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MANAGED SERVICE PROVIDERS: VIRTUALIZE AND GO GREEN!

25 January 2010 1,417 views 13 Comments

 

To understand what comprises a Green Call Center let’s first look at what keeps a traditional call center from being Green.

1. Using an equipment based, site based call center platform, requiring replication at each site,  takes a tremendous amount of energy, not only to run the equipment but also to keep it cool.  For example, at an energy cost of $1.65 per square foot, at a 100 seat agent call center costs $13,200 per year in unnecessary power and gas bills.

  1. Call center agents work onsite.  This means that each agent must use some means of transportation to get to work each day.  For many, transportation is their car which not only consumes gasoline (natural resources), but spews carbon emissions – which contribute to our poor air quality.

2.  Having agents work onsite is a waste of space and resources.  With virtualization technologies such as virtual call center platforms, most employees could work from home.  In the work from home scenario, companies would not require large buildings which use up our natural resources to build, and similarly take up space that could be used as preservation areas such as parks.

 Now let’s take a look at a Green Call Center.  In a Green call center, the organization uses a virtual call center platform which allows them to have their agents work from home.  Virtual call center platforms provide a call center with all the features, functionality and management tools as equipment based, site based platforms plus offer “on demand” functionality which allows virtual platforms to deploy easily and scale up or down very quickly.  Call centers directors with their agents working from home have found it just as easy to manage their agents in this environment as it was when they were working onsite.  By employing a private social network, agents can communicate, ask questions and share ideas even more effectively as they previously could at the “water cooler”.  Moreover,  this  information of an often valuable nature, can be stored, contributing to the company’s knowledge base.

 Having call center agents work from home saves a company a small fortune in energy costs and will dramatically reduce carbon emissions.  For a 200 agent call center utilizing a work at home model, with an average daily commute of 20 miles, and telecommuting 5 days per week, the savings would be tremendous:

409,471 kwh of energy saved
462 tons of C02 emissions reduced
29,384 gallons of gas saved

Virtual Call Center – The Benefits to Employees

Added benefits include that employees save money on gasoline and are usually able to obtain lower priced car insurance if they work from home.  According to companies using the work from home model, their employees are happier and more productive.  Doesn’t it make sense that far more people would rather work from the comfort of their homes, in a t-shirt and sweat pants than getting dressed up, dealing with traffic and working out of a cubicle under fluorescent lighting?  Of course it does.

 Virtual Call Center – Benefits to the Company

They are able to radically reduce their energy and facility costs.

  • Hiring new agents no longer needs to be limited to those that live within a 60 mile radius of the call center.  They can now hire agents anywhere without any geographical restrictions. 
  • Call centers can now have a much larger talent pool to hire from.
  • Call centers can now take advantage of the tremendous workforce of disabled individuals who might not have been able to work in a traditional call center environment.
  • By using virtualization technologies and using “at home” agents, an organization is able to achieve their Green initiatives.

Why would a company want to waste money and resources to have their call center agents work from a traditional call center when they can save money, reduce energy consumption, reduce emissions, and help save natural resources by using a virtual call center platform with agents working from home?  One answer might be fear.  They might be afraid that if they do not have both equipment and agents onsite, they will have less control and less ability to run and manage their call center as they have in the past.  This, of course, is a fallacy.  Having equipment onsite only means more human resources are required to manage and maintain the equipment.  In a virtual, hosted environment, there is no equipment to manage so more time can be devoted to managing, training and developing call center agents.

There are no rational reasons for a call center to not “Go Green”, virtualize and utilize at-home call center agents.  Call centers can seamlessly virtualize their contact center, save a fortune in facility and energy costs, help save the planet and enjoy a happier and more qualified workforce.

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Author: Darren Prine (15 Articles)

  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/6e1uX5 Tweets that mention MANAGED SERVICE PROVIDERS | CALL CENTER | VIRTUALIZE AND GO GREEN | — Topsy.com

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  • raferonwiler

    Darren,

    A really great article with some super points and recommendations. One other way to enhance “greenness” and to reduce the carbon footprint is the use of windpower. I represent RSI Wind and we have available our “Legacy Model RSI WIndGen”. It looks exactly like the old farmstead winmills but is built to Mil Specs to be long lasting and withstand rugged weather for many, many years. It is also eligible for many grants and tax incentive programs on both the Federal & State levels which can allow for as quick as 5 year payoff depending on factors such as average, electricity usage, wind speed etc. There is also the chance for extra income leasing space to cell carriers as it is designed to also be a stealth antenna site. For more information copntact me @ rafero@rsicorp.com or visit http://www.rsiwind.com. Thank You,

  • Amandla

    This sounds like self-promoting greenwashing to me. The technology to run a call center still exists – it's not like it goes away. To imply that somehow the technology is now more efficient because it is offsite is disingenuous. The whole thing with green business is to find ways of improving practises not tranferring them. All businesses (not just call centers) should be offsetting their emissions, enforce consumption conscious policies, purchase responsibly, educate and empower their employees to work together for the better of the planet. How does having a slew of people working from home using their own electricity plus other components (tv, radio, lights) make the situation better? The solution to global warming isn't just stay home

  • robertbrock

    At one time everyone worked at home. Maybe its time to do it again. We have been enabling Call Centers to use the remote work for 10 years. It was hard at first but is now very easy to do. It also allows the use of disabled people without the expense of an ADA work space, and the disabled people like it better.

    VOIP, virtualization and better internet access have made remote workers a reality, and have made it greener as well.

  • dprine

    Dear Amandla,

    Thank you for your comment. Why so negative about a solution that is a win on so many levels? How you you not like a business solution that reduces smog in the air, conserves natural resources, offers opportunities to disabled workers, allows people to work from home and saves companies money? Is it that this is a technology you do not understand and thus fear that virtual solutions, such as a virtual call center platform, might take away your job? Fear is the main reason many companies will not consider this model. Many people who manage equipment based, onsite platforms fear that if they used a virtual platform they will lose their job. I have not found this to be true. While virtual platforms make all of the jobs related to managing a call center easier, there will always be a need for those who handle call center management, workforce management, call quality management, agent training and development, etc.

    While equipment based call center platforms will always have its devotees, more and more companies are moving to virtual platforms every month. Why? They cost less, are more versatile, have built-in disaster recovery, can scale quickly, are easy to deploy, allow call centers to have agents in multiple locations, and allow for an “at home” workforce.

    Regarding your statement about how all businesses, not just call centers, should be reducing their emissions; all I can tell you is that this is a Call Center related column. I write articles focused on call centers and thus this article is about the benefits of call centers going “Green”.

    You asked “How does having a slew of people working from home using their own electricity plus other components (tv, radio, lights) make the situation better?” While it is commonplace for a large call center to have a server room with racks and racks of servers and equipment that need to be kept at 68-71°F. Equipment at home is smaller, does not need to be kept as cool as a larger server room and thus uses less energy.

    You were right about one thing. The solution to global warming is not to just stay home. However, it is one of many Green solutions available and when you consider it helps to reduce emissions, reduce the number of cars on the road, reduce energy consumption, reduce natural resources used in building large call centers, and radically reduces the cost of being in business during a challenging economy, this solution is a huge win.

  • John

    How does having a slew of people working from home make the situation better?

    How about the obvious like less autos on the roads. Less fuel consumption, less emmissions, less road damage and maintenance costs, less need for large office space and the environmental impact of supporting those facilities, etc.

    Shall I continue?

  • Amandla

    You're right – my comment did come off as overly negative and that was not my intention. Perhaps its because as a member of the green business community I am tired of “green” being used to deceptively promote their business. I am not accusing you of that – merely explaining my reaction. I believe what you're posing does represent efficiencies but i don't think it should be touted as the be all end all answer to greening the call center industry.

  • Amandla

    Perhaps that what they should have talked about in Copenhagen – how can everyone work from home? That's an unrealistic approach to change in my opinion. If everyone gave up meat one day per week – that would have a greater impact on the environment than call center workers performing their job from home. That is but one small sacrifice that we can do. There is a long list – shall I continue?

    I believe a better approach is improving consumer habits and the way business is done. That is just my opinion.

  • Anonymous

    there is also a loop side to it. Being unemployment. What will all the people that were once transporting people, building roads etc. do ?

  • Tyrone

    Darren– Awesome Info!!! Points are well taken. This solution reccommended does discourage the comsumption of certain fuel types which have been linked to destroying layers in our atmosphere, etc. the reduction of emissions gases alone can be a huge win!! I cast my VOTE today on @ home agents. Perhpas this topic can be added to Copenhagen II. Thanks.

  • Tyrone

    Darren– Awesome Info!!! Points are well taken. This solution reccommended does discourage the comsumption of certain fuel types which have been linked to destroying layers in our atmosphere, etc. the reduction of emissions gases alone can be a huge win!! I cast my VOTE today on @ home agents. Perhpas this topic can be added to Copenhagen II. Thanks.

  • John

    I assume the same thing typewriter repair people did, find a new way to apply their skill set or retrain themselves with new skills, maybe even call center! You would be able to work from home after all.

  • http://www.callcenterbestpractices.com/companies-use-home-call-center-agents-to-reduce-carbon-footprint/ Companies Use Home Call Center Agents To Reduce Carbon Footprint | CallCenterBestPractices.com

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