The outbreak of Coronavirus has caused global uncertainty, businesses are working out how to plan for the coming weeks, so we’ve put together 5 ways you can prepare your contact centre to deal with COVID-19.
5 ways to prepare your contact centre for Coronavirus
1. Business Continuity Plan
If you have a written business continuity plan (and you should) then review it with your team. Is it still fit for purpose? Are there any additional factors to consider?
2. Is Home Working Possible?
If you’re utilising a cloud based telephony solution, remote working should be possible. Your agents will need a laptop and headset to get up and running, and access to your business admin systems. Don’t expect agents to be as productive when working from home and if schools close, agents could have children at home… which leads us neatly on to…
3. Adjust Working Patterns
Consider splitting your contact centre agents into smaller teams, with different shift patterns; this way if an agent becomes ill you can hopefully contain the spread. Don’t leave treats and food out at the end of workstations and ensure meeting and training rooms, keyboards and phones are cleaned after every use.
4. Keep your team updated
Your agents will have lots of “what happens if…” questions. So let them know what to do if they get ill - don’t come into work, and what sick pay they are entitled to (this is likely to be a priority for most staff).
Share your business continuity plan with staff so they can plan ahead for working from home or new shift patterns.
5. Keep Callers Updated & Encourage Channel Shift
The quickest and easiest way to keep callers up to date is by utilising professionally recorded IVR Messages. You can use messages to encourage callers to self serve online or if their enquiry isn’t urgent call back at a later date. If you use Livechat or email support, now’s the time to start promoting these other channels, and for most agents this would be easier to do at home than taking calls (see point 2).
Do you have the correct IVR Emergency Messages to load on to your IVR Platform?
Coronavirus Contact Centre IVR Messages
High Call Volumes - Channel Shift
Welcome to [COMPANY NAME]. We’re receiving more calls than usual due to Coronavirus, which means wait times are higher than we’d like. Answers to most questions can be found on our website [YOUR WEB ADDRESS]. Please stay on the line and we’ll be with you as soon as possible.
High Call Volumes - Urgent Calls Only
Welcome to [COMPANY NAME]. We’re receiving more calls than usual and due to the Coronavirus precautions we have less team members available to take calls, which means wait times are higher than we’d like. Answers to most questions can be found on our website [YOUR WEB ADDRESS]. If your call isn’t urgent, please check the website and call back when normal service resumes.
Closed - Pandemic Message
Welcome to [COMPANY NAME]. Our phone lines are currently closed due to the Coronavirus restrictions imposed by the government. However our customer service team are available to help with all enquiries via Live Chat at [YOUR WEBSITE] dot co dot uk. We will post regular service updates to our website. Thanks for calling [YOUR COMPANY NAME]… Goodbye.
Order Your Messages Here
Plan ahead and get your BCP messages recorded by us.
Package includes 3 messages:
1x High Call Volumes - Channel Shift
1x High Call Volumes - Urgent Calls Only
1x Closed Due to Pandemic
Custom IVR Voice Message Recording Service
IVR Recordings specialises in professional voice message recordings for contact centres.
To discuss your contact centre IVR voice requirements or CX project give us a call on 0800 052 7720.
Check out Steve’s latest article on LinkedIn - Managing Customer Expectations With Phone Messages Whist Remote Working