SITE SQUARE FOOTAGE
Why Smaller Centers Matter
Today the size of the contact center has a major impact on its success. Replace the one 1,000-seat center by grouping it into five 200-seat centers.
When agents move across town, they can stay with the company and find a center located in their new neighborhood. People like to live close to work.
Small centers of 150 or less are much more nimble than larger centers of 1500 agents. Smaller sites offer telecom redundancy, accessible labor, improved morale and turnover, shorter commutes and less tardiness and absenteeism, as well as being more responsive to special circumstances and crises like weather, product recalls, outages etc.
Even medium size sites between 150-500 are nimbler and more cost effective than the large 1000-plus agent sites. The new VOIP SaaS technology allows you to rethink how you configure contact centers. Yes, this is a mindset shift, but one worth making due to the savings. The additional facility costs incurred don’t compare to the savings especially when you’re reducing the cost of turnover. Multiple sites also provide greater immunity to regional power or telecommunication outages.
Fiber Data Connections
YOU MUST HAVE FIBER AS YOUR DATA CONNECTION TO YOUR BUILDING.
Regardless of how big or small, having a sufficient data connection to a commercial building is paramount to any site selection. Fiber is the only sufficient choice for a contact center. This may be a challenge while looking for smaller centers in neighborhoods but it is not impossible. A good site selector has a map of where the fiber is laid and this will take the guesswork out. Don’t give up on the neighborhood concept because you can’t find it.
Neighborhood Based
Cloud Contact Center software has changed how contact centers can be configured.
In the old days with a physical switch on the premise, companies had little choice but to house thousands of agents under one roof. Today with VOIP, SaaS contact center software allows sites to be as small as one agent! Cloud based Contact Center Platforms allow contact centers to be more neighborhood-centric, tapping into more labor pools, more local amenities like restaurants and shopping as well as healthcare and public transportation.
Reduce Agent Turnover
Today’s technology allows service centers to look and feel very different from the ones of the past. Employees like the smaller size; they feel less like a number and more like a real person making a real contribution. Employees are more engaged and experience higher job satisfaction. When employees feel valued they stick around. Consider smaller service centers; you will no doubt enjoy lower turnover, higher productivity and higher customer satisfaction scores.
Demographics
Placing contact centers into neighborhoods requires a little more digging into the labor pool. Does your agent live here? After you profile your agent with the use of agent assessments you will be crystal clear on what kind of person you are looking for and where to find them. Working with a local site selector and local economic development agency can provide micro-demographic data.
INDUSTRY SERVICE TIPS
1. 21st Century contact centers are smaller than in the past due to cloud technology. Attract local agents from the neighborhood. Small centers are more nimble and responsive.
2. Fiber optics is the only option for a contact center data connection. Get the fiber map from your site selector.
NEXT STEPS
Work with your site selector to identify smaller buildings that are more neighborhood based. The micro-demographics are there for the digging. Your agents are out there. You will attract agents and pull them in and keep them longer than the old model of large centers and everyone is a number. Moving to the neighborhood gives you a competitive advantage.
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INDUSTRY EXPERTS
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NETWORKING FOR CONTACT CENTER PROFESSIONALS
ABOUT NACSMA
NACSMA brings together like-minded professionals focused on advancing the customer contact industry and creating career growth.
BEST-IN-CLASS
Management of a best-in-class contact center sites require the continuous review of Agent Sourcing Models, Organizational Training and Management Development Programs.
NACSMA MEMBERSHIP
NACSMA is a professional, non-profit association whose members represent customer contact organizations and the vendors who support them.
IMPLEMENTATION
When a contact center organization expands to an additional site or requires new space, the steps to properly implement are unique to each organization but do have standard phases.