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As products become more complex and feature-rich the risks of often costly-to-resolve problems with them also increases. And while there have been significant advances in customer-accessed self-support tools, when they fail the customers have to call or e-mail or text support reps, which add to the expenses of and cuts into the profits realized from the products' onetime sale or total subscription value.

 

TMCnet recently interviewed Angela Selden (News - Alert), CEO of Arise Virtual Solutions, to get her insights on customer support. Her company provides outsourced home-based agent services, utilizing company-certified self-employed or independent business owner individuals for a wide array of programs including for customer support.

 

(Home-based workers are especially well-qualified for product-and-service problem-solving, and in relating to customers who have these issues. Because they do not have a help desk on premises that can run over and sit down at their terminals they have to troubleshoot their own problems and if need be then escalate the issues to formal IT support teams)

 

TMCNet:  Has customer support/technical calls become more complex, in what way and what are the drivers? Provide some illustrations

 

AS:      Definitely.  Consider that by the time a call reaches an agent, the caller has likely researched their question on the company's website and user group forums and couldn't find an answer. So anything that comes in has already passed the "easy answer" threshold. We're seeing a significant increase in the use of home agents where skills and knowledge must be specifically linked to higher level customer needs. Other innovations that are addressing easier questions -- and so driving the more complex ones to agents include:

 

1.         Web site improvements

 

For example, Intuit (News - Alert)/Turbo Tax products use a dynamic FAQ section. You can research the question on their database or look to see if someone else has asked a similar question and was provided with a response.

 

2.         Crowd sourcing and social media tools

 

Microsoft (News - Alert) has many of their power users answer questions. At Arise, we use our Facebook page to enable current agents to answer prospective agent's questions.

 

3.         IVR advancement

 

Many services companies allow you to pay your bill, get your balance, or change your credit card information via the IVR transactions that used to be handled by agents. So the remaining issues are by default more likely to be complex.

 

4.         Chat and automated/scripted chat

 

For popular questions, such as someone asking a wireless company if a phone comes in a certain color, auto chat technology is sufficient.

 

TMCnet:          What has been the impact of these calls on customer support centers? Have they been able to respond effectively? If not what is limiting them in meeting customers' needs and what are the consequences?

 

AS:      The growing complexity drives a higher level of required skill-set, far beyond reading off a script.  In fact, this is a major driver of bringing offshore jobs back to the U.S. since the cultural and language barriers become more pronounced the more complex the customer's problem.

 

The top three impacts you see are longer talk times, the inability of workforce management departments to use historical data for forecasts, and the need to train agents on more scenarios and at a more granular level. The answer, difficult as it has been for the industry to accept, is finding more sophisticated agents and longer training times.

 

In response, customer support centers are falling into two camps.  The first are adopting the practices above and are responding effectively. The other recognizes their limitations and are moving the business to outsourcers that have mastered the training and management of this new generation of agents.

 

Given that the consequences of not answering these calls - loss of revenue, loss of customers and negative exposure on the Internet - are so high the industry is moving quickly to avoid them.  This is particularly true with given the impact of negative comments online. If a customer has a less than optimal experience and documents it on a blog or review, it's out there forever and requires the company to spend more money to dilute its impact than what it would have cost to utilize an agent with a high level skillset.

 
TMCnet:          What solutions does Arise offer to answer these calls?

 

AS: Here they are:     

 

1.         Curriculum development and certification ("training") classes delivered through our e-learning platform

 

2.       More sophisticated and educated agents who has the capacity to absorb a higher-level curriculum and certification program

 

3.       Multi-channeled agents (i.e ones that can provide chat, tech or customer service) in multiple countries and languages

 

Arise's 100 percent virtual model matches ACPs' (Arise Certified Professional) skills to specific client needs. This gives companies great flexibility for growth and profitability while improving their customers' satisfaction.

TMCnet:          Outline the benefits of having home-based agents and in particular independent contractor home agents for customer/technical support

 

AS:      Here they are:

 

1.         Earnings potential

 

The agent's compensation is closely tied to the results they produce. As an independent business owner, they get to select the clients and applications that best match their earnings expectations. They control their own earnings potential based on the frequency they work and the results produced.

 

2.         Demographics

 

Typically, the home based agent demographic vastly differs from that of brick and mortar call center agents. Over 87 percent of our agents (ACPs') have some college education and many are former managers that are looking to work from home for the lifestyle benefits.

 

3.         Geography: We recruit from around the United States and Europe

 

4.         Flexibility

 

You decide for whom to work, when to work and how to work. Many agents say the increased freedom they enjoy is the greatest benefit of being an independent business owner. Independent business owners choose the clients for whom they want to service and how many clients they want to service.

 

5.         Location

 

Independent business owners get to work from home and do not have to absorb transportation-related expenses.

 

In addition to some of the value propositions outlined above, the independent business owners, in our model, are required to pay for their own certification/training courses and are required to be incorporated (S-Corp, LLC, or C-Corp). Their upfront business investment means they're more invested in the process and ongoing success.  Customers feel the difference.

 

TMCnet:          What best practices do you recommend to firms seeking to use Arise for customer/technical support?

 

AS:      First you should evaluate your customer interactions seeking those with more complexity or a local need.  Then determine what metrics can be used for incentive payments.  Build the contract around these metrics. We in turn are able to incentivize our agents, via our statement of work, around these same metrics to ensure all parties are aligned to the same goal. 

 

Next, evaluate your curriculum to ensure it reflects current best thinking in maximizing your team's performance, and finally, work with us to craft a brand message for your company about why agents should be excited to service the calls for your company.