Unprecedented change. This phrase accurately describes the global business environment we are currently living in. As the world continues to feel the effects of COVID-19, companies across all industries are faced with these changes. Many business sectors have been impacted to such an extent that they are hardly recognizable when compared to just three months ago. Some business sectors have reacted quickly, nimbly adjusting even while shouldering increased financial burdens and even threats. Others are still trying to come up with short term strategies to survive in the hope that there will be a return to “business as usual.” The reality, it seems, is that “business as usual” and what is “normal” has been redefined.
Flexibility and adaptability are the new normal. Think about successes and mistakes that were made in your contact center (or with your contact center partner) when the pandemic began and learn from them. It is critical to tailor future wave responses to include revisions to contingency and redundancy plans or consider additional partners for this help.
In the last few months in the contact center industry, specifically, we’ve heard real stories of how call centers are either struggling or adapting well. This seems to be dependent on the plans in place for redundancy and contingencies. Centris’ strategies have been resilient during the first wave of Covid-19, and we know that that is due to these plans we have in place for situations such as this global emergency.
There is a lot of discussion about what should contact centers look like for the future. At Centris, we’ve thought about what it will take to stay resilient and make it through to the “new normal.” We’re focused on three major areas, Employee Safety, Technology & Security, and, of course, our Clients.
Employee Safety Focus
Simply put, a contact center is nothing without its’ staff. Agent health must be a top priority. Let’s take a look at ways to make this possible.
- Provide up to date information from agencies such as the WHO and the CDC to educate employees on hygiene best practices and ways to reduce the spread of germs.
- Have a “stay home if you are sick” policy, without penalty for missing a shift.
- Provide transportation to and from work to reduce exposure via public transit.
- Perform start-of-shift health checks for staff and also for visitors.
- Establish a no-contact culture (including handshaking, hugs, etc.)
- Increase seat spacing for agents
- Increase personnel dedicated to the intensive daily cleaning and sanitizing of office locations
- Frequently sanitize high touch surfaces throughout the office, including break areas, restrooms, door handles, etc.
- Help employees to maintain a safe work environment by providing sanitizers and sanitizing wipes for equipment at their workstations.
- Work with clients to determine which projects can be authorized to be attended to by work-from-home agents, while still employing rigorous security and behavior standards, and allow those agents to work remotely.
Referring to the final bullet point just above, for many contact centers, maybe staying safe means that agents are staying home. You may not be equipped to handle this part of the new normal. After all, you’ll need to learn how to effectively manage a remote workforce, and not all employees or employers have this kind of experience. For those who may struggle, there are ways to adjust. For example, success in a work-from-home scenario starts by establishing personal routines, continuing frequent communications with team members and management, and keeping up with projects/goals and scheduling progress reviews. Centris’s successful WFH policy ensures that client services continue without gaps in service due to agent illness or a reduced in-office staff. Remember, a healthy contact center staff means happier employees, higher productivity, satisfied customers, and lower costs.
Technology and Security Focus
With technology driving so much of customer service programs today, it is critical to work with data storage, security software, communications providers, and other tech vendors to ensure that services continue without interruption. It is essential to know what to expect and how they are equipped to handle emergencies, such as pandemics and natural disasters. Also, work with your security vendors and IT department to establish rigorous procedures to maintain customer data security. This may include employee tracking software with access logs or time-tracking features, cloud backups for data, and other dedicated security software.
Client Focus
Unwavering is the goal of delivering outstanding customer interactions; it’s just that it comes with new protocols during this era. Your redundancy plan goes a long way here. If a dedicated agent is unavailable, having other agents trained to provide service is critical—the same with data storage. If there is an outage at one facility, access to a duplicate or cloud-based system keeps information flowing seamlessly.
During this time, examine new needs the business may have. Messaging changes, scripting changes, increases in service request volumes, and pivoting to different types of service touchpoints available to customers (phone support versus live chat support.) As a robust contact center provider, our goal at Centris is to be there during the ebbs and flows of any business.
There are risks involved in trying to handle the new protocols in-house and still provide a high level of customer service. It also is costly to continue in a plan that isn’t working. If your “business as usual” has been, or is being, redefined in such a way that you need to be more focused on your core business or need more robust business continuity, Centris can help. If you have limitations in infrastructure, security, or maintaining agent health and safety or are just considering ways to lower costs and raise efficiency, please consider moving your back office and call center work to Centris. We continue to help our partners across many industries to deliver exceptional service to their customers and are ready to assist others, so please reach out.
About Centris –
Centris is a nearshore contact center. Providing support for businesses for over 30 years, Centris delivers quality customer service, tech support, Live Chat, Soft Collections, and more. We are ready to help if the unexpected happens. Centris has comprehensive redundancy and contingency plans in place to ensure our clients don’t experience a lapse in service.
