How Does a Virtual Call Center Work?

From a customer perspective, there is no way of telling whether or not you are calling virtual call center or a regular call center. The customer will call the regular 800 number and that call will be routed to a customer service representative at the virtual call center. However, a virtual call center does mean that customers can call at their convenience and not be limited to the business hours of a certain time zone, as reps are scattered across the country and are able to work the hours that suit both theirs and the business' needs.

CSRs at their homes would start their day at their scheduled start time by simply turning their home computer on, logging into their employer's system, plugging in their phones and making themselves available to take calls. Calls are routed by the web-hosted call center to an available CSR with the right skills set to assist the caller. A CSR will even have access to managers and coaches if they need to transfer a call that they are unable to resolve. Just like at a regular call canter, CSRs would have scheduled breaks that they would take during their day, except that they would be at home. However, some companies pay only for the minutes that the CSR is taking a call, meaning that CSRs can be more flexible in taking their breaks.

The calls are directed through a web-hosted or on-demand call center provider. Just like in a brick-and-mortar call center, calls are routed to available CSRs according to their skills. Rather than having managers in a call center, companies can manage their CSRs using monitoring software through the web hosted call center. Through the system, a manager can monitor who is logged in and how many calls they've taken. If a CSR has an escalated call in which a caller is requesting a manager, then the call can be re-routed to a manager. And if a CSR has questions, he can get answers to problems via instant messaging. CSRs are also given performance evaluation just like a regular call center. A virtual call center will be able to monitor calls for quality control, and evaluations can be given over the phone or through instant messaging. Training CSRs is done online using tools such as web-inars.