Cloud Contact Center Featured Article

Working Solutions Founder: On-Demand Model Makes for a Win-Win

By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC

Many of us telecommute, and there’s growing adoption by organizations of on-demand business models. Working Solutions, which next year celebrates its 20-year anniversary, was a pioneer in the work-at-home arena and in providing human resources on an as needed basis.

The company’s first engagement was handling inbound and outbound calls for a city government. Working Solutions founder Kim Houlne (News - Alert), who is also the president and COO, handled the job with the help of a group of remote agents she recruited via the Internet.

Today, Working Solutions (News - Alert) offers companies outsourced assistance with their call centers, marketing research, product development, and tech support. Its customers come from a wide array of verticals. and it has relationships with 110,000 agents nationwide.

In a recent interview with TMC (News - Alert) CEO Rich Tehrani in Dallas, Houlne talked about how drawing from a wide array of individuals to put together a team enables Working Solutions to provide – and its customers to enjoy – much more experienced and engaged workers to do the job at hand.

“It’s hard to find a brand advocate in a 10-mile footprint,” she commented.

Companies that outsource to Working Solutions, she added, also get the benefit of paying only for the work they receive instead of paying for employees to sit idle.

“Why would I staff a call center in eight-hour shifts when my volume really only comes between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.,” she said. “It’s so much more efficient when you can be flexible and adaptable to what your customers need.”

According to Houlne, the people who provide their skills and labor via companies like Working Solutions also benefit because they can choose the hours they work. That may enable a person, she suggested, to be at home with an elderly parent or pick up their child from the bus stop.

Check out the full interview with Houlne below: