Video: Building community in Cloud Call Centers

May 26th, 2009

CallFire’s Cloud Telephony platform affords SMBs and nonprofits the ability to accommodate an inbound & outbound, geographically distributed call center. The financial and environmental benefits are undeniable, but what are the affects of homesourcing on agent job satisfaction?

As the digital divide dwindles, human interaction seems to increase exponentially.   This begs the question: How can Cloud Call Center agents leverage social media to become one with their company cause?  Agents love working from home, but is it really possible to build community and synergy without “IRL” interactions?

@Callfireceo went to Santa Monica’s BlobLive event last week, seeking answers to these questions. Thanks to @ErickB and the entire BlobLive team for letting me speak on such short notice!

Cloud Call Centers make going ‘Green’ Profitable and Sustainable

May 11th, 2009


I spent this Sunday afternoon at Eco Fabulous in Newport Coast. My interest in the relationship between tech & sustainability, got me here.  Green conferences like Opportunity Green are pushing businesses to embrace sustainable business practices, while outlining the business benefits of doing so. A homesourcing analysis by IDC forecasts 300,000 ‘homesourced’ workers in the U.S. by 2010. It’s no wonder Cloud Call Center platforms like CallFire are considered serious players in “Green Tech”.

Cloud Call Centers and Hosted IVRs seem to be the #1 way to reduce the overall carbon footprint of your call center or small business workforce.

Reduce emissions by hiring from home

The average US call center agent commutes 24 miles via automobile.
In a 50-week year, this agent will account for 6,000 miles/yr.
The average agent carbon footprint is about 2 tons of C02 each year!

Slash call center startup costs & reduce waste

The average call center requires 130-200 square feet per agent.
Agents require a PC, telephone & high speed internet connection.*
A 100-seat call center can save 168,000 kWh/yr by homsourcing.
*Note: Utilizing idle computing hardware seems to be a green trend.  WatchThe Story of Stuff” with Annie Leonard.

Cloud Call Centers lead to happy agents

Improve employee satisfaction by reducing commuter costs, reducing parking frustration & vehicle wear.
Hire the best agents anywhere in the world, while targeting low-cost geographies.
Increase agent productivity & decrease sick-leave as it did for Holland America Cruise Lines.

Now that Cloud Call Center agents can use their own home office, PC and internet connection, the barriers to develop call centers for the enterprise and SMB markets are reducing quickly.  With $0 hardware and no recurring infrastructure costs, hiring from home is both sustainable & preferable to most US business owners.  

5 ways VoIP can make your sales lines ring

April 13th, 2009

Cloud telephony platforms can help your business generate inbound sales calls.  Here’s a few different ways our customers are making their sales lines ring, using VoIP.

Use Toll Free numbers to reveal ads that drive the most sales calls
Say you have 100 different online advertisements but aren’t sure which impressions eventually turn into phone calls.   Use call tracking to purchase 100 phone numbers for each ad-campaign (each number simply forwards to your sales line).  As the calls come in, you can easily visualize which ads are driving the most sales calls.  These advanced reports can be used to further strengthen your ad-campaign.

Use a hosted predictive dialer to free up salespeople’s time
Automate the way your agents make outbound calls and save hundreds of hours every month.   By using a hosted predictive dialer and your existing telephone system, your agents can fly through 100’s of calls every hour.  Agents can take lives calls immediately, and if they get an answering machine they can click a button to leave a prerecorded message, allowing them to move on to the next LIVE call.

Voice blast your PBX’s missed/abandoned list
Call centers occasionally get overloaded and you may have customers who (for whatever reason) hang up while waiting.   Don’t let these leads go to waste.  Export them to create an automated, press-1 voice broadcast.   Example: “This is an automated callback from ABC Inc. We are sorry nobody was available to take your call.  Please press 1 now, to speak with a sales agent.  He or She will be with you shortly.  Thank you.”   This automation ensures that customers get a follow up & further strengthens your customer service offering.

Add “Click-To-Call” to your website
The idea is simple – add another way for a customer to call you.  By adding a click-to-call option to your website , users can enter a phone number and in moments they can receive a live call from one of your sales agents.  How does it work?  After your lead submits their phone number in the “click to call” form, your sales agent receives a call that says “Press-1 now to speak to connect to a new lead.”   In moments both parties are connected and your sales team does the rest.

Create a unique phone experience using Text-To-Speech
Your client may appreciate an automated phone call that can read them their: account balance, schedules & timings for events, and even driving directions.  Developers can try using VoiceXML to send phone calls that can create a unique experience for users while reducing the volume of trivial phone inquiries your agents must field.

Have you used VoIP in other interesting ways?   Tell us how, using info@callfire.com.  Your story, and links to your business, could end up on the CallFire blog.   ~DR

Video tutorials teach Voice Broadcast and Virtual Call Center

March 10th, 2009

Here are a few videos to make everyone’s lives a little bit easier.  If you’re a new CallFire user, these videos will walk you through the campaign-creation process.  (Non-techies looking for a more detailed walkthrough, please click here for a detailed, 7-minute Voice Broadcast campaign-setup walkthrough.)

Voice Broadcast Video Tutorial

Virtual Call Center Video Tutorial

Homesourcing solutions webinar and tips

February 20th, 2009

What’s all the Homesourcing buzz about?  Isn’t that what CallFire has been doing for years? ;)

Homesourcing is a hot buzzword that is strongly associated with the growing Virtual Call Center market.  In short, homesourcers will hire, or move existing agents, to their homes.  This allows agents to work from the comfort of home while allowing administrators the ability to monitor and control an agent’s call volume.

We hope CallFire had something to do with this growing trend.   And most importantly, CallFire is a green solution for call centers with too many commuters.

CallFire’s Homesourcing features
* Support 1 to 500 agents, with NO hardware or software.
* Set up your Virtual Call Center and begin dialing in minutes!
* Prices start at only 3.5 cents per minute, per line.
* Use your agent’s home internet connection, PC & telephone.!
* Easy to use interfaces make tracking statistics quick and simple.
* Monitor agent productivity and listen to calls remotely.

Free “DIY Homesourcing Webinar” signup: https://www.callfire.com/dialer/usersignup.do
Learn More: http://www.callfire.com/dialer/cm/info/products_and_services.html
To speak with a CallFire representative, please call 877.897.FIRE