Going Green ith with

Virtual Call CentersSally Hurley

President, VIPdeskshurley@vipdesk.comshurley@vipdesk.com

703.837.3518

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About Today’s Webinar

• How corporations can “go green” by leveraging a virtual workforce

E i l b fi f i l ll • Environmental benefits of virtual call centers

• Benefits for the home-based workforce

• Implementing a virtual call center

• Managing a virtual team

• Virtual call centers: better for the bottom line

• Case study

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About Today’s Presenter

Sally HurleyPresident, VIPdesk

C f d• Co-founder

• 20+ years experience delivering premium customer servicepremium 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 • 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.

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About VIPdesk

VIPdesk is the leading provider of virtual contact center solutions for national brand leaders providing premium brand leaders, providing premium customer experiences through our home-based Brand Ambassadors™ (CSRs).

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Home-based Outgrowing Traditional Market

U.S. Home-Based Agents (000s)

266 130

305,026

333,100

300,000

400,000

nts

CAGR – 21%

130,125151,200

198,240

266,130

0

100,000

200,000

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

U.S

. Hom

e Ba

sed

Age

30%

40%

10%

20%

30%A

nn

ua

l G

row

th

0%

10%

2007 2008 2009

Worldwide Customer Care U.S. Customer Care

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Source: IDC

U.S. Home-Based Revenue

Who is Using Virtual Call Centers?

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Explosive Growth in Virtual Call Centers

Off-shoring Results:Unrealized cost savingsHigh turnover and training costsL d ti it l kill d kLower productivity, lower skilled workersCultural differences (language barriers)Limited local recruiting pools in many areasSending job overseasSending job overseasOff-shoring backlash

Virtual Call Centers Remedy: Virtual Call Centers Remedy: Creates US jobsCompelling economics“On demand” operational capabilitiesOn demand operational capabilitiesAccess to unlimited international labor poolEco-friendly – “Going green”

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Source: IDC

Why Companies Have Green Initiatives

• “Green” is core to many brands– Beauty– Design & home– Family products– Fashion– Food – Retail– Retail– Transportation

• Seek to further support the company’s green initiatives

• Plan to incorporate new green initiatives• Supports social and environmental values or

policies• Improve operational efficiencies

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How a virtual contact center supports

Why Companies are Going Virtual to Go GreenHow a virtual contact center supports green efforts:

R d th i t l i t lti f • Reduce the environmental impact resulting from physical expansion

• Reduced pollutants- due to elimination of commute for pteam members

• Less usage of utilities such as electric

• Reduce the usage of office-related, non-recyclable goods

• Virtual training

• Disaster recovery instantaneously without impact

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A ll t th t l 100 CSR i ibl

Virtual Call Centers: Collective Gas Savings

A call center that employs 100 CSRs is responsible for the use of 26,600 gallons of gas/year.

• U S Census Bureau states: average roundtrip • U.S. Census Bureau states: average roundtrip commute = 24 miles/day

• 100-seat call center combined commute is 2 400 • 100 seat call center combined commute is 2,400 miles/day, or 12,000 miles per five-day work week, or 600,000 miles per year

• Averaging 25 mpg, takes 480 gallons/week, or 24,000 gallons/year

• This doesn’t include gas used sitting in traffic--the average commuter spends an extra 26 gallons of gas/year sitting in traffic

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Virtual Call Centers: Agent Gas Savings

• The average virtual call center agent saves $1,000/year in gasoline costs by not commuting to work every day

• In 2007 alone, virtual agents saved $175 million by using 58 million less gallons of gas

• In addition, virtual agents reduced air pollution by 473,013 metric tons

• Virtual agents are projected to save 1,267,000 metric tons in the year 2010

(Source: IDC)

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F j ll t t itt d b d t

Virtual Call Centers: Pollution Prevention

• Four major pollutants are emitted as byproducts of burning fuel in a vehicle’s exhaust system:– Hydrocarbons– Nitrogen oxides (NOx)g ( )– Carbon monoxide (CO)– Carbon dioxide (CO2)

00 ll d• 100-seat call center produces:• 1,680 kg of hydrocarbons emissions• 8,340 kg of Nox• 12 540 kg of CO• 12,540 kg of CO• 549,600 lbs of CO2

Pollutant Avg Emission RatePollutant Avg Emission Rate

Hydrocarbons Emissions 2.80 grams/mile driven

NOx 1.39 grams/mile driven

CO 20.9 grams/mile driven

CO 0 916 lb/mile driven

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CO2 0.916 lb/mile driven

Virtual Call Centers: Energy Savings

• The average office building consumes approximately 16.8 kWh of energy/year for every sq. ft. of office space

• If each employee working in the office requires approximately 100 sq. ft. of floor space, that

th t ffi k means that every office worker uses approximately 1680 kWh of energy/year

• A virtual 100 seat call center saves 168 000 kWh • A virtual 100-seat call center saves 168,000 kWh of energy/year due to the elimination of commercial floor space

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C ti

Benefits of a Virtual Call Center

Corporations• Reduced infrastructure

cost

Agents• New job opportunities

S t f ili k/lif • Ability to hire top talent

remotely- across the US

• Supports families-work/life balance

• Saves money on gasoline • Ability to exceed KPIs

• Ability to meet call center volume fluctuations and

due to no commute

• Saves on professional wardrobe

spikes

• Ability to improve the customer experience

• Reduced impact on the environment due to less use of dry cleaning fluids, p

• Disaster recovery

y g ,non-recyclable goods

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Benefits of a Virtual Call Center

Improved Performance

• For Your Organization– Improved sales conversion– Improved service levels– Reduced shrinkage– Reduced cost per contact– Reduced AHT

• For Your Customers– Improved customer satisfaction– Increased dollars/order– Increased brand loyaltyy y

• For Agents– Increased retention– Improved performance

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p p

Benefits of a Virtual Workforce

Experienced Specialized Screened and Trained

• More experienced workforce

• Higher rate of ll

• Have relevant subject matter expertiseT i d b d

• Background checks

• Personality filicollege

experience possible

• Bilingual recruiting easier

• Trained on brand, culture and products via web-based or instructor led

profiling• Web-based and

instructor-led training

• Web based HR recruiting easier • More

management experience

• Higher rate of

instructor led training

• Can be located anywhere worldwide

• Web-based HR systems and tools

Higher rate of customer service experience

• 15 years of work experience

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I f t t d S t C id ti

Implementing a Virtual Call Center

Infrastructure and System Considerations:

• TechnologyTechnology

• Communication platform- phone, email, chat

• Systems- WFM, Call recording, LMS

S it• Security

• Security Compliance- PCI

• Agent- Credit and criminal background checks

• Workstation, systems & network

• Recruiting and screening methodologies

Remote learning tools and approach• Remote learning- tools and approach

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Management Considerations:

Implementing a Virtual Call CenterManagement Considerations:

Management ToolsS it h i i ll di lit • Switch supervisor view, call recording, quality tool, technical support systems

CommunicationCommunication• Internal secure chat • Data dashboard • Resource portal• Resource portal• LMS

CultureCulture• Leadership structure• Tele work policies and procedures

Results oriented performance based scheduling

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• Results oriented- performance based scheduling

Implementing a Virtual Call Center

Key Cost Considerations:

• Software licensing fees

• Telephony charges• Telephony charges

• Hardware purchases/installation

• Remote recruiting

• Computer based training

• Distance management program

C i ti h l• Communication channels

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VIPdesk Case Study – Catalog Retailer

Virtual call center model enabled client to transfertraffic out of 2 brick-and-mortar call centers tohome-based agents

• Exceeded dollars/order goals through 2007 holiday season while ramping agents to double capacity (56% of agents had less than 30 days in capacity (56% of agents had less than 30 days in production)

• Reduced AHT by 31% over the first year of y yprogram operation

• Reduced shrinkage by 14% over two months

• Handled 200%+ of forecasted volumes during seasonal periods where weather significantly i t d li t’ i t l t

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impacted client’s internal center

Additional Research

• Read VIPdesk’s case study featured in, “Going Green: Outstanding Green Business Practices”– Available online at:

http://www.vipdesk.com/info/pdf/Going_Green_Guidebook.pdf

• Working Mother Magazine’s 2008 Best Green • Working Mother Magazine’s 2008 Best Green Companies– Available online at:http://www.workingmother.com/web?service=vpage/1844

– THE BODY SHOP AMERICAS– BENJAMIN MOORE – SUNDANCE CHANNEL– BAYER

METHOD– METHOD– STONYFIELD FARM– NIKE– TIMBERLAND– UPS– HP

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– SUBARU OF AMERICA

Questions?

• Submit your questions now using the “Questions” function in the Webinar interfaceinterface

• You can also email questions to press@vipdesk com or call 703-837-3507 press@vipdesk.com or call 703-837-3507 for follow-up after today’s Webinar

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