Category: Call Centers

The more that organizations rely on communication to conduct business, the more vital it becomes to track the progress of their customer service. The country’s – and the world’s – reliance on call centers is only increasing. But the fact is that some customer service operations function better than others, for reasons ranging from disparate internal systems to the high costs of running them.

For better results, companies can partner with call centers that measure their results, showing how they will save you money by reducing your operational inefficiencies.

Upgrading Your Systems and Processes for Better Call Resolution

Upgrading your processes is probably the best way to create a more seamless customer experience. And in spite of all the focus on AI currently, technology still falls short when it comes to resolving problems in customer service departments. Businesses that implement chatbots to answer questions are only addressing part of the problem. They may save money in the short term but will lose clients in the long run due to poor customer experiences that haven’t gone away.

If overhauling your internal communications department seems overwhelming, a better approach might be to outsource your customer service to a center that is equipped to handle all of your organization’s needs. A more efficient system such as an overflow call center service can save money while achieving multiple goals for organizations in healthcare as well as other industries. Whether you’re comparing to your former performance or that of a competitor, benchmarks to look for include:

• Faster scheduling times
• More pre-registrations
• Boost in client and patient verifications before appointments
• Increased scheduling overall

How Lighthouse Measures Results to Retain Talent

Retaining talent is one of those challenges that never seems to go away in this industry. Except when it comes to outliers such as Lighthouse Enterprises. It is a nonprofit that staffs its call centers primarily with people with disabilities, and then invests in ongoing training and education. The result is highly committed call center agents who wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.

The key here is that Lighthouse wouldn’t know how much of a difference its call center agents were making for its clients without measuring their results in a variety of ways. One way the remote call center reviewed its advantage for workforces was by tracking its retention rate. It found that its contact center attrition rate was just 7.2% – in stark contrast with a 45% industry average. Another crucial measurement: nearly all of the clients’ calls are resolved on the spot, without requiring any further actions on the part of the callers.

Efficiency Stems from Call Center Management

Effective call center management also relies heavily on continuous monitoring and coaching. Regularly reviewing performance data and conducting one-on-one coaching sessions with agents helps identify strengths and areas for development. Providing agents with constructive feedback, as well as recognition for good performance, can boost morale and help maintain consistent service quality. Additionally, real-time monitoring and call shadowing allow supervisors to intervene when necessary, ensuring that service levels are consistently met and customers receive timely, effective solutions.

There are other ways to measure your progress as a means of improving your call center performance:

• Implementing surveys
• Total calls resolved
• Call resolution times
• Number of calls per request
• Social media monitoring

Any steps you take to gather insights from customers can reveal pain points and areas where the service may be falling short. By acting on this feedback – whether it involves outsourcing certain roles or refining training programs – companies can stay agile and responsive to customer needs, ultimately exceeding their call center goals.

How Remote Customer Service Can Help You Meet Your Goals

Maybe it’s time for a partner that will work with its own internal team to continually improve results. Lighthouse Enterprises’ inbound call center services are highly scalable to meet each client’s scheduling needs. Our customer-centric approach ensures that service excellence is non-negotiable.

Reach out to Lighthouse Enterprises for a partner that will up your customer service game this year!

It’s been decades since October was declared National Disability Employment Awareness Month, but the messages are more relevant than ever. It’s a reminder that we need to recognize the many accomplishments of workers with disabilities. They play a vital role in maintaining a strong economy and contributing their talent, innovation and hard work across industries.

Some fast facts about this growing community, according to the Center for American Progress:

• Roughly 1.45 million Americans between 16 and 65 have a disability.
• At just over 7%, the unemployment rate for these folks is at an all time low.
• Employment rates are still twice as high among non-disabled as disabled people.

While making changes internally should be considered for businesses that are lagging, there is another, quicker way to make progress: use remote communications services at organizations that hire predominantly disabled workers.

Why Should You Celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month?

Society benefits when people who want to work are able to contribute to society. Still, disabled people face challenges finding work opportunities, which is why businesses need to continue looking for ways to improve accommodations so that skilled workers are able to fill more of the jobs that are available. As Forbes notes, accommodating people with disabilities is just good business. It:

1. Improves employee retention
2. Boosts job productivity
3. Creates safer work environments for everyone
4. Is good for morale

While a strong market and remote work options have helped more people with disabilities get jobs in recent years, more gains could be made in this area. One of the most efficient ways to support disabled communities is to outsource to places like Lighthouse Enterprises, which already has specialized processes built into its operations, enabling them to hire some of the most loyal and dedicated call center agents around.

How Businesses Have Improved Conditions for People with Disabilities

When disabled people make gains, the world is a better place for everyone. Yet sometimes it’s hard to see into the future to anticipate the changes that are needed to accommodate folks. Businesses can look for more ways to accommodate workers who either are or become disabled, and make changes to their workplace in anticipation of future needs.

Consider some advances that have been made in the past that we take for granted today. Prior to the American DIsabilities Act of 1990, wheelchair accessibility was far less common, and discrimination in hiring was prevalent in workplaces. Today, companies are encouraged to also ensure that the job application process and employee benefits reflect the needs of the disabled, in addition to their physical work environment.

Outsourcing Call Center Services Helps Workers with Disabilities – and Supports Research for the Visually Impaired

Another approach you could take is to focus your expertise on a specific disability that requires more intensive accommodations. For example, if your workplace doesn’t fully accommodate the visually impaired, outsourcing to Lighthouse gives you access to a call center with low-vision expertise that already has all the necessary assistive technology in place, and also supports community programming for optometric care.

Ongoing research is also crucial to gains in this area. Lighthouse has served as the testing center for the trial of the world’s first wireless intracortical visual prosthesis (ICVP), groundbreaking technology that has shown promise in enabling a form of artificial vision in the participants using it. By partnering with us, you will also be supporting research that could potentially help countless future workers.

Lighthouse Enterprises Provides Flexible Customer Service Solution

Organizations like Lighthouse that invest in training, technology and accommodations for their workers have been a big part of the solution. Partnering with Lighthouse Enterprises means you are supporting the employment and empowerment of the blind and visually impaired, as well as veterans and other disabled groups, all of which contributes to a more inclusive society.

Contact Lighthouse Enterprises to find out more about how our exceptional call center services can help you improve efficiency and create more satisfied customers at your organization!

This month, National Disability Independence Day (July 26) will mark the 34th anniversary of the day the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was first enacted in 1990. Businesses have many reasons to commemorate this occasion. You could start by recognizing the value of hiring talented workers who may have disabilities but aren’t defined by them.

For example, if you have a high call volume, you could save money by partnering with an off-site specialty call center that hires disabled workers. But there are many ways companies can recognize National Disability Independence Day:

1. Assess your company’s accessibility standards
2. Partner with organizations tied to disabled communities
3. Use remote customer support handled by disabled professionals
4. Educate yourself on skills that disabled groups bring
5. Find out how other businesses are becoming more accessible

Businesses Save Money By Acknowledging the Value of Workers with Disabilities

Partnering with a service provider that specializes in hiring and supporting disabled workers is also a good way to get great service, improve your efficiency, and demonstrate support for a highly trained community.

When paired with the right training and environment – such as the remote call center at Lighthouse Enterprises – callers are assisted by some of the most productive and passionate customer reps a business will find. Lighthouse is an established call center service provider that hires blind, veterans, and otherwise disabled workers. Thanks to their dedication and ongoing education, the staff has succeeded in improving the quality of customer service for countless clients over the years.

Disabled Workers Provide Excellent Call Center Services – and Why That Matters

First, a bit about the importance of excellent customer service care. Whether the calls are inbound or outbound, whether they arrive in the dozens or hundreds, organizations need to address callers’ needs as quickly and accurately as possible. The same holds true no matter where your call center agents are located. What’s important is that they provide excellent services to the customers and patients who contact them.

Why is it crucial to elevate the level of customer support you provide? Consider these recent findings:

1. Roughly nine out of ten customers say they will base future purchasing decisions on the quality of customer service they receive.
2. Profits increase exponentially based on just a small boost in customer retention.
3. Four out of five consumers say only one negative experience is enough to lead them to a competitor – but they will forgive a bad experience if they were treated well.
4. Outsourcing customer service can reduce scheduling delays by 40%.
5. Tasks such as pre-registration and pre-service verification can also improve with outsourced call services.

Consider Customer Support Skills of the Blind, Veterans, and Other Disabled Groups

A customer support organization that ensures ongoing training and accessibility can often provide superior services than what an in-house team is able to produce. That’s why more companies are partnering with fully accessible off-site contact centers such as Lighthouse. Not all companies have the resources to assemble the most talented workers for all of their inbound and outbound communications needs.

Using an off-site contact center that specializes in disabled workers for your spillover calls is a great way to bridge the gap in your services.

Take Advantage of the Latest Assistive Devices – and Partners That Use Them

Some visually impaired agents at Lighthouse Enterprises use the latest assistive devices so they can perform tasks and address callers’ needs as quickly and efficiently as possible. This includes adapted materials that were created specifically for workers with disabilities. Companies should also ensure that professionals with mobility limitations have what they need to manage day-to-day tasks.

Why Celebrating Disability Independence Makes Good Business Sense

Not every business has the resources of an organization that specializes entirely in supporting the requirements of a specific disabled group. When you outsource to Lighthouse, you’re getting customized solutions while supporting an enterprise that invests in research to continue enabling blind and visually impaired workers to do their jobs as well as possible. This extends to experimental devices that use visual technology to transmit key information to workers in real time.

Lighthouse Produces the Best Customer Service Outcomes for Its Clients

At Lighthouse, our access to cutting edge technology is one of the reasons our support center has a much stronger ability to hold onto good workers than other support providers. Not only is worker retention a major struggle in this industry, but it translates to lost dollars for businesses. What we do has the opposite effect – help clients streamline their customer support for better business outcomes.

Contact Lighthouse Enterprises to support disabled workers and get better customer service solutions today.

The need to handle communication at scale is stronger than ever. And a number of trends are improving the level of service organizations can access through call centers. A range of advanced technologies and new, innovative practices are transforming customer support in nearly every industry.

Most businesses are feeling the need to streamline their customer conversations and support. This is why, in the months and years ahead, a variety of tools will combine to help call center agents manage conversations – and enable businesses to provide better, faster and more accurate services.

1. Remote, Integrated Customer Service Solutions

Cloud-based services aren’t exactly new. But more and more, organizations across industries are using remote, integrated services to streamline conversations with customers in order to enhance their delivery of services. This focus on communication will essentially speed up the time it takes to respond to customer queries from a single remote location.

One example of this trend is in omnichannel customer services, which integrate different channels of information through a given system, enabling businesses to simplify the customer experience. Newer software systems provide customer service representatives with consolidated information on each individual, ultimately saving time on both ends.

2. Use of IT and IP Telephony Support

IP telephony – or internet protocol telephony – is an umbrella term that includes VoIP and other services. It’s a more advanced way that call centers can communicate using the internet. The potential benefits are many:

Lower Overhead Costs for Clients

Clients won’t require any specific hardware or maintenance to tap into remote call center services.

Well-Trained Agents + Seamless Support

As long as the support center has a stable wifi connection and well-trained agents, a whole range of support services can be provided quickly and seamlessly.

Small Operational Budget & Reduction in On-Site IT Needed

This use of technology will continue to translate to saved dollars for the growing number of organizations that outsource their support needs. The best remote call centers will have their own IT, which limits tech issues on your end.

Focus Shift to Most Important Businesses Needs

Service centers like Lighthouse Enterprises will handle IT and telephony support so you can get back to your most important business needs.

3. More Customizable Customer Support Options

Your customer’s time is precious. That’s why one of the hottest support options is a hybrid solution that sends overflow calls to a separate call center, while you still benefit from the resources you have. In a matter of seconds, if a rep is unavailable, the call automatically gets transferred to a qualified agent with access to all of the same information.

4. State-of-the-Art Software Attracting More Qualified, Passionate Call Center Agents

When technology was older and services more traditional, there was a limit to the types of people who could provide call center services. But newer tools and software have opened the doors to a whole generation of dedicated call center agents, giving them access to careers they love.

At Lighthouse, visually impaired agents have access to JAWS (Job Access with Speech), software that uses complex keyboard shortcuts so they can manage applications more quickly and efficiently. Not only are they top-performing agents, but ongoing training ensures better outcomes for clients, as well.

5. Less Turnover Translating to Bigger Returns

This one may surprise a few folks, as it is not based on any new technology but a different way of thinking about customer service. An organization that brings out excellence in its agents will be committed to providing quick and efficient solutions for all your customer needs. When combined with the above changes, this has the effect of reducing confusion a customer might otherwise experience.

Turnover in this industry remains stubbornly high. But because agents at a place like Lighthouse receive specialized services, have unique career opportunities, and love what they do, the center sees a fraction of the turnover experienced at standard call centers.

Want Higher Efficiency in the New Year? Outsource Call Needs to Lighthouse Enterprises

At Lighthouse Enterprises, our commitment to continuing training – which results in a historically low turnover rate – sets us apart in the contact center industry. This dedication among our workforce allows us to hone advanced skills, enabling your customers to receive consistently top-notch service.

Ready to take your customer support service to the next level? Contact Lighthouse Enterprises for a free consultation today.