing or encouraging U.S.-based employment. Additionally, the government has come out in strong support of the flexible work environment. Just last month, President Obama signed the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, which provides a framework for Federal agencies to lead by example in leveraging technology and maximizing the use of flexible work arrangements. In 2011, businesses can expect continued government efforts to push for the use of U.S.-based agents, which will stimulate employment growth, generate additional local tax revenue and improve the overall quality of customer service.

At-Home Agent Talent Pool Deepened

In 2010, the U.S. had an estimated 6.5 million, full-time telecommuters. Forrester Research estimates that the number of telecommuters will increase to 11.7 million workers in the next five years as Americans trade in long commutes, high gas prices, and the stress of office politics for the cost savings and improved work-life balance that legitimate work-at-home opportunities provide. The growing number of at-home workers, which the February census data will also support, is primarily the result of improved access to technology, worker demand for increased flexibility and rising management confidence in the ability to monitor a remote workforce. This larger talent pool will allow virtual call centers to become even more selective in hiring the nation’s most qualified agents with specialized skill sets to meet the unique requirements of their clients. This is a tremendous advantage that can only be provided through the at-home model.

At-Home Jobs Provide Relief to Small Town USA

The virtual contact center model brings the work to the people, rather than the people to the work. This means that employees can be located anywhere in the country – even in remote towns and communities. In 2010, companies using the at-home model brought much-needed employment to thousands of rural towns. As an example, Alpine Access currently employs over 4,500 professionals in more than 1,700 cities, many of which had few other viable employment opportunities for their residents. Home-based agents are able to have a meaningful career while still living in the places they love. In the coming year, further penetration into small towns across the nation will be made possible as state and local legislatures increasingly craft incentive packages to lure virtual employers to their communities.

Additional Vertical Markets Embraced At-Home

The at-home model showed increased adoption over the past year in vertical markets such as telecommunications, healthcare, media, financial, travel & leisure, and technology. Companies within each vertical found the employee-based at-home model flexible enough to meet their unique requirements, yet dependable enough to consistently provide the highest quality service. For retail, travel and leisure companies, the home-based workforceis ideally suited for dealing with highly volatile call volumes and achieving strong up-sell results.

For healthcare and financial organizations, virtualization offers highly skilled and credentialed agents to handle specialized call types. And for telecommunications, media or other technology clients, at-home call centers deliver agents experienced at problem-solving with higher first call resolution. The uniting interest for companies across all verticals is the virtual industry’s proven success at handling complex calls and interactions that cannot be effectively handled offshore or with automation. These high-touch interactions require the resourcefulness of home-based agents experienced at solving problems in a courteous, friendly manner.

It is undisputed that the homeshore phenomenon is the fastest growing area of the call center market. While the work-at-home sector has proven to increase overall customer satisfaction, the model also offers the best overall business value. It is because companies benefit from increased operational efficiency, reduced costs and higher quality service that they are willing to trust their customer care to a model that, in the past, was viewed by some as "radical." But to quote singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan, "the times they are a changing." Everywhere you look there are examples of products and services that were once considered new, but are now accepted as normal. Virtual call centers are no exception. They are the New Normal.