The shift in digital communications since 2020 has changed the way companies communicate with their customers. Businesses are shifting toward virtual contact centers or virtual call centers as remote working becomes more popular. Not just that, many companies are beginning to realize the key advantages of a virtual call center. While there are some disadvantages too, businesses are able to overcome certain challenges with the right partner. So let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of a virtual contact center, and explore how investing in the right partner can help you alleviate all the disadvantages.

What is a virtual contact center?

Before going into the details, let us understand what a virtual contact center is. They are also known as virtual call centers or VCC in short. A VCC is, as the name suggests, a call center where the employees or agents work remotely/virtually. This means that there is no space required for a call center office, and employees and dispersed geographically. The technology used in a VCC helps target the customer with the right agent based on time zones and geographies, making the process efficient and delivering a pleasant customer experience.

Pros and cons of a virtual call center

VCCs have a lot to offer, especially in the digital world we live in today. One of the key factors is the hybrid/remote working situation it offers. Gartner coins this as a “distributed enterprise” where companies comprise geographically dispersed workers. In fact, Gartner identified this as a top strategic technology trend for 2022 and predicts that “by 2023, 75% of organizations that exploit distributed enterprise benefits will realize revenue growth 25% faster than competitors.”

With this key statistic in mind, let’s dive into the pros and cons of a virtual call center.

Virtual call center: Advantages

There are a number of key benefits to leveraging a Virtual Call Center Model

  1. Cost-effectiveness: With your agents/employees working remotely, you save costs on a space for your call center, along with the major infrastructure. The key investments in this would be the virtual call center technology, an internet connection, telecommunications set up and key software. You also operate on the cloud, saving costs on investing in servers or IT teams to attend to any technical issues. Overall, running a VCC is more affordable than an in-house call center.
  2. Ability to be flexible: With the option to run any type of call center, you can choose features of your VCC based on your business goals. If you decide to outsource your VCC, you will have the option to tweak your plan depending on your business needs. If you run an in-house call center, the investment amount would be the same regardless of the number of agents. Furthermore, outsourcing also allows you to scale your VCC easily by adding more agents if and when needed without worrying about the hiring and training process.
  3. Quick hiring process of remote agents: Which brings us to the next point - hiring remote agents can be easier than finding people to bring into one office space. With your VCC having remote agents, your talent pool expands widely. You can also hire agents from different time zones, allowing you to provide customer support across the globe and around the clock. All your agents need is an internet connection and a computer to use the right virtual call center technology and software.
  4. Intuitive analytics and key insights: Some virtual call center technologies and software come well-equipped with real-time monitoring, call routing, and other features that can boost your productivity. Additionally, these software also come with intuitive analytics that gives you key insights on an agent’s performance, a customer conversation, and other factors like call durations. These insights can help you boost your productivity and focus on areas that require improvement.
  5. 24x7 contact support: With a global team dispersed across geographies and time zones, your VCC can provide customer service around the clock. The software will direct your customers to an available agent in their time zone and/or geographic location, making the answer time quick and keeping your customers satisfied.

Virtual call center: Disadvantages

  1. Loss of control in your communication: A common concern for businesses when they open a VCC is having a loss of control in how you communicate to your customers. Handing over this responsibility to an agent and losing direct access to customers can be scary from a business perspective.
  2. Potential technical/technological issues: Building your own VCC means investing in the right tools and technology. While most cloud-based software come with technical support, it can sometimes be an issue if a problem isn’t resolved quickly due to agents working remotely.
  3. Reduced collaboration between employees: Remote agents also pose the problem of less communication and collaboration between internal employees. This causes concern for lack of motivation for your agents or bad communication.
  4. Data security concerns: With your VCC on the cloud, security can be of concern due to employees working remotely and across the globe. Information can easily be compromised or leaked, leading to a bad reputation for your business.
  5. Agents' potential lack of business expertise: Another key concern for businesses is handing over customer interactions to agents who do not know the business well. While training covers the gist of the business, some specific customer queries might require a more in-depth understanding of the company or its products and services.

Invest in the advantages of a virtual call center with InflectionCX

The advantages of a VCC definitely outweigh the disadvantages, especially if you choose the right partner to alleviate the disadvantages. In order to invest in the advantages of a virtual call center, outsourcing to an experienced and digital-first BPO is crucial. This allows you to stay ahead of the competition and keep up-to-date with the latest technology in the VCC world. This is crucial as it helps keep your customer data secure while working efficiently with the latest software. Lastly, an experienced BPO will understand your business well enough to train their agents, giving you the confidence that they will be able to deal with your customers the right way.

At InflectionCX, we leverage the latest in digital and AI technologies coupled with our Remote First Agents to deliver the best possible customer experience that aligns with your business goals. Our wide range of services targets every stage of the customer journey with the best customer experience services on the market.

InflectionCX offers AI-powered BPO services for businesses to transform their stakeholder engagement. Our team of highly trained professionals utilizes InflectionCX’s AI software stack to deliver cost-effective, superior experiences to businesses and our agents are trained in voice and multi-channel support that transforms the customer experience. Moreover, bolstered by massive infra savings, our smart BPO can perform tasks with a far lesser workforce than traditional solutions, helping businesses to save money.

Contact us to explore how InflectionCX can help you deliver superior experiences while keeping your business goals and budgets in mind.