In Technology Helps Cut Churn By Bruce McCracken (CRM Buyer, 07/22/04), Elio Evangelista, senior analyst for research and consulting firm Cutting Edge Information, offers hard figures on the use of telework in call centers.

recruitment and retention:

'Companies spend up to $15,000 to add a new call center agent to their staff, with an average retention of six months and a 40 percent annual churn. In comparison, a virtual-contact center using telecommuting customer service agents can provide high quality personnel with an annual turnover rate at or below 10 percent.'

For employees:

'The savings alone in the expenses of commuting to work translates to a "$4,000 annual pay increase," not to mention the time saved in travel, he said.'

On real estate savings:

'Costs inherent in a brick and mortar call center are greatly alleviated when agents telecommute, with savings reportedly translating up to 30 percent.' Adding that 'the flexibility for businesses that have seasonal fluctuations magnifies the financial benefits. "If you have to expand the call center, expanding the building is not your best option," he said.'

5:32:43 PM    
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The article Net access via satellite a tough sell By Peter J. Howe, (Boston Globe, July 19, 2004) reports that DirecWay, a sister company of DirecTV satellite-television operation is planning a big marketing push for an enhanced version of its enhanced broadband satellite capability. This is despite the following facts:

• It costs more:
  
  'DirecWay charges $99 a month, triple the price of Verizon Communications Inc.'s DSL service and more than double what Comcast Corp. charges for cable modem service when combined with cable TV.'...'DirecWay also charges $600 or more for the satellite dish and installation'
  
• It's slower:
  
  'At 1 megabit per second for Internet downloads and 128 kilobits per second for users sending e-mails and files to the Net, DirecWay is also considerably slower than DSL and cable.'
  
• Most folks have other (better!) options:
  
  'More than 80 percent of US residents can get DSL, cable broadband, or both'

So why bother? According to Robert Whiteley, an associate analyst with Forrester Research,

"As long as you can get a view of the southern sky, you can get satellite service. It's sort of like the lowest common denominator. It's not the best technology, but it's the one most guaranteed to work for the largest number of people."

5:19:06 PM    
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Still catching up on recent telework articles related to the federal government; here are a few more:

Congress fights telework malaise By Toni Kistner (Network World, 07/19/04)

This article interviews Congressman Davis. It appears he has embraced the recommendations of several witnesses at the recent congressional hearings on telework. (see related blogs: part I, part II, part III) He's quoted as saying, "Rather than have agencies say who's eligible to telework, let's have them come up with who is ineligible and explain why. That changes the whole dynamic. "

When Kistner queries Davis with "I'd argue most employees could take a paperwork day every week or two." Davis agrees. I agree as well, but that's not thinking big enough, as the Telework Consortium continues to say. With currently available tools and technologies, it's no longer about "paperwork". Just about any part of work can now be done across distances, and that leads to the ability to telework much more than just a day every week or two. Want proof? Read about our ongoing pilot with Loudoun Magazine. They produced their Summer 2004 issue, a highly collaborative and time sensitive effort, as a distributed team.See the preliminary pilot findings report (in PDF) for more details.

5:03:29 PM    
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