[ Virtual Contact Centre ]

Macfarlane Virtual Contact Centre technology enables organisations to operate a number of separate customer contact centres while investing in a single technical infrastructure - which also supports homeworking.

As well as obvious cost savings, the technology creates highly flexible contact handling operations. When a centre gets busy, for example, calls can be overflowed to other centres. In addition, organisations can provide a centralised out-of-hours service enabling them to deliver 24/7 service.

Virtual Contact Centre technology provides the advantages of economies of scale without organisations having to build or lease new and bigger premises.  Management can also be more centralised and there are many advantages when it comes to disaster recovery. If a site within a virtual set-up is unable to take calls, for example, other centres can step in. Virtual contact centres making use of Macfarlane's Voice over IP (VoIP) technology can provide added advantages - making it easier, for example,  to set up home-based advisors without the need to add new telephone lines.

Within the Public Sector, Macfarlane's Virtual Contact Centre technology is used today by a number of local authority partnerships including the Lancashire Partnership, the Somerset Direct Partnership, the Warwickshire On-line Partnership and the Staffordshire Partnership.

The technology also makes it easier for local partnerships to assist with other public enquiries relating to, for example, NHS Trusts, Emergency Services and Housing Associations - ensuring that partnerships can truly represent local government by encompassing all public services under one banner, across an entire county.

[ Home working ]

Home working is growing fast. An estimated 1.4 million UK business people are now working from home at any one time - and around 3 million people work at home at least one day per week (around 10% of the total workforce).

It's not just sales personnel, consultants and IT professionals working at home these days. The phenomenon is now spreading into all private sector business areas - with official figures indicating that the public sector is now rapidly catching-up with the private sector too.

Canterbury City Council, for example, recently announced that 50% of its Customer Service Officers had increased the number of calls they handle by an amazing 15 per cent by working from home; with callers receiving a quicker response, leading to greater customer satisfaction.

Strong HR practices, training and management - along with appropriate business processes - are vital to successful home working. So too is the technology.

CallPlus virtual contact centre technology forms an integral part of the IT infrastructure that connects many home workers to central contact centres. Enabling home workers, such as those at Canterbury City Council, to deal with enquiries as if they were in the office.

"We've been looking closely at best practice in the private sector and could see that home working made sense. It offers flexibility to our staff and also benefits our customers because they receive a swift response. Staff who work from home can apply all their attention to the needs of the customer and everyone gains."

Cllr Rosemary Doyle, Deputy Leader, Canterbury City Council