Virtual Call Centers vs. Philippine Call Centers

By:James Stinson

Due to the increasing popularity of home-based jobs, there is a new breed of call center agents that do not have call centers. These agents work in the comfort of their homes, sometimes even inside their bedrooms, accepting calls from callers from the United States and sometimes elsewhere all over the world.

This works best for the agents. After all, they get to manage their own time, they do not have to go to an office since all work is done at the comfort of their home. They do not have to drive to work or suffer the rigors of commuting.

On the part of the company employing them, there are also obvious benefits. They do not have to purchase new computers, phone lines, and other kinds of equipment needed for the additional employee. In addition to that, they can do away with extra paper work and relational issues that may be present at the workplace. The company also generates savings because the home-based employee will not consume electricity, as well as other consumables in the office.

Before companies, however, decide to hire a home-based call center agents, there should be a thorough assessment of the impacts and the adverse effects of making such a move, especially in the workflow, in supervision, and in monitoring calls, and the employees as well.

Call centers in the Philippines have made significant progress in the area of monitoring their employees and ensuring that their call center agents are performing according to the standards of the company and based on the service level agreement that they have entered into with the company that secured their services.

Virtual call center agents may generate savings, but monitoring their attendance, the quality of their service, and the security of the information that passes through them may be compromised. Security particularly is an important concern in the call centers. If information leaks outside the call centers premises and servers, then this poses a risk on the part of the customers calling the customer service number as well as to the company employing such virtual call center agents. Apparently, such danger is not present in the Philippine call centers.

Philippine call centers have proven their worth since they first made their appearance in the country. They have been consistent in meeting their targets, as well as the agreements they entered into, whether this be in terms of sales, service, and technical support. Increasingly, there are also call centers now catering to English learners online and through the phone.

Virtual call centers are still a novelty at this stage. In the future, the issues faced by such kind of call centers may be addressed and the process will be improved. As technology continues to develop, such arrangement may even be implemented in the Philippines. However, at this stage, given the needs of companies all over the world and the demands of the call center industry in general, call centers with physical buildings and actual offices are still the best choice.

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Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

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