Reduce Call Center Operations Costs and Increase Operational Efficiencywith Virtual Customer Care Sally Hurley, President VIPdesk Operational benefits of virtual customer care How the model attracts a higher-skilled workforce Unlimited recruiting pool allows for the best candidate to handle specific calls Ability to dial up or down staffing at a moment’s notice Decreased scheduling shrinkage/increased scheduling adherence Reduction in expenses related to infrastructure, attrition, training Ability to exceed performance metrics -greater ROI

1. Cover Slide
Reduce Call Center Operations Costs
and Increase Operational Efficiency
with Virtual Customer Care
Sally Hurley
President
April 22, 2009
VIPdesk
324 N. Fairfax Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 299.4422
http://www.vipdesk.com
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2. Today’s Presentation Will Cover
Operational benefits of virtual customer care:
● How the model attracts a higher-skilled workforce
● Unlimited recruiting pool allows for the best
candidate to handle specific calls
● Ability to dial up or down staffing at a moment’s
notice
● Decreased scheduling shrinkage/increased scheduling
adherence
● Reduction in expenses related to infrastructure,
attrition, training
● Ability to exceed performance metrics - greater ROI
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3. About Today’s Presenter
Sally Hurley
President, VIPdesk
• Co-founder
• 20+ years experience delivering premium
customer service
• Has a passion for the customer experience
• Committed to building a culture that supports work-life balance
• Proud to be a green company- supporting thousands of individuals
that work from home across North America
• Current President of Entrepreneurs Organization in D.C.
• Contact info: shurley@vipdesk.com or 703-837-3518
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4. VIPdesk is an innovative pioneer of virtual
contact center solutions for national brand
leaders, providing premium customer
experiences through our home-based
Concierges and Brand Ambassadors™.
Changing Business. Changing Lives.
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5. Leading the Homeshoring Revolution
• Provider of premium outsourced customer care
services for national brands
• Pioneer of home-based model – leveraging home-
based model since 1999
• Support 40+ clients committed to brand reputation,
customer retention and growth - financial services,
retail, luxury automotive, travel, healthcare
• Known for servicing complex, intuitive customer
contacts
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6. VIPdesk’s Virtual Customer Care
Inbound and outbound Customer loyalty &
customer service & Concierge Services
sales
• Premium customer care • Dining reservations,
• Sales/cross-sell/up-sell entertainment tickets, trip
planning, etc.
• Customer Acquisition
• Event management
• Customer Activation
• Travel and tourism –
• Welcome Calls
complete travel agency
• Transaction/order processing capabilities
• Surveys • Experiential packages
• Peak volume management • Rewards and redemption
• Customer profile enrollment services
• Phone/Email/Chat services • VIP Values-special offers and
discounts
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7. Brands Using Virtual Call Centers
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8. Virtual Customer Care
Attracts Top Talent
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9. Compelling Advantages for Team Members
Advantages of Work-at-Home Positions
Work/Life Balance Incentives/Benefits
• Flexible scheduling • Increased job satisfaction
• Ability to work off-hours, • Supplement household
split-shifts income
• Part-time work - maintain • Pay for performance -
professional experience rewarded for results
• Comfort of working from • Elimination of commute
home
• Reduced expenditures -
• Ability to live where desired wardrobe, meals, etc.
vs. location of job
• Get paid for doing work on
• Maintain lifestyle beyond behalf of favorite brands
profession
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10. Recruiting and Screening
Ability to be Selective
Pass Basic Qualifications: 24%
Pass Client Specific Qualifications: 59%
Pass Hardware/Software Requirements: 73%
Pass Resume and Phone Screen: 83%
Pass Credit/Criminal Check: 79%
Complete Agreement
and Tech Setup: 85%
Complete/Pass
Certification: 63%
Go Live:
95%
Currently 1 out of 30
individuals go live
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11. Home-based Agent Profile
Experienced Specialized Screened
• 40 years old • Have relevant subject • Background checks
• 95% college educated matter experience • Personality profiling
• 5% graduate degrees • Deep knowledge of • References
brands
• 63% management • Skill assessments
experience • Can have specific
certifications or
• 72% hospitality /
expertise
customer service
experience • Can be located
anywhere worldwide
• 15years of work
experience • Can be bi-lingual
Checklist for Success
Background checks Home environment
Criminal and credit Technology requirements
Aptitude tests Security audits
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12. The Virtual Model Snapshot
Virtual customer care model provides many
solutions:
● Unlimited recruiting pool
● Profile of home-based CSR is educated,
experienced, mature
● Savings per agents (ranges from 50%-150%)
● Attrition reduced from triple digits to single digits
● Opportunity to recruit for specific skills
● Less training is required
● Management/agent ratios greatly improved (1:25
vs. 1:12)
● Low attrition leads to highly productive,
knowledgeable team
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13. Virtual Customer Care
Delivers Flexibility
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14. Operational Benefits of Home-Based Model
Workforce Elasticity
● Unlimited recruiting pool allows for the best
candidate to handle specific contacts
● Meet unanticipated spikes, new call patterns
● Fill additional hours needed vs. adding entire shifts
● 100% operational despite weather impacts
● Meet SLAs without overstaffing
● Capture “lost revenue” opportunities from
abandoned calls
● Time zones allow for 24/7 coverage with ease
● Expand foreign language capabilities
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15. Performance-based Staffing
Preferences
● Agents provide preferred availability to work by
day and time period
Flexibility
● More flexible scheduling methodology for Agents
with inconsistent schedule needs
Performance
● Can use individual performance to provide the
best performers with schedules of their choice
● Overall performance scores can be weighted to
reward desired results
● Rankings can also be leveraged for routing
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16. Operational Flexibility
• Unlimited flexibility in call center capacity
without fixed overhead
● Can easily add additional capacity for “busy
seasons”
● No need for physical expansion
● No reliance on physical scheduling limitations
• Decreased scheduling shrinkage/increased
scheduling adherence
● Attendance is much greater with home-based
team
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17. Virtual Customer Care =
Decreased Costs
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18. Traditional Customer Care Fixed Costs
Infrastructure costs (7-10K per yr/per agent)
● Building/leasing costs
● Utilities and maintenance
● Facilities management
● Furniture/fixtures
● Technology costs
● Telecommunications costs
Personnel costs
● Recruiting and hiring
● Turnover
● Management
● Training
● Cost of unproductive time
Now you can impact these costs
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19. The Virtual Solution
Infrastructure Cost Reductions:
● Eliminate/reduce costly capital expenditures
● Eliminate/reduce costly ongoing expenses
including facilities, management, support
● Eliminate/reduce costs of idle infrastructure
Personnel Cost Reductions:
● Reduced recruiting/hiring costs
● Reduced training costs
● Reduce cost of turnover associated with
productivity loss
● Reduce costs of overstaffing required to meet
SLAs
● Reduce management costs
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20. Potential Annual Savings
Real Estate
● Real estate costs * number of agents=_____________
Increased Productivity
● Fewer agent hours * hourly rate=_____________
Attrition Recruiting Replacement Cost
● (Recruiting time * salary) + job posting costs=______
Attrition Training Costs
● (Trainers’ time * salary) + materials + licenses=_____
Fewer Managers
● Number of managers * salary=___________________
Lower Salary Agents (based on locations)
● Number of agents * salary difference=_____________
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21. Virtual Customer Care Agents =
Better Results
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22. Quality Customer Service = Results
Quality people
● Greater knowledge and confidence
● Deliver amazing service
● Convey enthusiasm and passion for the brand
Positive customer service interactions have
tangible results and KPIs:
● Increased spend with current customers
● Increased conversion metrics
● Increased customer satisfaction scores
● Increased customer retention
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23. Case Study: Customer Satisfaction
• VIPdesk Client Bluefly Awarded 2008 International
Service Excellence Award
● Bluefly was awarded the International Service Excellence Award
in November 2008
● Category of Business-to-Consumer Contact Center
● Awards are given to organizations in all industries worldwide in
recognition of their commitment to customer service excellence
• VIPdesk has provided Bluefly’s e-mail, phone, and
online chat customer support since July 2007. Results
include:
● Increased total service sales by 23% year-over-year
● Increased sales conversion
● Reduced cost per contact 18% year-over-year
● Virtually no attrition
● Within 3 months:
● 87% customer satisfaction phone and e-mail
● 94% customer satisfaction in chat
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24. Recap of Benefits of
Virtual Customer Care
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25. Advantages of Virtual Customer Care
Virtual Traditional
Call Center Call Center
Company Benefits
Superior Cost Model √
• Decreased Overhead/Facilities Costs/Expansion
Operational Efficiency √
• Seasonality adjustments
• Peak/overflow management
Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery √
Higher Quality Agents
• Higher quality of interaction √
• Targeted recruiting
• Can hire based on skills/knowledge vs location
• Cultural understanding
High Retention √
• Reduced training/recruiting costs
Increased Customer Satisfaction Levels √
Carbon Reduction √
Agent Benefits
Enhanced work/life balance
• Flexible scheduling
√
• Elimination of commute/expenditures
• Comfort of working from home
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26. More Information
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27. More Information on Virtual Customer Care
• VIPdesk and IDC co-authored a whitepaper on the virtual
customer care market
• This whitepaper can be downloaded at
www.vipdesk.com/whitepaper
• Subscribe to the Virtual Voice – a
monthly newsletter clipping of
relevant articles covering the
virtual call center space
• Industry-wide information,
not just VIPdesk specific
• Subscribe via email at:
virtualvoice@vipdesk.com
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28. Questions?
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29. Questions?
• Submit your questions now
• You can also email questions to
press@vipdesk.com or call 703-837-
3507 for follow-up after today’s
Webinar
• Sally Hurley shurley@vipdesk.com
703-837-3518
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30. Website: http://www.vipdesk.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/vipdesk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vipdesk
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/vipdesk
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vipdesk
Via RSS: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/23095083.rss
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