Call it whatever you like: the gig economy, contingent economy, or a shared economy; with the emergence of this shift, the regular 9-5 has ceased to become the end-all-be-all. Companies are finding new ways to work remotely, and employees discover innovative ways to earn money and develop new skills.
Source: chiefexcecutive.net
Gig Economy: Why it’s here to stay
People have begun to look at it as the much-needed antidote to the tedious and repetitive 9-5 conventional work schedule. The increasingly growing gig economy is not just a response to the changing economic conditions but is also the preferred choice of workstyle as it gives employees the opportunity and the freedom to work the way they want to. For instance, this shift has massively impacted the customer support marketplace with companies on the lookout to hire customer support talent for their customer support job openings in customer service or customer support and telemarketing. Here are a few reasons why companies choose contingent workers and why workers choose to work on a contingent basis.
Benefits for workers:
Source: DealsInsight
- More freedom and independence while choosing where and when to work.
- Finding endless opportunities that fit their lifestyle, skill sets, and time.
- Removes the stress out of job searching with gig-style employment opportunities on the rise.
Benefits for companies:
Source: Roland Berger
- Ability to hire experts for services not necessarily required regularly.
- Reduced space costs.
- Agility in scaling their workforce either up or down to meet business needs and demands.
Challenges faced by companies supporting the gig economy in the field of ‘support services’ and their solutions
The changing nature of work and the gig economy poses new challenges for companies and corporations working in the gig economy, especially enterprises involved in customer experience and telecommunications. These processes require a solid foundation for a work-from-home model; that addresses technological needs and environment specifics like security and reliability.
Challenge #1:
To begin with, the time taken to hire qualified employees is a lot. The interviews, the tests, and the evaluation process take a toll on the quality of your hires that is limited by location and the awareness of the job availability. To hire customer support talent or to hire a customer support team becomes harder and twice as difficult when trying to get it done, in-house.
Solution: Faster Hiring
With VOIZ, shorten the time needed to fill your available customer support job positions and increase your chances of meeting qualified candidates. Our vast talent pool enables you to access agents from various geographical areas with the skillsets you’re looking for. VOIZ enables you to meet, assess and interview candidates who are already experienced in the field of employment you’re looking to hire or are easy to train with time at their disposal to become better agents i.e. telesales agents.
VOIZ is a self-serve and easy-to-use marketplace with steps like application screening, document authentication, background verification, training etc that have been made easier so that the company just needs to focus on selecting and hiring from our qualified agent roster. All that the company or business is required to do is post the project along with the set expectation in the fields of salaries, payouts, skill level, language requirements, KPIs etc.
Challenge #
The volume of inbound interactions and communications can spike dramatically for many companies based on seasonal business, response to advertisements, marketing campaigns, etc. Navigating through this can be challenging and chaotic, to say the least.
Solution: Scaling quickly to meet call volume demands and business demand
Ideally, VOIZ aims to simplify the process for businesses by adding or removing seats seamlessly in response to the call and work volume; while also allowing agents the freedom to work remotely. VOIZ thereby enables you to scale according to your business needs and on a pay-as-you-go model.
Challenge #
Not having that ‘one solution’ for your small business contact centre and customer service needs is a challenge most SMEs face. The disintegrated setup of the system adds to the complexity of the process, which otherwise can be conducted seamlessly.
Solution: Easy Integratio
VOIZ is your one-stop solution that integrates your CRM applications with your call centre software. With VOIZ, customized CRM integration makes the whole process that much easier. Consolidating your customer detailing and contact centre controls into a single interface leads to efficient agents by default, therefore resulting in improved customer experiences.
Challenge #4
Finances are the backbone of any company which is also why businesses face cost-related worries daily. Traditional contact centre setup involves a lot of lost time involved in sourcing the right candidates. And that’s just the beginning of it. Poorly handled hiring and recruitment not only elongates the time-to-hire but also enhances the risk of losing good candidates to competition. This can further result in financial and time wastage along with a display of unoccupied job roles. The cost-per-hire tends to rise during in-house customer support job recruitment but it also comes along with the risk of losing fast-moving, high-quality agents and candidates.
Solution: Cost-effectivenes
Many companies see their hiring cost spiralling due to job boards, head-hunters, and increased turnover adding to existing costs. VOIZ happens to provide an integrated recruitment and hiring solution that is estimated on the basis of quick turnaround, reduction in cost, and quality of hire.
To conclude, the gig economy has certainly resulted in a transformation in the current work culture. The future holds limitless possibilities for the gig working culture as more and more organizations and employees are inclining towards independent working dynamics. With VOIZ, the biggest advantage of gig work lies in its integration with technology to create a robust digitized ecosystem that connects the agent to the customer with an increase in engagement and boosts sales, customer service experience, and customer satisfaction.