Hiring Work From Home Reps to Keep Call Center Jobs Onshore
Silicon.com reports on an IDC study that gives call center managers a new idea to play with: hiring onshore work-from-home representatives.
Not all offshore deals are ideal. After receiving customer complaints, Dell stopped sending US technical support calls for two of its corporate computer lines to a Bangalore, India, call centre in 2003.
IDC said companies are turning to homeshoring in response to call centre challenges such as the need for superior agent quality, frequent turnover and the seasonal nature of the business. Alpine Access, Aspect Communications, IntelliCare, West, WillowCSN and Working Solutions are companies with "home-based sourcing methods and strategies", IDC said.
A number of companies in the technology industry are giving more workers flexibility in the way they do their jobs, including the option of working from home. There are challenges involved in telecommuting arrangements, including data security risks. Also, home workers can feel alienated. But homeshoring can help both agents and companies, IDC said.
Presumably, this sort of setup will work for a small- or medium-sized call center outift, perhaps one that is even running solely on VoIP.
This presents a viable alternative for entrepreneurs who may wish to keep onshore representatives naturally familiar with the market. But what is the exact cost difference? If accent and knowledge of local matters do not pose a high priority when selecting representatives, the owner of a small- or medium-sized call center may still do better to hire representatives from other countries, well-educated and well-trained, at a fraction of the cost required to hire an onshore work-from-home agent.
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