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With shopping surges about to hit during November and December, companies all over are adding a number of employees to their virtual contact centers. One company hopping aboard this train is VIPdesk (News - Alert), a company with a workforce of over 90 percent telecommuters.

According to VIPdesk officials, the company is hiring Kentucky residents to work as customer service representatives (CSRs) who will respond to incoming calls from debit card holders in difficult financial situations with questions about their account status, balance inquiries, how to reset their PIN and more.

Thanks to the advent of a virtual contact center – which affords businesses an alternative to expensive premise based technology – VIPdesk’s CSRs can work from their homes and still manage to take incoming calls and field questions. Because this is a work at home job, candidates for the position must have a home office that is conducive to taking customer calls, quiet and free from distraction, according to company officials.

Moreover, potential employees must have their computers, Internet and telephone that meets company requirements, as well as possess strong computer and Internet skills and the ability to learn quickly in a technical environment.

Companies all over are quick to fill their virtual contact center facilities with extra employees particularly as big shopping days such as Black Friday (News - Alert) and Christmas Eve are right around the corner. Just last week, Macy’s announced that it is boosting its holiday hiring by four percent this year, adding 78,000 workers nationwide at its contact centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers.

Some companies are quick to pick up on the fact that one tactic that can save them a ton of money is the virtualization of contact centers. A virtual contact center offers a wealth of benefits, most importantly the fact that you can fill a seasonal agent position quickly and without having to front huge capital.

By having a subscription as a service model, companies are only required to pay for what they consume which translates to no wasted investment on technology that will go unused for the majority of the year.

Moreover, virtual contact center software equips companies with all the tools and technologies that are needed, which are on-demand and ready to go when you are. This goes not only for workstations within your call center, but also for home agents, who can connect to your virtual contact center through any sufficiently connected PC. By enabling agents to access tools from anywhere, the pool of potential contact center employees is widened and, accordingly, a company can reap a higher level of customer service.