How to Choose the Right U.S.-based Call Center Company

The age of offshoring is over: Today, delivering a premium experience for your customers in North America means partnering with a U.S.-based call center company who can deliver culturally synchronous, on-demand communications on whatever channels your customers prefer.

So valuable has the model of the U.S.- and North American-based call center become that the United States is now the world’s biggest employer of contact center workers, many of them highly-trained contractors who work at home on schedules that best fit their lifestyles (which fuels better performance).

“The U.S. industry continues to grow due to the strong economy and popularity of corporate reshoring and onshoring initiatives,” writes Site Selection Group CEO King White, who cites his own company’s proprietary call center data to conclude that:

The U.S. industry continues to grow due to the strong economy and popularity of corporate reshoring and onshoring initiatives.

• There are more than 7,400 call centers in the U.S. with 50 or more workers; collectively, these facilities are estimated to employ more than 2 million workers
• Smaller call centers with fewer than 50 workers (often embedded within a corporate facility) are estimated to collectively employ another 500,00 workers
• Work-at-home agents are estimated to comprise another 500,000 workers
• The total number of U.S.-based call center workers can be estimated at more than 3,300,000

Why More U.S.-based Call Center Companies Are Utilizing Home-Based Agents

Though they may currently comprise less than a sixth of the total number of call center workers, home-based agents are proving to be its most rapidly growing segment, and, indeed, the backbone of a new model of premium but affordable U.S.-based call center companies.

Home-based agents “really help us manage the peaks and valleys” of fluctuating call volumes, explains seasoned operations former executive (and Working Solutions client) Gavin Woody in a discussion of the benefits of partnering with a U.S.-based call center company using the work-at-home model.

These are the normal fluctuations that occur during the course of a standard year, like staff illnesses, weather events, or big shopping days. They could also be special events like a product launch or expansion into a new market — the “peaks and valleys” that a call center has to deal with throughout the year.

“In a traditional, brick-and-mortar call center, trying to get people to drive in on their day off … sometimes it’s really hard to manage that,” Gavin continues. “Whereas, in the work-from-home model, somebody who’s been working 15 or 20 hours a week, it’s much easier to say, ‘Hey, can you walk upstairs and take calls from your home office for a few hours?’”

The Importance of Choosing a U.S.-based Call Center Company with a Responsive Workforce

Gavin is talking about the power of U.S.-based call center companies like Working Solutions to provide a responsive workforce — one that can shift along with a client’s needs, providing access to a network of local, home-based call center agents that’s always standing by to meet unexpected shifts in need and utilization.

But a responsive workforce doesn’t just mean access to a flexible network of call center workers. It also means providing a solution that’s customized to fit your industry. Experience is key here: It’s important to choose a U.S.-based call center company who, like Working Solutions, can align with your specific industry, including but not limited to:

• Clinical professionals familiar in healthcare-related issues like insurance and Medicare billing
• High-functioning salespeople to serve the many aspects of retail selling
• Hospitality and transportation experts for the travel industry
• Premium customer care options for energy and utilities providers
• Agents familiar in finance, banking, economics, and security for the financial services sector

Nationwide, Working Solutions draws from a network of more than 150,000 registered agents, 20% of whom are bilingual, to serve these and many other industries. We’re proud to include a number of Fortune 500 companies among our list of clients, yet we just as effectively service, mid-sized and non-profit groups.

In short, today’s customer experience is high-paced, highly interactive, and more important to your business plan than ever before. If you operate in the U.S., it’s essential to choose a North America-based call center partner with the experience, network and proven track record of success.