Preparing Your Contact Center for a Pandemic



By Donna Fluss

As the coronavirus pandemic fills the news headlines, contact centers are striving to continue to deliver service to their customers. Many companies have disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) plans to address the ability to operate if a disaster—such as a hurricane, earthquake, or fire—were to occur. Some companies may even have plans to cope with the impact of a major flu outbreak, but few contact centers have a BC plan to handle a pandemic where employees are at risk if they sit closer than six feet from each other, which is the situation in most service organizations.

Business Continuity for Pandemics

Planning for business continuity in case of a pandemic is different from preparing for a natural disaster scenario. In the case of weather-related disasters, the main consideration is often employees’ safety when driving to and from the workplace. For a pandemic, however, the main issue may be people’s reluctance to leave home at all. Keep in mind that it’s not fair for companies to require their contact center staff and other service employees to report to work under these circumstances when other departments may be advised that it’s unsafe to come to the office.

Allow Contact Center Staff to Work from Home

Companies should make it as easy as possible for their contact center staff to work from home. Provide employees with PCs, headsets, and secure access to operating systems so they can perform their job in the safety of their home. This reinforces the benefit of investing in cloud-based contact center infrastructure solutions that are accessible from most locations, including employees’ homes.

Supervisors should also be set up to work from their homes. To mitigate the risk of leaving contact center agents unsupported during a widespread health crisis, it’s a best practice to establish a structure where managers and supervisors share responsibilities, and it can be especially helpful to have them in different geographies. All systems should be capable of being managed from remote locations.

Communication Is Key

It’s important for businesses to have a documented DR/BC plan that addresses healthcare emergency scenarios. A communications plan is the most essential element during any crisis situation. The plan should inform staff members how to stay in touch with the business, and to let them know what is expected of them. It’s advisable for a company to have two ways of reaching each employee, such as email and SMS, to ensure that they receive each communication on a timely basis. 

Another essential element of the communication plan is a process for interacting with customers to let them know that your company is there for them and the most effective methods for receiving assistance. The customer communication should also set expectations for customers. If service response times are slower due to an increase in volumes or decrease in staff, advise them of this.

Enhance Self-Service Solutions

To decrease the volume of interactions that require live agents, companies should enhance their voice and web-based self-service solutions by adding options that don’t require human assistance. Companies can either enhance an existing interactive voice response (IVR) system or use a next-generation intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) that can be set up to manage multiple channels, including voice, websites, SMS, and more.

Final Recommendation

Social distancing has proven to be the most effective method to date for limiting the rapid spread of the highly contagious coronavirus. Companies should prioritize keeping their employees safe and healthy so they can be there to assist their customers. For contact center employees, this means allowing them to work from their homes.

Donna Fluss is president of DMG Consulting LLC. For more than two decades she has helped emerging and established companies develop and deliver outstanding customer experiences. A recognized visionary, author, and speaker, Donna drives strategic transformation and innovation throughout the services industry. She provides strategic and practical counsel for enterprises, solution providers, and the investment community.

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