Virtual Office Resource

Thanks to technology, today’s contact center is more of a function than a place. While many companies still use agent in large call center environments, technologies such as business phone service in the cloud have opened up the customer support function to remote workers, traveling experts, back-office employees, sales people and anyone else who may need to be involved to bring a customer transaction to a successful close. For forward-thinking companies, it has meant that the contact center can be easily expanded to home-based workers who might (for example) be kept on call to jump in if call volume becomes unexpectedly high. Low-cost subscription based business phone services such as those offered by Phone.com can be up and running in minutes and are easily configured and administered by people without extensive IT capabilities.

So what’s stopping a majority of companies from using vital teleworkers to supplement their existing labor force, or to keep their overhead costs down when it comes to premise-based work environments? According to Heather Huhman writing for Entrepreneur, while the technology is there –easy to use and affordable – there are some more people-focused reasons why companies haven’t embraced the virtual office model.

“When an employee transitions from working in an office to working remotely, they have to learn new ways to work with others and schedule their time to be productive,” wrote Huhman. “Unless employers want to wait for employees to figure it all out through trial and error, they need to step in and offer support.”

While the worker may have the means to easily become part of the telecom platform, he or she may not find it so easy to collaborate internally with coworkers or company knowledge workers. For this reason, ensure that workers are trained in how they are expected to keep in touch.

“By providing telework training about the nuances of the different forms of communication remote workers use, employees can better understand which choice will be the most effective way to convey their message,” wrote Huhman. “Companies can even develop a system about which form of communication is best for each situation. For example, daily updates about a project’s progress can be given through emails, but video conference calls would work better for brainstorming sessions.”

Simply put, before companies embark on a virtual office model, they need to be sure they have established methods and rules for collaboration. This is for a number of reasons: to keep the channels open between workers who are more effective when they collaborate with one another, and to keep remote workers from feeling “disconnected” from their work environment.

“Depending on the nature of the virtual team, some members may never meet in real life,” wrote Huhman. “Talking and working with faceless email addresses all day can make remote workers feel lonely. But no man -- or telecommuter -- is an island. If the right type of collaboration is encouraged between employees working at home, their relationships can be as strong as those in-office.”

Providing a “virtual water cooler” where remote workers can interact on an informal basis will help them to get to know one another, even if they are on other sides of the country (or the other side of the world). Look for a multichannel solution that allows them to easily chat, share experiences, ask for help from one another and generally foster relationships that can be as strong as those between workers located in adjoining cubicles.