How COVID-19 Impacted Call Centers
The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on nearly every industry in our economy - and call centers were no exception. Today, as vaccines roll out and mask mandates are lifted, the call center industry can finally take a holistic view of the impact of the pandemic, while simultaneously planning for the future.
Listed below are three significant ways COVID-19 impacted call centers, followed by where (v)WeCare believes this industry is headed in the future.
1. Calls Increased Dramatically
In the early days of the pandemic, rapidly shifting policies and procedures meant that a lot of people needed to call the companies they interface with in order to get information and make changes. Both the travel industry and the healthcare industry saw an unprecedented number of calls. People were desperate to change or cancel travel, find effective healthcare near them, and hang on to insurance coverage as employment everywhere dried up. It was an incredibly busy time for call centers. The (v)WeCare team rose to the challenge and put in extra time and effort in order to ensure that everyone on hold got the customer support they expected and deserved.
2. The Industry Transitioned to Work-From-Home
In order to maintain proper social distance, most call center workers began taking calls from home. Prior to the pandemic, it was common to have customer service reps worked out of a central location. Today, most people you reach on the phone as a consumer are answering the call from their house or apartment. Fortunately, as a domestic call center (v)WeCare had no problem setting up our reps with the appropriate at-home technology. High-speed Internet at home is incredibly common in developed nations. Underdeveloped nations like India struggled to transition to a work-from-home model, and their customers suffered.
3. Artificial Intelligence Was Used More Heavily
With call volumes increasing and the need to suddenly route calls to at-home work stations, the call center industry needed a way to respond to callers quickly without overburdening their systems. Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the natural solution. If you have interfaced with an automatic answer service (i.e. “Please describe the issue you are calling about in a few words” or “Are you calling about the services associated with this address?”) then you have interacted with call center AI. The idea is to get a base level of knowledge about the caller's concern before the call is transferred to a live agent. That way, the agent is not entering the call blindly and can help the caller get to a resolution quicker.
The Post-COVID Future of the Call Center Industry
At (v)Wecare, we believe that the work from home model is strong, and we think it is likely to continue. We anticipate that the call center industry will transition into a hybrid model, where training takes place in-person before customer service reps are sent home to take calls and provide support. We also anticipate more AI use in the future as that technology improves. One thing is certain, this industry will look different in the future, but the changes made will benefit both call center workers and customers calling in!