It’s a well-known fact that as the seasons cools down, the customer service industry heats up as it prepares to deal with the impending holiday rush. This rush can manifest in the form of shoppers busting down the doors of Wal-Mart and trampling one another for a chance to buy a hundred dollar plasma television. In the call center it’s easy for agents to feel equally underfoot as they deal with the immense surges in call volume that accompany the holidays.

 If you’ve ever worked a 14 hour shift in a call center taking orders for the season, you know any span of volume relief is appreciated. With a hosted call center solution, hiring seasonal employees has never been easier, and because most options allow workers to log in remotely, managers can save on hardware too.

Hosted call center software like that offered by VoltDelta empowers customer service operations, giving them access to reserves of agents that may not have been close enough to work with them previously. Plus, with a subscription billing-based model, call center managers can quickly and easily add technology licenses that allow them to onboard new staff members with ease.

But the benefits of Volt Delta’s hosted call center solution don’t end there. This call center suite also provides users with a fully customizable hosted IVR system that can handle requests in an automated fashion, further reducing the call volume pressure of the holiday season. When used properly IVRs can handle many of the tasks that call center agents simply don’t have time to, allowing them to focus on more important tasks.

Hosted call centers provide operations with a number of tools that can help them combat the endless tide of calls that accompany the holiday season. Although the call center isn’t likely to be the calmest place in the world when December Rolls around, with IVRs and home agents in the equation you might be able to convert some of that holiday fear into cheer.

Chris DiMarco is a Managing Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page. Follow him on Twitter (News - Alert) @cpdimarco.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca