Elevating customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) will be critical for businesses in 2023, which is why many organizations are sourcing work-from-home (WFH) providers that specialize in remote CX delivery and employee satisfaction.
Working from home is no longer a rare perk; it’s an employee expectation and a key differentiator for today’s organizations. According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace report, 35% of employees say they would change jobs for remote working flexibility. In addition, a Stanford study found that working from home increases productivity by 13%, along with improved work satisfaction and a 50% reduction in attrition.
At Activus Connect, we’re 100% work-from-home, thanks to the power of our SmartVirtual™ platform. SmartVirtual™ is part of a robust WFH delivery model that solves business continuity challenges, fluctuating operational costs, and employee drop-off for organizations that procure business process outsourcing (BPO) and CX services.
Here are some reasons to leverage SmartVirtual™ as a solution to any CX challenge the future might introduce.
Talent Availability
Thanks to the flexibility and scalability of SmartVirtual™, Activus Connect employs people from a vast, geographically dispersed talent pool that allows us to provide service in diverse time zones, no matter the circumstances.
Moreover, access to this remote workforce eliminates the business risk of natural disasters, geopolitical disruption, and other unforeseen challenges by removing the single point of failure — traditional brick-and-mortar contact centers.
We designed SmartVirtual™ specifically for work-at-home Ambassadors, so it’s not an offshoot of any legacy brick-and-mortar platforms. It includes persistent text and video chat, security and compliance monitoring, and the flexibility to integrate different support channels and technological capabilities to suit any client.
It’s also infinitely scalable, allowing us to onboard hundreds of new employees at a moment’s notice. With no location barriers, we can find knowledgeable, skilled professionals uniquely paired to a client’s needs.
Customer Satisfaction
There are substantial customer-facing benefits to hiring so broadly. With their variety of backgrounds, our Ambassadors have empathy for many different types of customers and can significantly elevate the service and support experience through their native dialect, local knowledge, and unmatched cultural understanding.
SmartVirtual™ allows us to pre-screen candidates based on these factors, ensuring that our team of Ambassadors is ideally suited to the WFH model and has the skills to provide exceptional experiences. Then, once they’re on board, we use conversational and behavioral analytics to inform coaching sessions and provide precise, targeted feedback to help them deliver better CX and boost customer satisfaction.
Engagement and Culture
Our SmartVirtual™ platform enables us to boost WFH engagement and create a culture of belonging with our remote Ambassadors. With every communication tool at our disposal, we’re regularly strengthening our relationships with employees while fostering peer-to-peer relationship building.
Everybody is committed to elevating employee experiences by dedicating time to their emotional, physical, social, and financial well-being. We also focus on creating “partners” rather than “leaders”, with an inclusive approach demonstrating how valuable our teams are to the company.
Most importantly, SmartVirtual™ has allowed us to develop a unique community and family within the company, where people enjoy a worthwhile career path, a mindset of lifelong learning, and a prosperous work life for everyone.
Technology and Security
WFH businesses like Activus require world-class CX tools and a secure environment that provides peace of mind by aligning with industry best practices and global compliance standards.
With SmartVirtual™, we can listen in on calls, secure client applications and data, and quickly scale alongside client demand. It also includes enhanced customer feedback and sentiment analysis, 100% quality assurance monitoring across all channels, and is PCI-certified and HIPAA-compliant.
Activus practices a Zero Trust approach to keep employees and clients safe, with background and security checks, security and compliance training, and multi-level authentication for Ambassadors using our SmartVirtual™ platform.
The data and analytics features of SmartVirtual™ help us gather information from customer touchpoints, identify what they want, and coach our Ambassadors on how to deliver. In other words, SmartVirtual™ helps us understand the relationship between customers, Ambassadors, and your brand.
What to Expect in 2023
As we move into another new year, employees will continue looking for more WFH jobs with more flexibility, and companies will need to deliver to stay relevant and attractive to the workforce. However, they must also develop a sense of belonging to keep remote employees happy and engaged.
Employee well-being is a growing concern for most businesses and an important short-term goal for 2023. Collaboration, communication, and culture will be some of the biggest challenges for CX providers looking to maintain successful WFH operations next year.
With SmartVirtual™, we are already meeting these goals and overcoming all of these challenges. Our WFH careers offer flexibility and professional progression with unmatched engagement through regular communication, wellness programs, and a culture of belonging.
In summary, SmartVirtual™ will continue to give us access to the best talent and eliminate the risks and costs associated with brick-and-mortar. It will also keep empowering us to provide competitive price points for clients and higher-than-average wages for Ambassadors. But, above all, SmartVirtual™ will continue to allow Activus Connect to provide elevated customer experiences, which will be in demand for many years to come.