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

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?

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.

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