How a Scalable Workforce Supports Business Ups and Downs

Sometimes even positive experiences like exceeding company growth forecasts can have the unfortunate result of putting stressors on business processes. That is why having a scalable workforce can be the greatest asset for an organization ready to burst at the seams. After all, you don’t want your good fortune to slow down the wheels of progress!

Scalability is integral to a business’s ability to seamlessly meet the needs of its new and existing customers. An on-demand workforce can, therefore, provide the support necessary to get over the hump of a flood of new business. Tangible benefits from an on-demand workforce include not only more hands on deck when necessary but, conversely, an easy way to reduce employee expenses when  a surge dissipates, or when a business forecast doesn’t pan out.

Such flexibility enables contact center leaders to better manage the costs of providing outstanding customer service. Case in point, on-demand Communicators are only paid when their services are required. The ability to scale the number of contact center workers up or down gives companies optimal leverage for capturing revenue.

At InfoCision, we frequently have clients who rely on our scalable services; in those instances, we bring in our Special Project Communicators. As the name suggests, these employees are solely designated to respond to our clients’ abrupt special project needs. We match Communicators to calls based on their proficiency in the program-specific training they have received.

Partnering with the right contact center vendor should be your primary consideration when you need to scale up your workforce. What should you look for in such a partner? Consider the following recommendations:

• Look for a vendor that can provide services according to your schedule. Ask whether Communicators are available outside of regular business hours—even 24/7.
• If your business calls for inbound (customer inquiries) and outbound (lead generation, surveys, etc.) services, ensure both are offered.
• Verify that services are of sufficient quality to lend a professional image to your brand.
• Ask whether the vendor provides phone call recordings for quality assurance purposes.
• Be sure the vendor will give you detailed reports on number of calls fielded and issues resolved—daily is ideal.
• Check that your anticipated call volume falls within the vendor’s minimum volume requirement.
• Find out how the potential partner handles outages. Look for reliable redundancy and a sound disaster-recovery plan.
• If you have a bilingual or multilingual audience, seek a contact center partner with staff fluent in the appropriate languages.

Steve Brubaker began his career at InfoCision in 1985. In his current role as Chief of Staff and as a member of the Executive Team, he is responsible for HR, internal and external communications, and manages the company’s legal and compliance departments. Brubaker is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the DMA, SOCAP, and PACE. He also donates his time to serve on several university boards, including the Executive Advisory Board for The Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at The University of Akron and The University of Akron Foundation Board. He is a frequent speaker for national events and has also been honored with a number of awards and recognitions for his contributions to the call center industry.