How to recover from call center outsourcing disasters

Business problems are inevitable and, in fact, a part of running a company. Like every industry, the call center outsourcing field has its fair share of technical mishaps and natural disasters. It pays to know what hurdles your call center might face so that you can prepare for them and eventually recover from the losses they might cause.

In a call center, customers are included in the losses made by technical disasters and unexpected events. In case of power outages or network disruptions, callers might have a hard time contacting the customer care hotlines or fail to reach a support representatives.

If the call center’s call management software acts up or if essential customer information is lost, representatives might not be able to process requests or solve issues. And if staff is running low, there might not be enough people ready to answer calls.

Given these unfortunate circumstances, it’s crucial for call center outsourcing companies to have a disaster recovery plan and mitigate any possible damages.

Include the following in your disaster preparedness and recovery checklist:

• Conduct regular maintenance checks of equipment and facilities
• Have an energy backup system
• Have phone units, computer peripherals, and other necessary electronics
• Regularly update and back up system software, database, and other system elements
• Ensure that the contact list of representatives, emergency personnel, and service providers is updated
• Know how to reconfigure systems and internal processes to support telecommuting workers
• Educate teams on how to anticipate potential problems and who to notify in case they come about

After a mishap, these are the ideal steps to take in order to aid the recovery of your call center outsourcing operations:

• Assess the gravity of the damage to know what recovery methods to use and how long they would have to be implemented until repairs have been completed and all functionalities have been restored. Here, you’ll need to find out how many people or which locations and tasks were affected. Is the backup equipment enough for the affected staff? If only one team is impeded, see if other teams can temporarily take the pending calls.

• Identify equipment, systems, and components that need restoration or replacement if needed. Test if all phones, headsets, and computers are working properly. Check if any software needs to be reinstalled.

• Anticipate future obstacles. Document possible causes and other critical details of the recent problem to know the possibility and frequency of it happening again. This will help you determine if there are items you need to add to your repair and maintenance checklists and which methods would work best next time.

Although having a recovery plan is advisable, anticipating and preventing probable disasters still gives a greater guarantee of keeping your call center running, so always check the condition of your whole office and staff.