March 1998

REMOTE ACCESS
Lets Companies Send Agents, Executives Home

BY WOODY BENSON

Technology Solution:  Extend the reach of a corporate enterprise or call center PBX, key system, or Centrex system to give remote workers access to all functions of that system - including voice mail, conference calling, call forwarding, call transferring, 800 service, and ACD software.

Solution Vendor:  MCK Communications, Inc.

Last fall, when Richard D. Clubb, managing director, systems performance at TeleService Resources, Inc., spoke at a seminar for Telecommute America, his testimony about the increased productivity and improved morale of his Home Office Workers (HOWs) riveted the audience. TeleService Resources, Inc. (TSR), a subsidiary of AMR Global Services specializing in inbound and outbound telemarketing for hotels, car rental agencies, and small airlines, had moved several telemarketing agents from its Ft. Worth headquarters to home offices. This was a bold move by one of the world’s largest (in terms of time billed) inbound telemarketing ser-vice agencies because off-premise tele- marketing agents require more than just remote data access to remain "plugged in." At home, they needed technology that provided seamless telephone and ACD access as well.

Clubb soon learned that with agents working at home, productivity dramatically increased and, in an industry fraught with turnover, not a single Home Office Worker left the company. "For an industry with typically a very high turnover rate, zero attrition is pretty amazing," said Clubb. "Our customers continue to be delighted with our service, and TSR employees are thrilled to have the option of work-ing from home."

EXPERIMENT YIELDS SUCCESS
TSR first experimented with telecom-muting in 1993 when a group of pro-grammers transitioned to home offices. "Their productivity went up about 20 percent and, in some cases, 30 percent," Clubb said. "We attribute the increased productivity to fewer distractions in the workplace and upgraded communica-tion. Previously, programmers would receive requests on-the-fly; now colleagues were forced to communicate their needs in a concise, written manner that was easy to follow and, ultimately, fulfill. When staff members communicated with at-home programmers, e-mail was the preferred mode of communication.

"After about six months, I surveyed our internal clients. They were able to reach the off-site programmer more easily than if he was just a few offices away. We also learned that being home did not have to mean feeling isolated. Rather, if there was a meet-ing, a remote worker was simply conferenced in," he added. Because of higher productivity and the program-mers’ success at home, TSR opted to expand their Home Office Workers scope.

AGENTS TRANSITION HOME
In February 1996, five TSR telemarketing agents became Home Office Workers. However, the off-site business model that worked for programmers did not support the level of connectivity required for telemarketers. The programmers had been set up at home with two conventional POTS lines: one for voice, the other for data. This simple configuration did not suffice for agents because calls were not routed through the company switch. As a result, TSR supervisors were unable to monitor performance. In addition, there was no way to transmit the identification code assigned to each client. With over 100 million calls coming into TSR each year from a variety of clients, it is critical that agents know the nature of a phone call prior to answering the phone.

"On inbound calls, our agents have to know who is calling so they know which script to access on the computer," Clubb said. "In the office, we have a digital system with a display on the phone. The DNIS [dialed number identification ser-vice] code pops up on the screen, the agent enters it, and then receives the appropriate script. In order for off-site telemarketing agents to be successful, we needed technology that would enable them to receive the DNIS code for each incoming call in order to anticipate, and quickly respond, to a caller’s needs."

REMOTE SOLUTION
TSR found the tool for seamless telecommuting in MCK Communications’ EXTender System. As the name implies, the unit extends the reach of a PBX, KSU, or Centrex system and gives the remote worker access to all the functions of that sys-tem, including voice mail, conference calling, call forwarding, transferring, 800 service, ACD software, and other features.

The EXTender solution consists of two small modules — one resides at the switch and the other at the remote loca-tion. The switch module connects to the PBX and emulates a digital telephone set. The remote device connects to a digital telephone desk set at the home and emulates the PBX digital station port. Voice and data are then transmitted over either a POTS, ISDN, or T1 line from one module to the other using the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The solution worked so well for TSR agents that the initial number of Home Office Workers quickly tripled and then quintupled. Today, there is a waiting list of agents who want to work from home, as well as a list of customers who have requested to have calls taken by Home Office Workers. In fact, in a recent survey, TSR found that its customers ranked the performance of Home Office Workers higher than that of the traditional office staff.

EXECUTIVES ALSO BENEFIT
Opryland Hotel, the Nashville, Tennessee, landmark and largest non-casino hotel in the world, is home to another innovative application of remote access technology. It reaches its off-site executives with the Nortel (Northern Telecom) version of MCK’s EXTender. The EXTender technology enables management to keep up on the day’s events without trekking into the office.

"I can do everything from home but open the [paper] mail," said Gregg Hicks, director of telecommunications for Opryland USA, the parent company of Opryland Hotel and a subsidiary of Gaylord Entertainment. "With my busy schedule I often find myself at home between appointments. Now I no longer have to go to the office to stay seamlessly connected. With voice and LAN access at home, I can create my own schedule and still be 100 percent available to colleagues and customers."

After recognizing the value of remote voice access to executives, Opryland, like TSR, realized that the technology would also work for at-home telemarketers. "We use remote call center agents to cover peak calling periods," Hicks explained. "We’ll have a base staff in the call center, but for heavy calling periods, we recruit agents who prefer to work part-time, on-call from a remote location. The same remote-voice solution management enjoys at home, enables Home Office Workers to quickly log on to the network, process a few calls, and then sign off.

"Prior to discovering the EXTender, it was impossible to allow call center agents to work remotely because they required access to our telephone system and to our LAN network. Now, Opryland is able to attract and retain a new community of telecommuting call center agents."

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
The federal government is encouraging telecommuting, too. Although only about 4,000 federal employees currently telecommute, the President’s Management Council (PMC) is committed to raising that number to 60,000 by the end of 1998 for workers in thirty cities across the United States.

A recent PMC report noted, "In order to recognize substantial benefits in improved air quality, reduced traffic congestion, decreased need for expensive office space, and conservation of energy, the PMC encourages each agency to implement an aggressive telecommuting program within the organization, while reaching out to their state, regional, and local partners to help them do the same."

FINAL CHALLENGE
With the technical hurdles to telecommuting overcome, the challenge now is to convince corporate America that seamless telecommuting is truly a win-win proposition.

"For telecommuting to catch on in corporate America, we need to address several issues," said Opryland’s Hicks. "First is management’s concern about the productivity of remote employees. Supervisors and managers need to understand, and trust in the fact, that they can still supervise someone who is not physically located in the same building.

"With the reporting that’s available from the PBX systems, managers can track statistics on a remote employee just as he or she would on an employee located in the main office. In my estimation, there is no difference whatsoever.

"Another management concern is that remote agents will become alienated if they only work from home and don’t enjoy the social and professional benefits of corporate camaraderie. I believe alienation can be avoided if the company ensures that there is some regularly scheduled face time with each remote employee. Video conferencing is a quick and easy solution. A supervisor can dial up the agent and talk to him, or have him work from the office once a week.

"We have the technology to realize the potential for telecommuting. To make it viable, though, companies must embrace the concept and incorporate it as part of their overall culture and philosophy," Hicks concluded.

As president and CEO, Woody Benson is responsible for MCK Communications’ product, technology, and marketing strategy. MCK Communications, Inc., a leader in voice-centric telecommuting solutions, is a privately held company backed by Summit Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm. Incorporated in 1989, the company has earned a reputation for excellence and innovation by building leading-edge telecommunications products that enhance customers’ telephone systems.