At-Home in Action: Managing Those You Can’t See (Case Study)

About the Presenter Tom Milligan Vice President – Western Region UCN |  19 years in call center industry  Managed traditional Brick & Mortar contact centers  Managed “remote” contact centers  Bullet

About the Presenter Jill Blankenship Founder and President Frontline Call Center (360)  28 Years in Sales and Marketing  Tenacious Entrepreneur  Love to Look Outside the Box

Agenda  The Perfect Storm  Home Agent Profile & Business Benefits  Operational Challenges  People, Processes & Management  Best Practices  PATH

The Perfect Storm  US Economy: Flat/Negative Growth Source: BHF-Bank

The Perfect Storm  Costs are Rising  Fuel  Food  Labor  Real Estate

The Perfect Storm  Fuel costs are Rising Source: eia.doe.gov

The Perfect Storm  Food Costs are Rising Source:

The Perfect Storm  Increased Labor Costs Source: US Census Bureau

The Perfect Storm  More Income But Less Money Source: US Census Bureau

The Perfect Storm  Income vs Poverty Source: US Census Bureau

The Perfect Storm  Declining Labor Pool  Can’t Afford to Work  Gen X Attitude

The Perfect Storm  Ubiquitous Technology  Home Computer 74.3% Of US households have at least one home computer Source: Business Week 12/19/2006

The Perfect Storm  Internet Access/Usage Source:

The Perfect Storm  Changing Corporate Attitudes:  Importance of Excellent Service Cost of Poor Service Outsource vs. In-House Offshore vs. Homeshore

Home Agent Profile  Average Age: 35+  80% Have Attended College  85% Have Experience in Sales & Customer Service  40% Have Management Experience  30% Are Bilingual

 Almost Unlimited Labor Pool  Stay-at-Home Parents  Military Spouses  Retirees  Disabled  Rural Commuters  Reduced Training Time  Lower Attrition Business Benefits

 Scaling and Flexibility  Microscheduling  Self-Scheduling  Real Estate Savings  Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery  Enhanced Customer Experience Business Benefits

 Screening and Agent Selection  Training  Communication Key Operational Challenges

Policies, Processes & ProceduresRecruitment&HiringTrainingManagement WebApplicationProcess Screening VirtualDelivery Self –Paced Proctor SchedulingOn-lineCoaching MonitoringFeedbackReporting BackgroundChecks ScoringCompetencyTestingKPIs Team Culture Recognition

Analyst Recommendations  Understand the managerial requirements  Match your business processes to decision to use home agents  Ask the Hard Questions  Get help!  Look at needs of your organization, selling, servicing, licensing  Integrate Executive staff member  Benchmark your attrition, KPI’s, cost savings

The PATH Home P reparation A pplications T raining H elp

Paste Disclaimer Here or Delete this text box The Year of The Remote Agent

Build It and They Will Come CHOOSING THE RIGHT APPLICANT – Creating the Community MAINTAINING THE COMMUNITY – Using tools like Instant Messaging, Skype, and TRAINING and UPDATES– The right tools make training and updating information easier

Tools to Monitor and Maintain Supervisor monitors activity of agents 1:10 Ratio Instant Messaging Skype UCN myAgent Dashboard Intranet Reference And Community Inbound/Outbound Calls Live Chat Support through Agent Monitoring Reporting Customized call scripts Script Management Unique greetings IVR Programming

The Right Fit Matters eDispense Vaccine Manager TABC Permit GHI Medical Pimsleur Language Program Medical insurance experience Customer support experience Excellent problem solving skills Detail oriented Flexible schedule

Overcoming Obstacles  Making sure the agents systems are maintained and operating at full potential.  Staffing at highest utilization level – how do we do that?  Face to face communication and counseling  Making sure agents are staying fully informed and up to date on accounts and company policies  Virtual training and ensuring agent understands campaign  Maintaining a self motivating environment

Benefits of the Work-at-Home Platform  Lower attrition  Less sick days – Don’t share airborne viruses  Less tardiness – No excuse for getting stuck in traffic  Less inner-office conflict  Agents stay focused on the job at hand  Emergency scenarios and Natural Disasters  Increase in work hours  Better morale  Reduced costs to the Company

The Lessons We Have Learned  Tools make the world go round  Monitor, Monitor, Monitor  Make Utilization #1  Readjusting a skill level versus letting go of an employee

Real Life Amy R. Robin D. Kelly K.

Testimonial Amy R. Call Center Agent Frontline Call Center Working from home in Southern California Q What are the differences you’ve experienced between working on site and working from home?

Testimonial What are the benefits of working from home? Q Kelly K. Call Center Agent Frontline Call Center Bellingham, WA

Testimonial How would you rate the technological tools that allow you to take calls from home? Q Robin D. Call Center Agent Frontline Call Center Orcas Island, WA

Tom Milligan Vice President – Western Region UCN | Jill Blankenship Founder and President Frontline Call Center (360) x 222