What Are Your 2021 BPO Experience Predictions?
Our internal BPO experts forecast what's next for 2021.

Since the coronavirus pandemic started, employees around the world have shifted to long-term remote work arrangements. Certain industries have felt this upheaval more than others – in particular, contact centers whose agents and managers were forced, virtually overnight, to comply with work-at-home protocols where none existed before.
The transition immediately ushered in a number of challenges for employees and managers across the board: reduced face-to-face supervision, fewer opportunities for social interaction, decreased productivity, heightened distractions at home, technology and communication challenges and threats to enterprise and customer data security.
Considering the many challenges distributed workers continue to face, it’s worth taking a closer look at the resources and tools contact center managers really need to develop high-performing at-home teams. Keep reading to learn how to equip your organization to continue delivering high-impact CX in a remote work world.
Any supervisor who recently shifted from managing employees in the office to managing them remotely will tell you it requires a very different skill. That’s why managers need customized training geared specifically toward supervising at-home workers.
Ideally, remote manager training focuses on developing skills in these key areas:
The return-on-investment for specialized training is significant. Managers who are well-schooled in the nuances of supervising remote workers fuel higher employee satisfaction, engagement and retention.
To develop truly talented at-home agents who are ready to support your brand, you need people who feel motivated, engaged and supported. By developing a complete virtual methodology for engaging agents across multiple channels and platforms, you can keep them connected with each other and your brand.
The most effective virtual engagement and support includes a combination of the following techniques:
All of these engagement methods can also be effective ways to support mental health and ensure that working at home doesn’t take an emotional toll on employees. In a remote-work context, everyone is dealing with unique situations and challenges. Scheduling regular social interaction can combat isolation and promote supportive work relationships. And having regular check-ins and conversations around productivity can allow managers to set reasonable expectations and help employees manage stress. In addition, giving team members easy access to mental health resources, recommending useful tools and programs, and reminding them of the benefits available to them as employees are all especially important.
On top of feeling engaged and supported when working at home, agents need the right toolset to perform well in every customer interaction. These types of tools are especially crucial for an effective remote workforce:
Along with a robust performance toolset, at-home agents and managers need to be equipped with the best security resources, protocols and policies to keep personally identifiable information (PII) and enterprise data protected at every turn. Here are some methods contact centers with a remote workforce can use to build strong security:
Managing a high-performing contact center of at-home agents is no easy task. It requires the right mix of training, talent, engagement, operational tools and security protocols.
Companies who use a trusted partner to manage their contact center are well-equipped with all the training and tools that supervisors and agents need for performance, flexibility and security at home. An effective CX outsourcer can optimize your contact center for the current realities of our remote-work world. They can supply a distributed workforce that reduces risk and ensures continuous uptime. And they can provide all the ingredients of a highly-trained at-home team: proficient managers, engaged agents, highly secure systems and reliable remote-work tools.
Connect with us today to start building your at-home CX team.
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