6 Tips for Remote Contact Center Management

In the changing workforce ecosystem, the new norm is the ability to access software and work from wherever. That’s a significant shift from contact centers, which, pre-pandemic, were primarily on-site. However, the pandemic forced companies to be agile and keep employees safe while still exceeding customer expectations. Hence the greater adoption of cloud-based call center software. In this post, we’ll explore tips for remote contact management that will benefit your agents and customers.

What Is Remote Contact Center Software?

Remote contact center software describes a platform that resides in the cloud. As a result, it’s accessible from anywhere with an internet connection and a login. When you transition from on-premises to the cloud, you no longer have limits of a physical location. Your staff can work entirely remotely or in a hybrid scenario.

If you’re ready to move to the cloud or are looking to replace your current remote call center software, you’ll appreciate these tips.

Managing a Remote Contact Center: Tips for Any Business

Is managing a remote team harder? It can be an adjustment, but organizations must provide this freedom if they want to attract and retain talent. According to a study, 92 percent of people expect to be able to work remotely at least once a week. Additionally, 59 percent of respondents said they’d be more likely to choose an employer that offers remote work than those that don’t.

Considering the state of recruiting, which is candidate-driven, your company must meet the expectations of the market. So, how do you successfully manage a remote contact center? Check out these tips.

Host Regular Video Conference Meetings

As you know, you no longer have to be in the same room to have effective meetings. Video conferencing allows communication and connection from wherever. By holding regular video conference meetings, your employees will stay informed and more engaged. It can be a time to discuss contact center metrics, welcome new hires, share new training materials, talk about improving processes, and more.

Foster a Healthy Company Culture

An organization’s culture isn’t something that’s only between four walls. It should be more meaningful than that. For it to be healthy, you must consider employee and customer needs. Call centers are notorious for high turnover. To mitigate this, you want staff to work in a compassionate, inclusive place while also ensuring they feel valued for what they contribute.

You can do this by doing more than just focusing on the numbers around call center operations. Employees who feel supported know they can come to you with any concerns or ideas and that you’ll listen. A healthy culture also includes:

• Lots of kudos
• Coaching when there are performance issues
• Not putting unrealistic expectations on their shoulders

Establish Formal Training

When onboarding a new agent, they’ll be better set for success with formal training. They’ll need to understand your company’s products or services, customer base, and software. With a remote call center platform, they can complete this remotely with no problem.

In addition to these aspects of training, consider a mentoring program where more senior agents work in tandem with new ones. It’s easier to do this with quality assurance and monitoring tools within your platform. Mentors or supervisors can live monitor calls and use capabilities like whisper and barge to help new staff. There are even custom evaluation grids you can integrate with contact center software.

Use Contact Center Analytics to Empower Agents

Contact center analytics are vital to managing remote teams. As a supervisor, you have access to real-time dashboards. Additionally, many reports can help analyze performance and find patterns. By looking at agent performance, you can identify areas of improvement. This can empower your team when they know what they need to work on and then receive the coaching or training to obtain those skills.

Ensure Teams Have Easy Access to Communication and Collaboration Tools

Another tip for remote contact center management is access to communication and collaboration tools. You can integrate a unified communications (UC) platform with contact center software. With this functionality, your teams can stay connected.

For example, they can use team chat to ask questions that customers have that they are unsure of the answer. If they can quickly receive the information in chat, they can pass that along to the customer. UC platforms also have a file-sharing repository, so agents could work on a document at the same time regarding metrics, training, or best practices.

Reward Great Work

Showing appreciation for your agents when they achieve goals is essential for managing contact center teams in any environment. When they hit their numbers, exceed customer expectations, or improve operations, that’s worthy of a reward. You can incentivize your workers with small prizes like coffee shop gift cards, company swag, or even more paid time off (PTO).

When your people feel they are part of a successful team and get the recognition they deserve, they’ll become more loyal and show up every day to do their best.

Remote Contact Center Management Is the Future of Work

With these tips and the right software, you can effectively manage your call center staff from wherever. As the idea of where work happens evolves, you’ll have to shift your management style by applying the right strategies and tools. Learn more about remote contact center software and how it can facilitate building a strong team.

Rob Oscanyan

Robert Oscanyan is a Senior Director of Product Marketing at Intermedia, where he focuses on helping businesses improve their customer experience using Intermedia's award-winning cloud communications solutions. Rob has over a decade of experience spanning market research, messaging, and elevating the voice of the customer. In his free time, he constantly creating new adventures with his wife, seven kids, and a small army of pets.