Philippines contact center agents quickly transition to home operations with great results
As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified around the world in March 2020, an American consumer electronics company needed offshore, remote help providing technical support for issues regarding smart TVs, sound bars, and streaming apps. Sherri Schmidt, HGS Director of Global Account Management, shared the details of how HGS successfully delivered an urgent offshore work-at-home solution for a new client at the height of a global health crisis.
What was the client’s business need?
At the beginning of the pandemic, many contact centers around the globe were forced to close their doors due to safety and compliance concerns. This caused quite a struggle for BPO partners with no ability to transition in-center agents to work from home. When this company saw that their existing vendors couldn’t keep up with the customer service queue either in Mexico or in the Philippines, they realized that they needed a partner with a fast and affordable work-at-home solution. When we received their call on April 1st, our best-in-class Philippines operations team was fully prepared with the available capacity, equipment, and infrastructure. By the 27th, the first group of HGS Work@Home agents were starting their first day of training.
What did the HGS solution include?
Although it was peak lockdown in the Philippines, we managed to launch a three-month pilot within a timeframe of 27 days. Our well-established HGS Work@Home team started by implementing and integrating cloud telephony with the client’s CRM. Next, we recruited, hired, and trained 25 tech support agents and provided them all with computers, headsets, and other equipment to use at home. Although none of the agents had previously worked outside of a brick-and-mortar contact center, they all shifted seamlessly to the remote environment after receiving 100% virtual training via an online collaboration platform. Our execution and continued performance proved that we can manage everything—onboarding, training, governance, communication, and fostering the partnership—all 100% virtually.
What were the business results?
The client was so impressed with our custom delivery solution and so pleased with our speed to success—ours was their fastest ramp they’d experienced with any vendor—that the three-month pilot was extended into a three-year contract. Since then, the FTE count has nearly doubled in size and is expected to grow even further. The client’s CSAT goal of 85% has been consistently met or exceeded every single month since the pilot, and the client has commended the HGS team as “supportive, collaborative, and nimble.”
What’s next for the HGS-client partnership?
As HGS continues to monitor the effects of the pandemic in the Philippines and around the world, we remain in consistent communication with our client regarding the most effective operational model for their business. Although HGS Work@Home is the best current option, the client is open to exploring a hybrid model in the future, in which agents would split their shifts between at-home and in-office hours.
Is your business in need of a quick work-at-home solution? Visit https://hgs.cx/work-at-home/ to learn more, and contact us here for a free consultation.
