The concept of telecommuting is not new and has been around in different forms for decades in various industries. It is well suited for non-real time jobs where there is a significant time gap between the time the work requirement is generated and the time when the work has to be completed. In other words, production and consumption of the service do not occur simultaneously. Therefore, the work could be done in any location as long as the end product was delivered as per the client's requirements.

However, most call centers and bpo units perform real time jobs where work needs to be completed as soon as it arrives (e.g. a call needs to be answered immediately). In such a scenario, it is essential that call center employees work within the call center, which is equipped with the wherewithal to process such work. Therefore, the actual work and the workplace are intricately linked.

Benefits to Companies

Call centers and bpo units are taking advantage of these technological and cultural changes to effectively improve their operational efficiency and, hence, their profitability. Some of the benefits that they can avail of are:

• Reduced Shrinkage: Shrinkage is the bane of workforce managers, especially when it occurs in an unplanned manner. Agents working from home help reduce shrinkage through lower loss of time in distractions, better adherence to breaks and reduced amount of "unexplained" category time (which accounts for 5% to 7% of shrinkage), lower time lost in meetings etc.

• Lower Absenteeism: Remote agents tend to have lower absenteeism rates because they are at home in the first place. Agents can attend to work even in case of minor illnesses or when they are recovering from a major illness. Managers need not worry about contagious infections spreading.

•  Transportation: Call centers will incur lower transportation costs ferry agents to work and home. Also, by eliminating about 1 to 3 hours each way of daily travel time, agents get more personal time resulting in lower amounts of stress.

• Availability for Overtime:  As remote agents have a larger amount of time for themselves, they are more likely to put in overtime if required. Also, they can be brought in for putting in overtime at short notice.

• Disaster Recovery: Bandhs or strikes pose a threat to call centers, as agents may not be able to travel to work. During such times, remote agents can be relied upon to provide the necessary service.

• Real estate costs: Remote agents effectively transfer real estate costs from the call center to themselves. Call centers can use this saving to rent lesser space or increase the volume of business in the existing space. Real estate investments are written down over long periods of time (e.g. 20 years). However, business cycles last 3 to 5 years. Therefore, call centers can hedge their investment in real estate by establishing telecommuting programs.

• Other infrastructure cost: With each agent who works remotely, call centers save on other infrastructural costs including ongoing building maintenance costs, meeting rooms, cafeteria, water, power, furniture etc.

• Recruitment: Telecommuting enables call centers to tap segments of the market that might otherwise not be available to them. For instance they can look at recruiting "stay-at-home" mothers, physically challenged people, college students, workforce from other industries who see their quality of life being enhanced etc. Call centers can even find agents willing to work for lower salaries if they are given the option of telecommuting. Finally, telecommuting enables call centers to increase the their geographical reach and recruit employees in faraway areas including satellite towns.

• Quality of Workforce: Studies in the United States show that 42% of remote agents have a college degree or higher as compared to only 17% in conventional agents. A similar trend may be possible in India where Remote Agents may have a larger proportion of high quality of agents. (Jupiter Media Metrix Report, Jan 2002)

• Retention: Telecommuting enables call centers to retain tenured employees who might otherwise leave due to other reasons e.g. marriage, birth of a child etc. It also helps cement the bond with existing employees who don't plan to leave at the present time by giving them an opportunity to improve their quality of life.

• Higher Productivity: Remote agents tend to face lesser distractions. Also, they are free of other responsibilities e.g. buddying a new employee, documentation, attending to customer visits etc. This can result in higher productivity. The Jupiter study found that remote agents had a 12% increase in productivity. Another study of 1500 AT&T telecommuters showed that employee productivity increased by 10% between 2001 and 2002 with employees gaining a full hour in a day.

• Flexibility in work hours: Remote agents can enjoy a certain amount of flexibility in work hours (though it depends upon workforce scheduling). Back office workers will enjoy more flexibility than those working in voice based processes.

What are the technologies required for this to work?

At a basic level, most remote agent programs will need the agent to have at least a computer, a telephone and an Internet connection. An uninterrupted power supply (UPS) will also be required. Depending upon the type of work, the computer could be equipped with a VPN and other security infrastructure. Voice based processes will require additional setup, including higher bandwidth Internet connection (possibly dedicated) in order to get IP telephony into the agents' home.

The company will also need to provide special software (e.g. CRM clients) required by the agent to do the job. Standard communication software like email and instant messengers will be required.

Agents will also need access to documentation, procedures etc. Therefore, all of these will need to be hosted on a secure server (in many such instances, this information is available only in hard copy).

Remote agents will need constant training on new processes or changes to existing processes, procedures or products. This can be done by gathering all of them in one central location for a training program. However, many such programs can also be implemented through e-learning mechanisms.

Remote agents will need to see their quality scores and their performance. Such data will need to be hosted and be made available to the agent.

Supervisors, who will most likely be located at the central call center, will need to view the performance of agents in real time and on a historical basis. They will also need to have access to digital recording capabilities for quality monitoring.

What is the strategic implication of this system?

BPO companies, including call centers are looking at remote agents as a strategic imperative. The ability to control attrition, especially among the tenured agents, the benefit of increased productivity and the reduction in infrastructure cost per agent is hard to resist. Internationally, the trend is visible with the ITAC (International Telework Association and Council) predicting about 30 million workers who will telecommute by the end of 2004. Another survey by the ITAC showed that 25% of employees would change companies if the new company offered telecommuting alternatives, with even accepting lower salaries for no travel. It is not difficult to envision a scenario where employees in Indian cities who travel between 1 and 3 hours each way to work in various industries opt to work with BPO companies offering telecommuting facilities. There are companies in Mumbai and Bangalore that are already experimenting with the concept of remote agents in some non-voice based processes. For example, Datamatics Technologies in Mumbai is already employing people to do data entry work out of their homes (Economic Times Intelligence Group). Healthscribe in Bangalore has employed over 100 people to work out of their homes (Times of India Aug 26th, 2004).

What types of agents are required for this to work?

Not every employee can become a remote agent. Their profile includes the ability to work independently without supervision, being self-motivated, ability to interact with the team remotely, basic understanding of IT systems, ability to meet goal commitments with a "come-what-may" attitude etc. Another important factor to consider is the ability to work alone.

Remote agents may miss the advantages of a synergistic work environment or simply the ability to interact with others at an intellectual level. Therefore, companies implementing the program for the first time need to be careful about whom they give the choice to work remotely. Another factor to consider is with respect to the residence of the remote agent. Does he/she live in a noisy environment that may affect work (e.g. it may affect voice based processes)? Does he or she have a separate work area isolated from distractions?

Can this work in India?

 Many types of BPO jobs, including voice-based processes can be done remotely. This has already been demonstrated adequately in the US. The key requirement is the dissociation of work with workplace. However, in the Indian context, a few important factors need to be considered:

1. Maturity of Processes: Processes within BPO companies (broadly including those related to operations and people) are still maturing in India. Many Indian companies are still grappling with the understanding and implementation of basic systems, checks and balances within their own central work places. Metric orientation is still evolving. Issues like career paths, promotions, salary raises, incentives will need to be worked out. Performance measurement and improvement systems need to be instituted. A separate set of SLA's may need to be evolved for remote agents.

2. Maturity of Employees: Remote agents need to have a level of discipline and competency that may not be necessarily available today. The US currently has "professional call center agents" who have an experience of 5 to 20 years. They are easily able to transition their work from a call center to their homes. They have the requisite maturity to work unsupervised. The workforce in India is fairly young and requires constant supervision. (The flip side, however, is that remote agent programs might be able to attract more experienced workers who can work from home).

3. Management Maturity: The average age of team leaders or supervisors in call centers is between 23 and 26 years. Most of them are bright agents who have been promoted to the team leader position. They are transitioning from being solo players to being managers for the first time. The lack of process maturity in companies reflects in the fact that most team leaders grow into their positions without the requisite training to prepare them for their jobs. If companies need to implement remote agent programs, they will need to ensure that their supervisors are far more prepared than they currently are. A similar situation exists at the next level of management too.

4. Technology: Availability of reliable broadband and telecommunication infrastructure at the remote agent's residence is an important factor. It is not known who will bear the setup and running cost at the present time (the company or the employee) and this will be a determining factor in the success of a remote agent program. Voice based processes may require more expensive setups than non-voice based processes. Again, the type of work will also determine technology (e.g. real-time work versus batch-processing work).

5. Type of work: The type of work is also a determining factor. Companies in India are already implementing remote agent programs for basic level work such as data entry and word processing. Remote agents only require a computer, a UPS, a telephone and an Internet connection. The job does not require the agent to have an always-on connection to a central server. The nature of work is such that a ready pool of experienced talent is already available. Similarly, companies can analyze other types of work that may be conducive to a remote agent program.

6. Technology help desk: Companies will need to have a mobile tech help desk to assist agents with technical problems. They may even need to train agents to do some amount of basic trouble shooting themselves.

7. Miscellaneous expenditure: Companies need spend on other miscellaneous items to sustain remote agents. Some such expenditure may involve courier services, mobile phones, concierge services etc.

With so many benefits stacked in favour of the Remote Agent system, companies cannot afford to at least explore this option in the medium to long term in India (e.g. in the lower end non-voice based processes). An exploratory study will provide insights to companies about the time and scope of launching a remote agent program.