The numbers speak for themselves: since the pandemic, the percentage of paid remote work days went from 7.2% in 2019 to 27.7% in 2024, after spiking to 61.5% in 2020. The rise of cloud software and AI-powered tools has completely shifted people’s ideas about working remotely.
This change has been both a blessing and a curse. While it brought a ton of challenges (like long, boring Zoom meetings that crash), it also showed the world how beneficial it truly can be for many employees.
For contact centers alone, it has given increased prominence to the virtual call center model, highlighting what agents, management teams, and evaluators can all accomplish while being fully remote.
Transitioning to a virtual call center model is an excellent option for executives looking to improve their call center operation. It can offer benefits like:
Plus, it lets your call center expand to 24/7, global support across time zones, while still keeping your agents happy and engaged.
In this article, we’ll explore what a remote call center is and then help you determine if shifting to a virtual approach is the best move for your business. We’ll also give you tips on how to start a virtual call center and stay ahead of the game.
As you might expect, a virtual call center shares almost all of the same key features of a traditional call center—only instead of being centralized in one building, it’s completely distributed among various remote agents. Picture an entire call center—but the agents are working from home (or anywhere in the world with a stable internet connection) instead of an office.
This approach isn’t all that new, either. Plenty of call centers have switched to either partially or fully remote in recent years. However, with the pandemic and the explosion of new cloud technology, setting up a virtual call center has never been more attainable.
We’ve covered the big picture of what a virtual call center is before, but today it’s time to shift our focus and get practical. Today, we’re diving deeper into how to start a remote call center and how you can hit the ground running when you’re ready to make the transition.
Before you make any sweeping decisions about switching to a virtual call center model, it’s important to make sure that it will actually benefit your business as a whole.
We know there are plenty of benefits of remote work, and it’s not like employees are against it—in fact, 98% of workers want to work remotely at least some of the time.
But before you make the leap for your business, you should sit down and ask yourself:
But as wonderful as virtual call centers can be, they aren’t going to completely take over the industry just like that. There are still plenty of scenarios where a traditional call center model can be the better fit:
To get a headstart on moving to a virtual call center, it’s important to do some thorough research first. Look into how other companies have made the shift, whether they’re big players in similar markets or even direct competitors.
See if there is even a demand for a virtual contact center within your own ranks and whether or not it’s something you and your stakeholders can benefit from. Then, sit down and make a business plan that outlines the goals you want to meet, strategies to meet them, and any other details you need to get the ball rolling.
While this may sound similar to the previous tip, this is more focused on the why and what over the how. Why do you think you need to move to a virtual call center model? What goals are you aiming for—stronger KPIs, better scalability, or cost savings?
Clearly defining what you want to get out of your call center sets you up for success in the future. It helps you set better goals (and how to reach them) and gives you a better perspective on what the focus of your call center will be.
Unfortunately, money can make or break transitioning to a new model. Although this transition doesn’t have as many upfront costs as a traditional call center, you’ll still need to factor in things like migrating to cloud infrastructure, purchasing new software licenses, and training agents on the virtual call center software.
Additionally, you’ll want to consider staffing needs when transitioning. Will you be sufficiently staffed during peak seasons with your current number of agents, or will you need to hire more to scale up?
There are a lot of metrics that factor into how successful a call center can be. average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR) rate, customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, and others can illustrate the overall performance of your virtual call center. Here are some examples of how they can be impacted by moving to remote work:
Building (or shifting to) a successful virtual call center model starts with the right team. With a broader talent pool at your disposal (thanks to being able to hire outside your local area), you can pick the best agents that match the skills or experience you’re looking for.
That also means you need to properly vet prospective agents to make sure they have the right skill set—and mindset—for working remotely.
Once you’ve made your picks, you’ll want to work with your training team and stakeholders to create a dedicated training and onboarding program to ensure agents are set for success in an independent working environment. This will help your agents excel in their roles, maintain high performance, and ensure consistent, high-quality customer service from the start.
Running a virtual call center comes with distinct policies and workflow challenges that differ from the traditional model. These new guidelines should be clearly documented and available for all of your staff to reference when needed. That means outlining and adapting protocols for a remote environment, including:
Develop workflows that outline each task step, from handling customer inquiries to the follow-up at the end. This helps ensure that all your agents can stay consistent in quality and responses and also helps when they’re struggling to find solutions.
With everything thoroughly documented, you create a structured environment that promotes efficiency and accountability for all your agents.
Equipping your staff with the right tools and software is vital for a virtual call center. Without them, you might end up with mismatched systems and agents stuck in limbo, unable to access key parts of your business or assist your customers. There are a few essential pieces that you need to keep in mind, such as:
Maintaining high levels of quality can be a challenge for any call center, but it’s even more difficult for remote workers. To prevent your quality from dropping, you should invest in a thorough quality assurance program. These tools are able to track agent performance, create call recordings, monitor key metrics, and keep standards consistent between agents.
Plus, with the power of AI, some QA tools can automatically score interactions and create live agent dashboards, giving your QA team the full picture of quality—without eating away at your budget.
Unfortunately, while virtual call centers can be a massive improvement for your agent’s lives, they can also be harmful if you’re not careful. About one in ten remote work employees feel like it harms their personal lives, and we’ve already mentioned how nearly half can’t connect with coworkers.
The risk of isolation and low morale is incredibly important for your remote workers, adding a new vector to how you manage employees.
But how do you prevent this? The best way is to remain positive, keep open communication, and make it feel like they’re still in a fun and helpful workplace. This also means that you’ll want to prevent micromanaging or overworking your employees, ensuring they still get to have a healthy work-life balance and can get their jobs done without undue pressure.
To drive success for your virtual call center, people need to know about it. Take advantage of your company’s existing marketing channels, such as websites, social media, and newsletters, to announce and promote your services. You can also use search engine optimization (SEO) to make your company more discoverable to new clients.
Additionally, consider implementing referral programs to encourage word-of-mouth promotion. This can help you attract new clients and customers or talented agents who are looking for better opportunities.
Pandora’s box of remote work has been opened, and there’s no going back. Virtual call center models are an incredibly powerful way to help your call center reach new heights. They can reduce costs, scale to meet your needs, improve the customer experience, and boost agent morale, but only if you do it right.
Pivoting to a virtual model, paired with the increasing use of AI-powered chatbots and virtual agents, means that quality assurance is more essential than ever. It helps make sure you’re:
Scorebuddy can help you revolutionize your QA process and ensure that you’re delivering the best customer experience possible. With 100% GenAI Auto Scoring, you can keep your remote agents firing on all cylinders, take the burden of tedious work away from your evaluators, and elevate your call center’s service quality.
Get a free demo of Scorebuddy and see how you can maximize your CX and operational efficiency with AI-backed QA.
