Oh, the Places You’ll Go: The 4 Contact Center Location Considerations

We talk a lot in this blog forum about partnership and who you should choose as an outsourcer contact center partner, but where you choose to outsource to is almost as important an element in the procurement process. Consider this post your GPS guiding you to the best location for an outsourced center using four points of directional reference: cultural alignment, labor force, business climate, and accessibility.

TL;DR – When it comes to contact center location, make sure you’re aware of the cultural alignment, labor force, business climate, and accessibility before partnering with an outsourcer.

Cultural Alignment

Agents must be able to speak the same language as your customers – and not only in a literal sense. Fluency and inflection are essential, but so is a native understanding of casual phrases and idioms that fit naturally into a conversation. Can your chat agents LOL along with a customer? Can your voice agents share TGIF sentiments with a caller? Equally important is a grasp of common pop culture references, favorite sports teams, or the latest blockbuster hits – it’s these small details that turn everyday interactions into exceptional customer experiences.

And it goes further than just being able to talk about these things in casual conversation – active listening provides a powerful opportunity to connect with a customer on a deeper level. Catching passing comments or picking up on tone of voice is key to personalizing the experience – and it’s often only possible when there is a strong cultural alignment between the agent and the customer.

Labor Force

The local labor force for any contact center partner you’re considering is a key element because it determines the quality of the agents who’ll be representing your brand and the size of the available labor pool. Elements of the labor force to explore are the local unemployment rate, average education levels, and overall demographics.

Unemployment rates give you an idea of how difficult it will be for your outsourcer to fill open positions. A high rate is indicative of a struggling economy, while a so-called “zero” unemployment rate means those open roles may sit unfilled for too long. Many regions in the US are currently experiencing this zero-unemployment landscape. This makes many Canadian urban centers attractive - with rates that are neither too high nor too low.

Education is indicative of the skill level of the local talent pool. Halifax, for example – home to our Blue Ocean offices – has one of the highest post-secondary attainment rates in North America. That means with our combined unemployment rate around 5% and our education rate (more 70% of adults in Halifax have completed a post-secondary program), we can access agents who are the right fit to support clients with complex service scenarios.

Business Climate

Local economics are often a direct reflection of the health of local businesses. Make sure you check out the general trajectory of the regional business landscape in any area you’re considering for your outsourced center. That includes a look at the political climate, tax rates, and overall community infrastructure. These elements will have a long-term impact on the quality of agents your partner can hire, the price you pay for your outsourcing, and the business decisions your partner makes over the years that will directly affect your project.

Another key consideration is how far your dollar will go. Though the quality of the customer experience trumps most arguments about price, ROI is still important to your business. That’s why it’s important to understand how the inherent differences between city- and rural-based contact centers will impact your bottom line – thriving metropolitan areas can come with a higher price tag, but what are the turn-over implications and costs in a rural location? Does a rural-based center have the talent pool to scale and sustain their workforce alongside your growth? Can they easily replace quality talent lost through attrition?

Also, consider factors like minimum wage and currency conversion. You can access an onshore program at a discounted rate if you are a US-based company just by looking north of the border where the American dollar is equivalent to 1.33 Canadian Dollars. That difference creates an exponential uptick in your ROI without any sacrifice to quality or cultural alignment.

Ease of Accessibility

We’re huge proponents of getting on-site at your outsourcer’s offices both before you make the final decision (we even recommend a visit before you even go to RFP) and also throughout the ongoing lifetime of the partnership. In-person visits help establish a stronger relationship and give you a window into exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. But if it takes a full day of travel plus 2 connecting flights and a 3-hour drive from the airport just to get there, is it really worth it? Just a few visits may be a lot of wasted days spent on travel. Plus, in the rare occasion of an emergency where you need to get on-site fast, extensive travel is going to perpetuate the problem.

Ease of accessibility is essential. Rural contact centers may seem like a great choice, but being hard to get to is what makes them rural. That’s why somewhere like Halifax, Nova Scotia, is actually ideal, with daily direct flights to most major US cities. With at least four flights a day to and from Newark in two hours, it’s as easy to access as any major US city on the eastern seaboard.

Choosing the Best Location for Your Contact Center

It’s not uncommon for location to be one of the last considerations in your process of determining a contact center partner. Most likely you’re more concerned with a partner’s range and quality of services, their industry experience, training programs, and performance rates. But even when it’s a last thought, the location of your outsourcer plays a massive role in your partnership. That’s why we advise that you keep these four points of consideration in mind.

Source: https://blueocean.ca/contact-center-location/

2023 Buyers Guide

Get Listed

Remote Agent Solutions

 

1.)	3Fiftynine Branches Making sure agents can work remotely isn’t a problem with Branches. The system shows accurate information, real-time. No fear of missing out on important updates anymore.

2.)	Amtelco Web Agent Our Web Agent application is a web browser-based telephone agent interface for the Genesis Intelligent Series (IS) call center platform. The Genesis Web Agent application makes any personal computer a professional telephone agent station.

3.)

Big Outsource Our spectrum of outsourcing services in the various disciplines includes creatives, technical support, and information technology. The non-core side of outsourcing that we offer starts with giving you the ability to hire local talent or a team who will comprise your own back-office support, marketing, sales, and even call center support. Right now, we have a growing number of clients from the United States and Australia.

4.)

Centrical Centrical Business Continuity & Remote Work Solutions Centrical Solutions Help Sustain Business Continuity, Keep Employees Engaged and Connected During COVID-19 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Centrical, provider of the holistic, real-time employee engagement and performance management platform, offers contact centers ways to Keep calm and keep working remotely. We offer solutions for business continuity in a crisis that provide effective engagement, communications, and reskilling of employees working from home, among other things. They will let you: Reduce anxiety and isolation The times we’re in require an extra effort to communicate and keep everyone connected. With Centrical, you can create an ongoing stream of communica... (read more)Centrical Solutions Help Sustain Business Continuity, Keep Employees Engaged and Connected During COVID-19 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Centrical, provider of the holistic, real-time employee engagement and performance management platform, offers contact centers ways to Keep calm and keep working remotely. We offer solutions for business continuity in a crisis that provide effective engagement, communications, and reskilling of employees working from home, among other things. They will let you: Reduce anxiety and isolation The times we’re in require an extra effort to communicate and keep everyone connected. With Centrical, you can create an ongoing stream of communications that ensures employees don’t just click-through updates, but, read, acknowledge, and apply them. • Send personalized, segmented, and classified updates on any device • Set daily goals with real-time tracking and achievement recognition • Enable real-time, bi-directional, closed-loop communications allowing managers to track voice-of-the-employee, performance issues, and gaps Adapt to a rapidly changing world Equip and empower your workforce to perform in the volatile business environment we’re all facing. Quickly reskill and transition to new roles demanded by this situation. Shift employee focus to new goals. Enable team leaders to connect and manage with employees anytime, anywhere. • Create fast-track, on-the-job retraining programs • Adjust employee goals and KPIs on the fly • Create short-term challenges and opportunities for rewards Keep doing what needs to get done Speed-up or transition in-class learning and onboarding to remote digital training and provide employees with continuous visibility on their performance and goals. Centrical comes with all you need during a crisis to minimize business disruption. • Ensure knowledge retention with AI-optimized microlearning • Keep employees on target with real-time performance tracking • Adapt and shorten training plans with personalized, structured or unstructured, mobile-friendly, gamified learning tools

5.)

Cloud IT Services GmbH Dialfire Dialfire offers you a complete call center solution that is simple and intuitive to use and adapts to your needs. It's completely cloud-based, saving you the hassle of setting up a phone system and installing software. In addition to predictive dialing and call blending of inbound calls, you can create personalized campaigns through an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Features include automated workflows and full control over the agent screen. You can see the full list of features here:

6.)

Collaborationroom.AI Collaborationroom.AI Collaborationroom.AI is an Agent Engagement, Productivity, Compliance and Training Solution that enables your supervisor to manage their teams just like they did in a brick-and-mortar facility. This patent pending technology, enables Supervisor to Collaborate with their team in real time while ensuring same level of Compliance they did when they were in a brick-and-mortar

7.)

Consilium Software Consilium UniAgent™ Mobile As we enter the next stage of the global pandemic, Contact Centers are faced with a new set of challenges to enable their Agents to Work-from-Home without impacting Customer Experience (CX). UniAgent™ Mobile is the ideal solution to enable Work-from-Home Agents using Tablets or Smartphones or PC without any VPN. UniAgent™ Mobile is compatible with Cisco CCE, CCX, PCCE and HCS-CC contact centers (both bridged and nailed connection). UniAgent™ Mobile is available as On-Premises or Cloud Solution which can be hosted in the Private Cloud, or on the Public Cloud (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, etc.). UniAgent™ Mobile can be deployed in conjunction with Cisco Unified Mobile Agent (CU... (read more)As we enter the next stage of the global pandemic, Contact Centers are faced with a new set of challenges to enable their Agents to Work-from-Home without impacting Customer Experience (CX). UniAgent™ Mobile is the ideal solution to enable Work-from-Home Agents using Tablets or Smartphones or PC without any VPN. UniAgent™ Mobile is compatible with Cisco CCE, CCX, PCCE and HCS-CC contact centers (both bridged and nailed connection). UniAgent™ Mobile is available as On-Premises or Cloud Solution which can be hosted in the Private Cloud, or on the Public Cloud (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, etc.). UniAgent™ Mobile can be deployed in conjunction with Cisco Unified Mobile Agent (CUMA) or Cisco Extend and Connect (Cisco CUCM feature). Several Organizations Worldwide are using UniAgent Mobile for their Work-from-Agents to effectively manage their Contact Center Operations remotely resulting in Enhanced Customer Experience (CX). In most situations Work-from-Home agents can be Onboarded in less than 24 hours and made fully operational using UniAgent™ Mobile. • WFH alternative to Cisco Finesse Agent Desktop / CTIOS - allow agents to perform work without VPN • Supports Android and iOS Mobile devices • Runs inside Google Chrome or Firefox mobile browser - leverages HTTPS security, browser security and encryption • Agent Call Controls Consult, Transfer and Conference are available for efficient Call Handling • Pair with Cisco Mobile Agent (CCE) or with Cisco Extend & Connect (for CCX) to use PSTN for voice • Cisco outbound Dialer (Progressive, Predictive, Preview and Direct Preview) Modes are supported • Low implementation cost and option to choose from minimum subscription period of 1 month • Seamless integration with CRM and other 3rd party applications • Responsive UI which can run equally well across Mobile phones, Tablets and Desktops. • Supports Post Call Wrap Up Codes/ Scheduled Call Backs

8.)

Dalbar Inc. CXA iCoach As a leading expert in contact center business practices, DALBAR recognizes the challenge of consistently delivering exceptional customer experiences with the sudden shift to remote teams. Our self-evaluation and coaching solution for remote representatives and virtual contact centers will let you meet these challenges head on. DALBAR's CXA iCoach solution, combines our proprietary criteria and over 40 years of industry research. It allows Contact Center Managers and Quality Teams to continue to improve and provide a better customer experience even when they aren't at a physical location.

9.)

Eckoh CallGuard Remote A flexible way to take secure, PCI DSS compliant payments from home or remote locations. It’s quick to deploy needs no changes to processes or systems. CallGuard Remote prevents agents from seeing, hearing or recording card details so, the agent, their screen, and any call recordings are removed from the scope of PCI DSS. This simple approach means the customer effectively types their own payment information into the agent’s payment screen, but with the card details being shielded from the agent’s view. It’s simple, and highly effective.

10.)

Happitu Happitu is your customer support team’s personal coach. It guides your team through every interaction with custom workflows, responsive scripting, and dynamic help topics. Documentation in Happitu is automated, detailed, and consistent. Go beyond handle times and service levels with the rich insights of Happitu – from granular interaction data to aggregate data and trends – you get the complete CX journey! We intentionally built the Happitu Workflow Designer with your customer support team in mind. Using our intuitive tools that provide quick and safe iteration, you eliminate the need to involve IT or Development. Yes, you will no longer have to dread submitting a change request to Devin from IT! Try it free for 45 days!

11.)

MattsenKumar LLC Virtual Contact Center Solutions Our virtual contact center services help our clients to run their customer support processes (phone, chat, and email) remotely. Our well trained remote agents can help them deliver the best experience for their customers irrespective of the channels. With our data security measures, engaged workforce, and the right reporting tools, our clients are guaranteed with a satisfied customer base.

12.)

MFE International Oracle LIVE Experience Live Experience offers HD voice, video, Screen sharing and annotations for customer mobile users. Agents interacted with users using desktops or mobile. Applications are for Financial Services, Retail, Travel and Hospitality, Digital Services, Utilities, Coporate IT where remote HD video, screen share or annotation is needed for a great customer experience.

13.)

Nuxiba Technologies CenterWare Maintain your business operation from anywhere, even if your agents are at different locations! Don't let COVID-19 stop you. Use our cloud contact center hosted software and continue your operation. Monitor active campaigns in our administration module, have your agents receive and dial calls, access reports, have multi-channel interactions, and obtain 24/7 support. Easy setup and usage, request a quote or schedule a live demo today!

14.)

Orion Learning Services Inc. Learning & Development Learning & Development - For Remote Workers Learning & Development for Remote Agents, Supervisors, Managers and Administration/Support Staff Orion Learning is a global leader in providing accredited learning and development solutions for organizations globally. We offer call/contact center certification programs for Agents, Supervisors and Managers, business certifications and examinations for wide range of topics including project management, change management and service management, leadership soft skills and a full suite of assessment tools which can be used for recruitment, talent management, succession planning and coaching/mentoring. We deliver our solutions to global community and all of our solutions are delivered digitally.

15.)

Vads VADS Indonesia Remote Agent Solutions helps your company with various features that can make it easier for you and your company to stay productive, can be accessed anywhere because it uses cloud-based licenses so that it can help you and your business activities run smoothly.The features that keep your company activities running and productive.

16.)

Teckinfo Solutions Pvt. Ltd. InterDialog UCCS InterDialog UCCS with its work from home agent ready call center software helps you to have complete control over your contact center operations. Agents can log in from any where , home, office or any other place where they are through their mobile phone or desktop , or even through our ID mobile app . With centralized recording & reporting , you gain visibility of all contact center metrics , and you can manage your center the same way as you were doing when working from office.

 

View more from Blue Ocean Contact Centers

Recent Blog Posts:

What Happens to Customer Service When Unemployment Hits Historic Lows?	July 3, 2019
Keep Your Contact Center in North America Without Breaking the Bank	June 24, 2019
Oh, the Places You’ll Go: The 4 Contact Center Location Considerations	June 13, 2019
Before You Go to RFP, Get Friendly: A Guide to On-Site Contact Center Visits	May 29, 2019
Up Where Expectations Soar: Customer Care in the Age of Entitlement	April 15, 2019
How to Engage Gen Z in the Contact Center	March 26, 2019
Blue Ocean Wins 2019 Silver Stevie® Award in 13th Annual Stevie Awards for Customer Service	February 26, 2019
Empowering Your Team to Deliver Kick-Ass Customer Experience	February 25, 2019
Are You Using 1999 Metrics to Measure 2019 Customer Care?	February 7, 2019
Which 2019 Consumer Trends Will Impact Your Customer Experience Strategy?	January 22, 2019