Podcast Transcript: The Win-Win-Win of the Home Agent Model
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FurstPerson (FP): Thank you for joining another Furst Person podcast. I am Jeff Furst with Furst Person. Today is August 5th and I am joined by Faye Victora, with SYKES, a call center outsourcing firm. We will be discussing home agents.
Thanks for joining us today Faye.
Faye Victora (FV): Thanks, Jeff, for having me.
FP: It is great to speak with you. Can you tell us a little bit about your role at SYKES and also about some of your experience in the contact center industry?
FV: Sure Jeff, happy to do it. My role at SYKES is the vice-president of SYKES Home and my job is to help make our clients more profitable and efficient and drive loyalty to their brands through the home platform. I have many peers that do off shore and in country and manage those platforms and mine is specific to the at home platform. I have been in the call center industry for about 20 years and I have been in operations as well as client services and support functions.
FP: Obviously you have a wealth of experience in the call center industry and, given the 20 years, I’m sure looking at the home agent model has been an interesting development for you.
FV: It sure has.
FP: Let’s talk a little about the home agent space and the model. We have seen on the FurstPerson side two types of recruiting models. One is commonly called the hub and spoke or maybe a neighborhood concept. And in that we see that call center organizations kind of push people home, but they also keep them within a fairly close drive time, maybe 45 minutes, maybe an hour from that actual center. And they also only recruit in that geographical span, again maybe an hour is the limit on that drive time. And the second model we have seen in our experience is the virtual model, meaning you can hire anywhere you can. In your experience, Faye, maybe based on what you are doing at SYKES, what model do you advocate and can you share any thoughts about either one of those concepts with our audience.
FV: Sure Jeff, you know I think there is value to both models. The hub and spoke is an excellent first step for a company that is early in exploring what the home based agent can do for them or have that technology work and so forth. It also helps clear up any hesitancies or concerns that they would have about it. We employ the virtual model at sites and there are some very good reasons why. One of the biggest attributes to this at home model is that I can access a wider range of employees and talent, if you will. I call it casting a wider net, so if I am not limited to a 30 or 40 mile recruiting radius near a brick and mortar site, I can access an enormous amount of talented employees to fill my customer service needs. That is really one of the best reasons that one would want to go virtual that I have experienced. The other thing that I could do is look for unique skills that would be very difficult to recruit in a restricted area. Like nursing or engineering, anything that has an advanced skill level to it. If I am not restricted to that 30 mile radius, my success rate is much higher. So, I think those are two of the biggest reasons that I prefer a virtual model to the hub and spoke.
FP: That makes a lot of sense. We have seen certainly that a lot of our data supports your two points made. When you think about the talent curve when you are limited on a neighborhood model, you only have so many top performers available in that labor pool. So when you go virtual, like you are advocating here, you can really expand your population so you can start to find a lot more of those top performers, because you are not limited geographically. So, it makes a lot of sense to us, given some of the data we have seen on the FurstPerson side. When we think about the home agent market, we also hear analysts talking about growth and they are pegging growth at 30 percent, 40 percent per year. Given your experience, why do you think this home agent model concept is growing so quickly?
FV: It is a win-win all around. It is a win for our clients, it is a win for our employees and it is a win for SYKES. So many positive things come from this model. Our clients are looking for flexibility, they are looking for scalability. They are looking for high customer satisfaction, and positive interactions with their customers. Because of how we are hiring or the number of candidates that we can look at to make our employee selections and because we don’t have to wait to build a brick and mortar site to get them up and running, it feeds nicely to what the requirements are in business. The employees are choosing to work from home for a lifestyle choice. They may have children in school, or they don’t want to do the commute. They would like to be able to enjoy their activities without adding their commute time into their day. Their satisfaction is quite good on the at home modeling. And when you pair a happy employee up with one of our customers, you get good client satisfaction ratings and good customer satisfaction ratings. So, it is a win for both parties and of course, the wins for Sykes are obvious. If I’ve got have a happy customer and a happy employee, life is pretty good. But there are some other advantages to SYKES as well.
FP: Great, thanks for sharing that. You mentioned earlier when we were talking about the different types of models and the hub and spoke being kind of a good first step. Thinking about those organizations or peers of yours, maybe who have only been in the brick and mortar environment and now are thinking about a home agent expansion, what are some of the critical success factors mainly that you have found in watching a home agent model?
FV: There are really three key actions that I would take if building in that home model. I would look at the scope, I would define my scope. I would know that going in to it what I wanted to achieve. Am I going to go virtual, am I going to do a hub and spoke model? And I would define that. And I would also gain executive buy-in. It is not necessarily an inexpensive proposition to do, there are technologies and processes and people need to be committed to doing this successfully and executing flawlessly, so I would define the scope and gain buy-in. The second thing that I would do is to document all of the processes that I need to account for. This is a call center environment, and so every function or group that supports a contact center must be considered. But, the method that you apply to your processes is very, very different. So, I would take the time to draw out all of the processes that needed to be modified for an at home deployment. And then the third thing that I would consider is, and I would really just give this out as advice to anyone looking to do this is, do not underestimate the technology aspect of this endeavor. How we recruit, instead of dealing with a few people coming in every day to a brick and mortar site, I am dealing with thousands of candidates. And how are you going to manage that? How will you coach and develop your remote employees? So, the technology that makes all of this possible should never be underestimated. It is a big, big part of the adventure.
FP: Thanks for sharing that Faye. We think about the agents themselves and you mentioned some lifestyle opportunities for them that certainly you are experiencing benefits from, from an organizations perspective. Have you found that the home agent compensation model is different from or similar to a brick and mortar agent model?
FV: It is all in par with the brick and mortar agent and we have done that strategically at sites. It is on par, there is really not much difference. Granted, when I go out and look for unique skill sets, for example, nursing or so forth, then it is a market price for that type of skill.
FP: That makes sense, absolutely. One final question; going back to again the home agent model and how SYKES is using that - How are you finding that having a home agent option or model is helping SYKES meet your customer needs?
FV: It is a wonderful complement to many of our existing customers. If they need to expand quickly or they are looking for a particular kind of agent and we are already in a relationship with our customer as a trusted vendor, it is an easy place for them to go to meet some unique requirements that they may bring to the table.
FP: Faye, thanks so much for joining us today. It has been a pleasure speaking with you as always.
FV: My pleasure, thanks for having us.
FP: We have been listening to Faye Victora with SYKES. I am Jeff Furst, thanks again for joining another FurstPerson podcast.
FurstPerson (FP): Thank you for joining another Furst Person podcast. I am Jeff Furst with Furst Person. Today is August 5th and I am joined by Faye Victora, with SYKES, a call center outsourcing firm. We will be discussing home agents.
Thanks for joining us today Faye.
Faye Victora (FV): Thanks, Jeff, for having me.
FP: It is great to speak with you. Can you tell us a little bit about your role at SYKES and also about some of your experience in the contact center industry?
FV: Sure Jeff, happy to do it. My role at SYKES is the vice-president of SYKES Home and my job is to help make our clients more profitable and efficient and drive loyalty to their brands through the home platform. I have many peers that do off shore and in country and manage those platforms and mine is specific to the at home platform. I have been in the call center industry for about 20 years and I have been in operations as well as client services and support functions.
FP: Obviously you have a wealth of experience in the call center industry and, given the 20 years, I’m sure looking at the home agent model has been an interesting development for you.
FV: It sure has.
FP: Let’s talk a little about the home agent space and the model. We have seen on the FurstPerson side two types of recruiting models. One is commonly called the hub and spoke or maybe a neighborhood concept. And in that we see that call center organizations kind of push people home, but they also keep them within a fairly close drive time, maybe 45 minutes, maybe an hour from that actual center. And they also only recruit in that geographical span, again maybe an hour is the limit on that drive time. And the second model we have seen in our experience is the virtual model, meaning you can hire anywhere you can. In your experience, Faye, maybe based on what you are doing at SYKES, what model do you advocate and can you share any thoughts about either one of those concepts with our audience.
FV: Sure Jeff, you know I think there is value to both models. The hub and spoke is an excellent first step for a company that is early in exploring what the home based agent can do for them or have that technology work and so forth. It also helps clear up any hesitancies or concerns that they would have about it. We employ the virtual model at sites and there are some very good reasons why. One of the biggest attributes to this at home model is that I can access a wider range of employees and talent, if you will. I call it casting a wider net, so if I am not limited to a 30 or 40 mile recruiting radius near a brick and mortar site, I can access an enormous amount of talented employees to fill my customer service needs. That is really one of the best reasons that one would want to go virtual that I have experienced. The other thing that I could do is look for unique skills that would be very difficult to recruit in a restricted area. Like nursing or engineering, anything that has an advanced skill level to it. If I am not restricted to that 30 mile radius, my success rate is much higher. So, I think those are two of the biggest reasons that I prefer a virtual model to the hub and spoke.
FP: That makes a lot of sense. We have seen certainly that a lot of our data supports your two points made. When you think about the talent curve when you are limited on a neighborhood model, you only have so many top performers available in that labor pool. So when you go virtual, like you are advocating here, you can really expand your population so you can start to find a lot more of those top performers, because you are not limited geographically. So, it makes a lot of sense to us, given some of the data we have seen on the FurstPerson side. When we think about the home agent market, we also hear analysts talking about growth and they are pegging growth at 30 percent, 40 percent per year. Given your experience, why do you think this home agent model concept is growing so quickly?
FV: It is a win-win all around. It is a win for our clients, it is a win for our employees and it is a win for SYKES. So many positive things come from this model. Our clients are looking for flexibility, they are looking for scalability. They are looking for high customer satisfaction, and positive interactions with their customers. Because of how we are hiring or the number of candidates that we can look at to make our employee selections and because we don’t have to wait to build a brick and mortar site to get them up and running, it feeds nicely to what the requirements are in business. The employees are choosing to work from home for a lifestyle choice. They may have children in school, or they don’t want to do the commute. They would like to be able to enjoy their activities without adding their commute time into their day. Their satisfaction is quite good on the at home modeling. And when you pair a happy employee up with one of our customers, you get good client satisfaction ratings and good customer satisfaction ratings. So, it is a win for both parties and of course, the wins for Sykes are obvious. If I’ve got have a happy customer and a happy employee, life is pretty good. But there are some other advantages to SYKES as well.
FP: Great, thanks for sharing that. You mentioned earlier when we were talking about the different types of models and the hub and spoke being kind of a good first step. Thinking about those organizations or peers of yours, maybe who have only been in the brick and mortar environment and now are thinking about a home agent expansion, what are some of the critical success factors mainly that you have found in watching a home agent model?
FV: There are really three key actions that I would take if building in that home model. I would look at the scope, I would define my scope. I would know that going in to it what I wanted to achieve. Am I going to go virtual, am I going to do a hub and spoke model? And I would define that. And I would also gain executive buy-in. It is not necessarily an inexpensive proposition to do, there are technologies and processes and people need to be committed to doing this successfully and executing flawlessly, so I would define the scope and gain buy-in. The second thing that I would do is to document all of the processes that I need to account for. This is a call center environment, and so every function or group that supports a contact center must be considered. But, the method that you apply to your processes is very, very different. So, I would take the time to draw out all of the processes that needed to be modified for an at home deployment. And then the third thing that I would consider is, and I would really just give this out as advice to anyone looking to do this is, do not underestimate the technology aspect of this endeavor. How we recruit, instead of dealing with a few people coming in every day to a brick and mortar site, I am dealing with thousands of candidates. And how are you going to manage that? How will you coach and develop your remote employees? So, the technology that makes all of this possible should never be underestimated. It is a big, big part of the adventure.
FP: Thanks for sharing that Faye. We think about the agents themselves and you mentioned some lifestyle opportunities for them that certainly you are experiencing benefits from, from an organizations perspective. Have you found that the home agent compensation model is different from or similar to a brick and mortar agent model?
FV: It is all in par with the brick and mortar agent and we have done that strategically at sites. It is on par, there is really not much difference. Granted, when I go out and look for unique skill sets, for example, nursing or so forth, then it is a market price for that type of skill.
FP: That makes sense, absolutely. One final question; going back to again the home agent model and how SYKES is using that - How are you finding that having a home agent option or model is helping SYKES meet your customer needs?
FV: It is a wonderful complement to many of our existing customers. If they need to expand quickly or they are looking for a particular kind of agent and we are already in a relationship with our customer as a trusted vendor, it is an easy place for them to go to meet some unique requirements that they may bring to the table.
FP: Faye, thanks so much for joining us today. It has been a pleasure speaking with you as always.
FV: My pleasure, thanks for having us.
FP: We have been listening to Faye Victora with SYKES. I am Jeff Furst, thanks again for joining another FurstPerson podcast.
