I want to kick off the new year by discussing Digital Experience Monitoring of Remote Contact Centers because it is currently a hot trend in the field of network performance monitoring. I believe that in the coming years, many companies will make the switch to remote contact centers. Hopefully this customer story will be helpful to IT engineers and managers who are considering such a change. The goal is to provide an evaluation of the pros and cons of implementing a remote contact center.
The Contact Center Goes Remote
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, this Fortune 500 insurance company was faced with the challenge of moving its 2,000 contact center agents from their corporate offices to work from home. While this shift was necessary for the safety of the employees, it also presented a range of technical issues that threatened to negatively impact the customer experience.
Working from home, the agents were no longer able to rely on a dedicated network interface and telephony system that were well-managed for high-quality phone calls. Instead, they were forced to set up temporary facilities using consumer-grade internet connections, which led to problems like dropped calls, poor audio quality, and other disruptions.
These issues were particularly concerning for the insurance company, as the contact center serves as the first point of contact for customers making claims against their policies. A positive customer experience is crucial for the company’s reputation, making it imperative that everything about the over-the-phone experience be as seamless as possible.
Digital Experience Monitoring for Remote Contact Center Agents
In order to address these technical issues and preserve a great customer experience, the insurance company turned to digital experience monitoring for a root cause analysis solution. After some initial research and analysis of solutions available, the company reached out to NetBeez. By installing the NetBeez lightweight software client on the work from home (WFH) employees’ machines, the IT team was able to collect and measure key metrics to pinpoint the specific causes of audio issues. This solution also helped to diagnose when the employee’s internet service provider was the issue, as well as any problems with the software, configuration, or internal hosting centers.
Using the digital experience performance data by NetBeez, the IT team was able to identify the root causes of the technical issues and implement solutions to improve call quality. This included upgrading the internet service for certain WFH employees and providing VPNs to improve network connectivity. The team also worked with the employees to optimize their home office setups and provide additional training on how to troubleshoot technical issues.
As a result of these efforts, the insurance company was able to significantly improve the customer experience and reduce the number of calls to the IT help desk from frustrated employees. In fact, the company has seen such success with the WFH model that it has decided to make it a permanent option for its contact center agents, even as the pandemic subsides.
Goodbye Traditional Remote Contact Centers
Overall, the insurance company’s proactive approach to addressing the technical issues plaguing its home-based contact center agents has paid off. By using the NetBeez digital experience monitoring solution and updating their tech support playbooks, the company was able to preserve a great customer experience and set itself up for long-term success with a WFH model.
While there are certainly challenges to overcome, the company is well-positioned to continue providing excellent service to its customers while keeping its employees safe and productive. NetBeez prides itself with being a loyal partner of this Fortune 500 customer, and of many more with similar needs and challenges.
