{"id":9617,"date":"2020-05-12T11:28:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T10:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=9617"},"modified":"2020-09-30T10:56:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T09:56:58","slug":"benefits-working-from-home-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/benefits-working-from-home-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Working from Home, Part 3: The Customer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is my third and final article on the series that has looked at how working from home benefits businesses. The previous articles looked at the benefits to employees and the businesses themselves. This article will identify various ways that customers benefit when businesses have personnel that work from home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The feedback from the first two articles in the series has been quite positive and I am glad to know the posts have been helpful. However, if you are still skeptical and just wanting to return to some state of normalcy, and begin having employees return to an office, please read on as delighting our customers should be the top priority for any business, and the ability to do so can improve with employees who work from home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t@media (min-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img {\r\n\t\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\r\n\t\t\t\t\twidth: 50%;\r\n\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-img img {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta {\r\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #001138;\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 30px;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy {\r\n\t\t\t\tpadding: 0 30px;\r\n\t\t\t\toverflow: hidden;\r\n\t\t\t\tcolor: #fff;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n\t\t\t.bottom-cta .bottom-cta-copy .btn-primary {\r\n\t\t\t\twidth: 100%;\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta  CID-cta-2FdM5dTp IID-cta-69d07cd1474eb\"\r\n\t\t\tdata-dl-custom-type=\"cta\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-img\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/CX-Covid-offer.png\" alt=\"Call to action banner\">\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<span style=\"font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px;\">FREE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/contact-centre\/overview.html\">contact centre<\/a> seat licences to get your agents working from home.<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-center\" style=\"display: block;\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"rc-cta-shortcode btn btn-primary btn-lg\" data-dl-element=\"button\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Click for more details\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/lp\/covid19-cx-offer.html\" target=\"_blank\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\trel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dl-additional-info=\"FREE contact centre seat licences to get your agents working from home.\"\r\n\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-name=\"FREE contact centre seat licences to get your agents working from home. | Apply today\">Apply today<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\n<h2><b>Customers Will Interact With the Best Talent<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the beliefs I have always held when it comes to hiring personnel is to find the best talent, regardless of their geographical location.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you are confined to searching for talent that is within a certain radius of an office, your talent pool immediately shrinks. This is not to say you will not be able to find a suitable candidate, but your chances of finding the best candidate grows exponentially when you can support a remote employee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having the most skilled, experienced, and talented workforce is one of the ways that businesses can ensure they are delivering an exceptional <a href=\"\/gb\/en\/blog\/definitive-guide-customer-experience\/\">customer experience<\/a>. When they have a larger pool of prospective candidates to choose from, the likelihood of doing so will increase, which is good news for customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SYKES has taken this approach to heart and, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sykes.com\/thought-leadership\/5-ways-work-home-model-can-relieve-customer-service-pain-points\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">detailed in a recent online article,<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been able to find exceptional talent to support their growing business and the demand of their customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>A Faster Response Time to Customer Demand\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I once worked with a client that had seasonal demand for their product. This seasonality required them to increase their customer service staff twice during the year. This cycle kept them in a virtual build-up\/tear-down mode each year as they insisted on having their customer support staff on-site to meet the demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This would not be the case with a work-from-home customer support staff. By enabling customer service agents to work from home, organisations can be more agile and nimble in responding to specific events or seasons that will mandate extra attention be given to customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the experience economy in which we live, ensuring short hold times and quick resolution of issues is paramount: <a href=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/documents\/engagement_ebook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">46% of customers<\/a> report having moved to a competitor after waiting too long. Consistently meeting customer expectations means a quick deployment of the right resources. Enabling a work from home customer service function is one way to ensure business is keeping pace with their customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>An Empowered Experience <\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI need to be able to control what our team is doing.\u201d This was a statement made to me a few years ago by a corporate executive who was no fan of having remote employees. In his mind, if you did not have complete oversight of your employees, then the work would not be done the right way. As best I could, I tried to get him to see if that was indeed the case, then perhaps he had hired the wrong people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In my twenty-five years in business, I have yet to find an employee that likes to be micromanaged or \u201ccontrolled\u201d. In fact, it will lead to several negative outcomes, including a negative work environment, that will only be passed along to the customer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enabling a work from home environment on its own is an environment that empowers employees. Giving employees autonomy to deliver on their responsibilities from their homes, while supporting them with the training and tools to do so, will also be passed along to the customer, resulting in a positive experience. And remember: <a href=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/infographics\/the_case_for_cloud_contact_centres_infographic.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">95% of your customers say<\/a> a\u00a0knowledgeable and friendly customer service rep ranks as a top-three factor for a great customer service experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This empowerment of employees has such a profound impact on customers that The Gallup Organisation reports that organisations that empower employees see an incredible 50% increase in customer loyalty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>It\u2019s All About the Customer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organisations across the globe are looking to find ways to deliver better service, improve customer interactions, and deliver on the promise of experience. Enabling employees to work from home may be one of the places businesses can start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As more time goes by, many executives are beginning to realise what the likes of Amazon, Lionbridge, and Concentrix have known for some time; working from home may just be the new normal, and the sooner they can adapt, the sooner they and their customers will reap the benefits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"uc-expo-cta-2 text-center IId-bottom-banner-144903516 CId-bottom-banner-1098205596\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; line-height: 30px;\">You can now get <strong>free<\/strong> contact centre seat licences to help get your agents working from home.<\/span><span class=\"text-center\" style=\"display: block;\" data-dtm-element=\"button\" data-dtm-context=\"bottom-cta\" data-dtm-additional-info=\"Apply today\"><a class=\"btn btn-primary btn-lg\" style=\"margin-top: 16px; font-weight: bold;\" title=\"Apply today\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/gb\/en\/lp\/covid19-cx-offer.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-dtm-name=\"Bottom CTA\">Apply today<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking at the benefits that home working can have on your customers and how you can continue to put them first, we examine how remote working can have serious advantages for your customer experience. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":9618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[61,42,40,39,126,49],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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Over the span of the last two plus decades, Hidalgo has held corporate roles, started his own entrepreneurial ventures and served in non-profits. In addition to his various roles and business pursuits, Hidalgo is the author of two books Driving Demand, one of the Top 5 Marketing Books of all time according to Book Authority which was published in 2015 and The UnAmerican Dream which was published in 2019.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cahidalgo_","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/carlos-hidalgo-4a805a1\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/cahidalgo"],"url":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/author\/carlos-hidalgo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9617"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}