More CSRs Are Staying Home

DestinationCRM.com
The number of contact center agents wearing their pajamas as their professional garb is expected to continue to gain traction throughout the decade, according to a new IDC report. "Home-Based Agent 2005-2010 Forecast and Analysis: Converging Economic Forces to Drive the Expansion of Homeshoring in the United States" predicts that the number of U.S. at-home agents will nearly triple, from an estimated 112,000 in 2005 to more than 300,000 by 2010. The report, which explores the growing market for home-based customer care agents, also examines providers that are influencing this market's growth, including Alpine Access, LiveOps, VIPdesk, West, Willow, and Working Solutions. The trend within the outsourcing industry to tap the nation's work-at-home agents is spurred by a collection of drivers, including organizations' needs for more productive agents and enhanced retention rates. Workers can be "more productive and enthusiastic [working] from home, because they don't have to deal with going into work five days of the week to the call center," says Stephen Loynd, senior analyst for IDC's CRM and Customer Care BPO service. Also, workers' familiarity with American culture and English may make them better suited to field certain types of customer care calls that may demand a higher level of sales skills, compared to someone working in another country. These points also were highlighted in the research firm's 2004 report "An Alternative to Offshore Outsourcing: The Emergence of the Home-Base Agent." But Loynd notes that its most recent installment examines macroeconomic factors that are contributing to a healthy growth rate for home-based agents, citing technology enhancements, increased oil prices, and increased cost of living. more...