The Future of the WFH BPO Model

Unless your business has been stuck under a rock, you’ve noticed the rapid shift to remote work. And while still very tough for many, best practices are starting to emerge across a wide cross section of industries. As the chaos subsides and the new normal emerges, the WFH results have been mostly positive as productivity has taken a small hit despite uplifting entire workspaces.

For the call center industry, it’s becoming clear that the at-home agent model is here to stay. Remote BPO services across different verticals have shown to be effective and sustainable.

The Immediate State of the WFH BPO Model

Prior to coronavirus, the shift to remote work had already started. Employee preferences for flexibility and convenience have grown to be more prevalent. BPO providers were somewhat hesitant to fully gear towards WFH but slowly warmed up to it as they moved to cloud-based software systems and began to beta test the remote model.

Everything changed when COVID-19 forced organizations to transition overnight. But now many are finding the transition to have a lot of benefits for the BPO industry.

The WFH model is the most sustainable approach during uncertain times, protecting services from the impact of pandemics, weather, traffic and unforeseen issues with on-site facilities.

BPO providers that had well-established WFH models have been significantly thriving in recent months because they had systems and security that were already established to onboard the wave of new clients needing an immediate remote solution.

Businesses should look for a BPO that has a firm solution for remote work today, because there is considerably more disruption in the near future. Despite many areas lifting their shutdown guidelines, the numbers are showing a post-reopening surge.

Contact centers like Aventus that had previously used at-home agents and those that have taken steps to support a long term remote solution are the best vendors readily available to offer seamless BPO services during the uncertainty of a pandemic.

The Future of the WFH BPO Model

So what happens after COVID? Is there an after? What happens when there is a vaccine in place?

p>Certainly, things will not be the same and there will be changes to the call center model forever as organizations that are unable to transition to WFH models close shop. Providers that had beta tested and had a plan in place are finding that this new model is more cost-effective, more flexible, and scalable.

With physical limitations removed, call centers do not need to limit their talent to one area and can incorporate better talent for the long term. This will open up more skilled and qualified talent from around the globe.

Having access to a larger pool of talent allows BPOs to do more. They can require agents to have certifications. They can elevate their standards. They can unlock better resources outside of their physical location to help deliver the best customer engagement for their clients.

With that said, BPOs that have put a lot of effort into building a remote infrastructure are not going to abandon all their hard work when it comes time to reopen physical locations.

The Future of Aventus

“A brand is defined by the customer’s experience. The experience is delivered by the employees.”
– Shep Hyken

What can you expect from the best customer engagement team in the industry?

Upon going back to “normal” Aventus has designed a hybrid model that leverages both a brick-and-mortar model and a WFH component to optimize customer service.

Having the remote infrastructure in place before the pandemic allowed Aventus to transition smoothly and focus on building new features like our Learning Management System (LMS) and knowledge base technologies for agent development. Our LMS integrates hand in hand with the WFH model to provide resources and training in a centralized, convenient, and organized environment.

Aventus is at the forefront of innovating thoughtful long term, efficient business models that have borne fruit much sooner than expected. Being ahead of the game always pays off and this year it was evident for Aventus. Aventus is ever evolving and forward thinking.

Now that you know all about these customer service trends, it’s time to make a plan for your business and start implementing it to ensure your lasting success for the future.

#AventusIsAwesome