Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business 102709

Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Kate Lister, Author of Undress for Success: The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home, Principal Researcher at the Telework Research Network

Sally HurleyPresident, Co-founder of VIPdesk

View The Webinar

October 27, 2009

Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Our Virtual Experts

Kate ListerTelework Researcher & Author of Undress For Success—The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home

Sally HurleyPresident of VIPdesk

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

• Founded in 1997

• Originally deployed centralized solution

• Quality concerns led to home-based migration in 2000

• Represent over 40 leading global brands in financial services, retail, travel and real estate industries

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Kate Lister

• Analyzed 250 Studies

• Dozens of Interviews

• Telework Savings Calculator

Research Quoted By:

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

The Road Home:

• What’s in it for You?• Virtual Hiring• Virtual Management• Technology• Staying Legal

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:

• Expanded Talent Pool

• Lower Turnover / Absenteeism

• Increased Productivity

• Greater Efficiency

• Continuity

• Environmental Impact

• Reduced Costs

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Expanded Talent Pool• Retiring Boomers• Disabled Workers• Relocated Workers• Second Jobs• Students• Military Spouses• Rural Populations• Caregivers• Part-Timers

Other Advantages:• Geographic Matching• Local Licensing

Traditional Call Center Agent:25 years old

3 years in workforce

Virtual Call Center Agent: 41 years old

15-20 years in workforce

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Lower Turnover / Absenteeism

Turnover:

• Turnover is costly

• 61% of employees who do not currently work from home say they are willing to give up some pay in exchange for being allowed to do so.

• 68% of Shering-Plough Corporation’s telework program say that being able to telework is a factor in their decision to stay with the company

• 95% of employers say telework has a high impact on employee retention.

• Two-thirds of employees would take another job to ease the commute.

Absenteeism:

• 78% of employees who call in sick, really aren’t.

• Companies with telework programs see, on average a 63% reduction in unscheduled absences.

• Teleworkers typically continue to work when they’re sick (without infecting others).

• Teleworkers return to work more quickly following surgery or medical issues.

• Flexible hours allow teleworkers to run errands or schedule appointments without losing a full day.

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Increased Productivity

• 25% to 45% More Productive

- Best Buy

- British Telecom

- Dow Chemical

- Sun Microsystems

- JD Edwards

- VIPdesk

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Virtual Customer Care The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Greater Efficiency

• Redundant Scheduling

• Time Zone Coverage

• Traffic Spikes

• Seasonality

• Supervisor: Agent Ratio10

Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Continuity of Operations

• Flu

• Terrorism

• Weather

• Traffic

• Disaster

• Oddball

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Environmental Impact

• Fuel• Electricity• Paper• Greenhouse Gases

Carbon Taxes, City Access Fees, Sanctions

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

What’s In It For You:. . . Save Money

Over 100 Assumptions. 20 Well Respected Sources Contribute to the Model:

• ACS (Census), BLS, DOT, EPA, DOE, FHA, GSA, NTSB

• Matthews and Williams, Reason Foundation, WorldatWork, AMA, and others

100 Person Call CenterReal Estate - $300,000

Electricity - $46,000Turnover - $450,000

Absenteeism - $82,000Productivity + $600,0000

Total $1,478,000

$14,780 per person, per year!PLUS: other employee costs, parking, electricity, hardware, office

products, management, workers comp, redundancy, etc. 13

Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Virtual Hiring:

Skills Matching• Be more selective• Establish criteria of soft-

and hard-skills

Focus on traits required for working from home with less supervision

Home Office Requirements• Noise-free home-office• Dedicated phone line • Computer requirements

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Virtual Customer Care The Bottom Line for Business

Virtual Management:

• Training / Coaching

• Monitoring

• Managing

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Technology:

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

It’s the Law:

• Fair Labor Standards Act

• Workers Compensation

• Contractor vs. Employee

• Liability

• Licensing

• Double Taxation

• Zoning

• State / Local Overhead

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Your Turn:

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Thank You for Stopping By!Want to learn more? Contact us:

Sally Hurleyshurley@VIPdesk.com

http://www.vipdesk.com

Kate ListerKate@Undress4Success.comhttp://Undress4Success.com

You’ll be receiving an email with a link to this webinar. Feel free to pass it on.

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Virtual Customer Care: The Bottom Line for Business

Find Us Online

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Website: http://www.vipdesk.com

Blog: http://blog.vipdesk.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/vipdesk

Facebook: http://facebook.com/vipdesk

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/companies/vipdesk

YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/vipdesk

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