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Home-Based Call Center Agents Are On The Rise: Nice or Bad?

"Business continuity is a big issue for home-based work now," says Chuck Wilsker, president and CEO of the Telework Coalition. "What if people are quarantined, what about the prospect of terrorism, hurricanes, other severe weather? A lot of people are looking at business continuity and see home-based agents as the way to go."

It's not surprising that 1-800-Flowers.com sees its business spike around Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Christmas. What might surprise you, however, is that the company meets its increased call volume with customer-care agents who just might be answering the phone in bathrobe and slippers.

1-800-Flowers.com is among a growing number of companies turning to service providers that employ home-based call center agents or let their internal customer-care agents work from home if they choose. The trend has been gaining momentum for a few years, but it's one that IDC says is poised to take off.

"It's really something that is exploding as far as I'm concerned," says Lou Orsi, director for vendor relations and strategic projects at 1-800-Flowers.com. "When you think about it, it really makes a lot of sense."

According to a recent IDC study, there were about 112,000 home-based agents in 2005, but that number is expected to nearly triple over the next few years and surpass 328,000 by 2010.

IDC says there are several factors making work-at-home arrangements attractive. Not the least is advanced technologies, such as wider access to broadband, that let home-based employees be as productive as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.

Add to that the savings in gas and commuting time and the convenience of rolling out of bed and into an office without setting foot out the door, and it's no surprise that companies say they attract and retain higher-caliber employees with the work-at-home approach.

Analysts don't expect the use of home-based call center agents -- a practice IDC terms homeshoring -- to displace offshoring, but they do expect the work-at-home option to play a larger role in an enterprise's outsourcing strategy.

"Rather than think of [homeshoring] as an alternative to offshoring, I think of it as companies enhancing their portfolio mix of services," says Stephen Loynd, a program manager at IDC.

Some calls may go to India, others to another near-shore market, such as Mexico, "and then there are a certain amount of calls that would best be handled in the United States and, by extension, by a home-based agent," Loynd says.

In situations where geographic familiarity or culture and language are particularly important, the calls could go to a home-based agent, rather than going offshore, Loynd says. Companies cut real estate costs with home-based agents, so while costs aren't at the offshoring level, they are reduced.

"It's a little bit more expensive than going offshore, but I think you get what you pay for," Orsi says. "And it's less than your traditional brick-and-mortar pricing models. Second, the quality of the person you're getting is far superior."

If you are reading this article, you may be interested in Getting Rich in Your Underwear: How to Start and Run a Profitable Home-Based Business

Alpine Access (which Orsi uses), VIPdesk, West and Willow are among a growing list of outsourcing firms that use home-based agents. Alpine Access says homeshoring has let it tap into employees more attuned to the business of its customers, which include 1-800-Flowers.com, J.Crew Group and Office Depot.

"The clients want experts in their subject matter, and we're able to do that because we're not geographically limited like a traditional call center," says Brad Krinhop, COO of Alpine Access.

By removing physical limitations, companies such as Alpine Access also are putting together more highly educated, dependable workforces.

Although a typical brick-and-mortar call center may be staffed primarily by employees in their early 20s with very little college education, the average age at Alpine Access is 38, and 80% have at least some college education -- "and a lot more work experience," Krinhop says.

At the same time, home-based agents are likely to be happier and thus more dependable. Typical call centers can deal with turnover rates of about 65% annually, with some even higher, but centers with home-based agents see turnover rates of less than 10% in most cases, says Chuck Wilsker, president and CEO of the Telework Coalition.

Another benefit of telecommuting is business continuity, Wilsker says.

"Business continuity is a big issue for home-based work now," he says. "What if people are quarantined, what about the prospect of terrorism, hurricanes, other severe weather? A lot of people are looking at business continuity and see home-based agents as the way to go."

Security, which initially was a concern when it came to work-at-home agents, is now seen as a benefit. Legislation gives companies greater control over sensitive data in the United States than overseas, Wilsker points out.

Still, many companies are hesitant about having employees based at home.

"We really do see this taking off, but today people seem more comfortable sending things halfway around the world than having people work from home," Wilsker says.

Experts expect that to change as enterprises see peers succeed with the home-based model. 1-800-Flowers.com, for example, is so happy with its experience with Alpine Access it is launching its own work-at-home pilot for its internal employees.

"We have about 50 home agents, and we're looking to double that by year-end," Orsi says. "The amount of calls we get from people looking for these types of jobs is unending."

posted via E-business

Internet Banking Under Attack?

Foreign Banks Adopt Stricter Security Requirements, But U.S. Banks Resist

For most people, banking online is pure convenience. But for Tom Kellerman, every click of the mouse, every stroke of the keyboard is a potential disaster.

"We're underestimating Jesse James here," Kellerman tells CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.

A widely respected cyber-security expert, formerly with the World Bank, Kellerman says organized criminals — even terrorists — are hijacking the Internet.

"They're taking screen shots of what you type in as your password and sending this back to organized criminals," Kellerman says.

Security experts estimate that one in three computers worldwide is infected with some version of software that steals personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords and personal data — and delivers it all to online crooks.

"The concerns we have is that there be more of these attacks," says Tony Chew, director of technology risk supervision for the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Chew regulates online security for Singapore, which three years ago declared that PINs and passwords were not enough to protect online banking — and ordered banks to adopt another layer of protection.

It's called two-factor authentication — simply proving who you are in more than one way. How? By using something you "know" — like a PIN — along with something you "are" — say, your thumbprint — or something you "have," like a token, a keychain device that spins ID numbers several times a minute to match similarly timed numbers in your bank's database.

The token (something you have) and a PIN (something you know) will access your account.

"We tend to be proactive, and we want to maintain and enhance confidence in our banking system," Chew says.

In Japan, it's the unique pattern of palm veins (something you are) combined with a PIN (something you know) that grants access to ATMs.

"That makes it very difficult for someone to copy," says Scott Ikeda of Fujitsu Ltd.

For now, though, U.S. banks are resisting dual-factor authentication as too expensive and too confusing to the customer.

"The ironic part is many of these banks have actually done this for their European and Asian consumers because of regulation," Kellerman says, adding, "Maybe we should emigrate."

Some U.S. bankers call Kellerman "Chicken Little." But he's not alone in thinking the Internet sky really is in danger of falling.

posted via CBS News

Top 10 Stupid Things that Smart IT Pros Still Do

#10 Let vendor upgrade timetables define your path of least resistance. Waiting for Vista? Need we say more?

#9 Install all software with default settings. Why risk a need to explore interacting choices among complex applications? Let malware authors do it.

#8 Let users set de facto policy for password complexity and change interval. Anything else will lead to countless tech support calls. Who has time for that, when the systems keep getting cracked (by attackers who find passwords with a dictionary search)?

#7 Assume that hardware and software vendors will tell you what you need to know. Service bulletins and patch notices take all the reading time you can spare. There aren't enough hours in the day to see what your fellow IT pros are saying and doing

#6 Never get out in the office and walk around with open eyes and ears. People will tell you what they need by e-mail Watching people try to do their work, or listening to concerns about performance, or seeing passwords on Post-It notes under keyboards, won't tell you anything you really want to know.

#5 Behave like a system administrator, not like a center of innovation and strategy. Just keep the email trains running on time. No one really wants to see you as a key resource for product launch or marketing campaign plans

#4 Treat IT as a world unto itself. Physical security is for the rent-a-cops on night watch. Web site design is for the marketing droids You're a technologist: that's your only job.

#3 Speak to the rest of the company only in numbers. If you'd wanted to be a speaker at crucial meetings, you'd have been a drama major. If you'd wanted to be a clear and persuasive writer, you'd have been an English major Your work speaks for itself.

#2 Act like an employee, not like a member of a professional community. Conferences, technical publications and carefully selected on-line resources take time Just stay in the basement and keep those trains running.

#1 Keep doing things manually, again and again and again. Learning automation techniques and acquiring system management tools is just too hard.

posted via eWeek

Generation Y for Dummies

Remember that time you were talking to the Generation X-aged employee in your department and referred to punch cards and he or she responded with a blank stare?

"We recorded digital information on them through punch-outs," you explained to the clueless face before you, "and then developed programs to read the data and … Oh, forget it."

Well, imagine trying to explain to the new 23-year-old hire what that 5.25-inch slot in an old computer is for, because there's going to be a lot of that in the next few years as the Generation Y work force hits your IT department, bringing along their unique combination of gifts and aggravations.

Generation Y, made up of those born between 1977 and 1990, goes by innumerable names—"The MyPod Generation," for their penchant for social networking sites such as MySpace and their surgically attached iPods, "The Baby Boomlets," referring to their status as children of the "Baby Boom" generation, and "The Boomerang Generation," in reference to the hordes who have moved back in with their parents after living on their own for a while—that tell you a lot about what to expect.

Generation Y workers have a reputation for experiencing boredom and frustration with slow-paced environments, traditional hierarchies and even slightly outdated technologies—that is, almost everything common in most workplaces.

A common reaction of other workers to that frustration is aggravation: "Why do we need to adjust to them? They should be adjusting to us."

While this is a fair response to an extent, there's a lot more to the picture.

How Generation Y is different

Dr. Larry Rosen, author of the "Mental Health Technology Bible" and "TechnoStress: Coping with Technology @Work, @Home, @Play," argues that the biggest difference between members of Generation Y and those who came before them is that they have spent their entire lives surrounded by technology.

"Technology just is for them. It's part of every aspect of their lives, unlike a lot of the people they will be coming to work for," he said.

The difference is more than a generational experience gap, he said: It's a difference in personality.

"This generation is different in so many ways. They grew up in the lap of luxury, in one of the best economic times in the last 100 years, and everyone started living very luxuriously: two-plus cars, dinners out, etc. They're also pretty opinionated about the jobs they want and the money they intend to make, and many have missed that step where they understood they needed to work their way up from the bottom," Ruth Haag, author of the four-book "Hiring and Firing" series, told eWEEK.com.

Others argue that the different ambitions of the Generation Y work force are not as significant as understanding how those ambitions relate to what the company needs.

"Each generation that comes through the door has a different perspective, but what's important is how you marry that perspective with what your customers are looking for," Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of strategy and marketing at Yoh Services, a provider of talent and outsourcing services based in Philadelphia, told eWEEK.com.

With the eldest batch of Baby Boomers in retirement and the rest to soon follow, the presence of Generation Y workers is more important than ever.

"The key thing is that these Generation Y folks will be the backfill for the Baby Boomers, as folks that are now 25-30 will be the next middle managers," Lanzalotto said.

What will change

Lanzalotto prescribes four steps to help companies effectively manage Generation Y workers' technological talents and maximize their value as employees.

The first is to understand who this generation looks up to and how that relates to the misguided perception that they don't want to work.

"Employers have to lose these perceptions that Generation Y is the slacker generation—they just have a different thought process. Their generation's heroes were business guys who got rich fast, or appeared to, and there's a lot of folk in the last 10 years that have made it look this easy," Lanzalotto said.

The second notable characteristic of the Generation Y work force is that they will switch jobs over the course of their careers more than any generation before them, holding as many as 20 jobs before they retire. The portability of retirement benefits and a lessened need to vest has contributed to this.

"It's important to understand that there is no way these people are going to be in one job for their entire career. You're still going to have managers that say, 'I don't want a guy who is going to be here for only two years and then leave,' but more and more, this is becoming part of the parlance," Lanzalotto said.

Dr. Rosen sums up this job-hopping a little differently.

"They view a job as just that and not a career. They feel that either the job is shaped in a way that utilized their skills and expertise, or they won't stick around. If they don't like what they are doing, they have a million other options because they come into the workplace so skilled. Often these are more interesting."

Even when engaged by their jobs, they will not stay in one place for very long, often leaving to expand their experience and look for new opportunities, Rosen said. However, there is also a significant likelihood that they will come back to the company.

Lanzalotto argues that it's important that companies not view employee turnover as bridge-burning. "As a manager, I know if they're good, they may leave. But, we have more boomerang employees than ever: those who leave and come back, with the added advantage that they know the culture, they know the company and they come back with a whole different perspective and institutional knowledge," he said. "They might come back in five years with some great experience and be a real asset to your company."

A third noteworthy difference in the way that Generation Y workers relate to their jobs is a demand for flexibility unseen in previous generations.

"Twenty years ago, everyone worked in the office. Now people will expect to dictate where and how they work. They'll ask for more work-life balance, and how much paid time off and [whether] vacation programs are in place," Lanzalotto said.

Dr. Rosen attributes this insistence on flexibility to a focus on products, not processes.

"They don't do progress reports," in spite of the frustration that causes their superiors, Dr. Rosen said. "They'll get the job done on time, but resent being reminded to. Centrally, they don't feel they should have to conform to office processes. But, they work well on deadlines. They feel that as long as they completed their work—the product—their process isn't what matters."

Because of this focus on output and not method, they want different things out of their schedules, he said. "As long as they're getting their work done on time, they don't see why they shouldn't have the maximum flexibility: flex time, flex hours and working from home," he said.

A fourth characteristic of Generation Y workers, one that seems likely to significantly change their workplaces, regards communication methods: They expect an open workplace where they can have their views heard without fear of retribution.

"It used to be, if you saw the CEO walking down the hall, you sat straight up and tried to look busy. Now you'll have people that will call the CEO if there is something they do not like. They're not going to be afraid to voice an opinion. It's a different mindset," Lanzalotto said.

For example, Generation Y workers will be demanding about the technology used in the workplace. "They will not stand for substandard technology, especially when they often have a better way to do things at home, and they can bring the work in. They'll expect computers to work a certain way because they know what's out there. 'Why don't we have this?' they'll ask," he said.

Rather than viewing all of these changes brought about by the next generation of workers as difficulties that must be overcome, Lanzalotto encourages the older generation to make the most of it.

"Workplace diversity is not just about culture; it's about the way people think. If you have people pushing and shoving and moving around, you'll only have a better company for it."

posted via eWeek

Outsourcing and the loves and lives of the night

Workplace Blog’s Ed Frauenheim tackles a different aspect of offshoring’s effect on people’s lives. Aside from the usual gripes on the long late hours, unpaid overtimes and lack of career growth, the outsource workplace is now also breeding ground for intimate office relationships.

An India press article has shown how intimacy in the workplace has been integrated into the workers’ normal lives. With the amount of time spent in the workplace, it comes as no surprise that the professional domain is transformed more into personal spaces. "From making friends to cultivating relationships, BPO units are slowly becoming hubs where inter-personal bonding takes place," The Economic Times story shows, and furthers, "And it comes as little surprise that many also give vent to their sexual urges in the office space."

Involved in the story is footage from a camera of a leading Mumbai-based contact center showing a couple having sex in the office setting. The employees have learned to live under close surveillance – camera surveillance especially – to address the privacy issue of clients jittery about their data’s security. This throws into light however, the whole new lifestyle developed because of the environment. Is it the long hours, the feelings of isolation, the culture?

Whatever it is, it has firmed up the resolve of Indian BPO workers to make the most out of the outsourced life they lead. Down to getting up close and personal.

posted via Enterblog.com