As COVID-19 Wreaks Havoc for Traditional Customer Service Platforms...

A Handful of North American Call Centers Step Up to Fill the Need

In my past several posts, I’ve focused on the growing urgency among so many organizations to continue to serve their customers while most of their employees are required to self-quarantine at home.

In their recent Wall Street Journal article, writers Sharon Terlep and Sarah Krouse do an exceptional job of spelling out how so many brands ended up here, unable to answer and respond to even their most urgent customer calls, how many obstacles still stand in their way, and what it will take to avoid this kind of catastrophic business impact during future national disasters.

The truth is, very few call centers prepared sufficiently for rapid, large-scale migrations of call center agents from on-site to at-home work stations. At Skybridge Americas, we pioneered that practice. The majority of our agents have been working from home for years because we invested in the technology, process, training and security protocols necessary to run highly successful teams, deliver superior customer experience and maintain maximum consumer data privacy. And we are here, ready to listen to your needs and talk about solutions.

Calls to Companies Rise Amid Coronavirus, but Operators Aren’t Standing By

—Sharon Terlep, Sarah Krouse

America’s biggest companies are racing to overhaul customer-service operations that are ill-equipped to have employees working from home amid a pandemic.

Many customers who call the hotlines of airlines, retailers and financial-services firms, among others, encounter hours long wait times, hearing recorded messages saying help is currently unavailable. Some companies ask that customers manage their issues online or suggest that they hold off on seeking assistance altogether.

Over the past three decades, companies’ call centers and customer-help centers have shifted overseas and are now concentrated in regions of the world hard hit by the new coronavirus. Meantime, customer-service setups in the U.S., often densely packed with employees, are either shutting down or downsizing amid containment efforts.

Companies trying to set up employees to work from home, both in the U.S. and abroad, have to figure out how to ensure secure networks and phone lines in an age where cybersecurity is vital. Some of the most-needed services, such as banking and health-care, involve especially sensitive information.

Businesses are scrambling for temp workers and using bots to help filter callers who need a live person from those who can be helped in other ways.

“At every company…all the call-center folks are getting an email from the CEO saying, ’What’s the plan if I have to vacate’” workers from the office, said Pat Gibbons, marketing chief for customer-service consulting firm Walker Information Inc. Mr. Gibbons said he had stopped taking on new clients to free up resources for existing ones.

So far, human contact is in short supply. The American Express Co. login page is topped with a message, in red letters, warning of long wait times and encouraging people to “use our digital tools.” British Airways’ customer-service line to manage flight reservations has played a message to call back later or visit the company’s website. Calling the toll-free number for Procter & Gamble Co.’s Charmin brand toilet paper tells people looking for bathroom tissue that the company is working “as fast as humanly possible” to supply retailers and ends with, “We hope you are able to find it in stores soon,” before disconnecting.

“You have these big rooms with 1,000 people sitting a foot and a half from each other, and the moment something like [Covid-19] pops out, you’ve got to thin them out,” said Rick Bloom, CEO of Support.com, a Sunnyvale, Calif., firm that provides customer-service software and staff for companies who outsource and is hiring hundreds of workers to keep up with demand.

Internet providers face an influx of demand as American workers and school children shift to working and learning online, respectively. Airlines, which are sustaining losses as flights are grounded world-wide, are being inundated with calls from customers needing flight changes, refunds or help getting home.

Javon Johnson, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, recently drove to the airport to speak to a United Airlines Holdings Inc.’s customer-service agent in person after efforts to recover $2,000 spent on canceled flights proved fruitless.

United’s call volumes initially doubled amid the coronavirus spread, a company spokeswoman said. The company enlisted employees from across its business, including senior executives, to take customer calls. Call volume has since declined, she said, while call wait times have almost returned to normal.

Companies that equip call centers with technical infrastructure and cloud services say the deluge of calls to consumer-facing businesses began with travelers and has shifted to consumers calling makers of in-demand products such as toilet paper and diapers, investors calling financial institutions, and patients calling health systems and insurers, among others.

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-Bobby Matthews

Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Skybridge Americas
bmatthews@skybridgeamericas.com

 


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