However, there had been various concerns about the specific implementation, according to Ms. Kobayashi. She also said that when she proposed the implementation of work from home to the company’s management team, several issues were raised.

“The biggest issue was security. A major concern was whether risk management could be thoroughly implemented, such as whether personal information could be leaked even if agents did not intend to do so,” said Ms. Kobayashi. Other concerns included the fact that agents work out of sight of managers, making it difficult to accurately monitor their operational status as well as concerns about care and follow-up to ensure that they do not feel isolated.

In response to Premier Anti-Aging’s concerns, BELLSYSTEM24 proposed the implementation of Bell@Home, a work-from-home solution with security measures equal to or better than the existing contact center environment. In addition, we proposed a total solution to address their concerns by providing various training programs for starting work-from-home contact centers, managing the presence status of each agent through real-time communication using web tools, and providing follow-up services.

"BELLSYSTEM24 did not respond to our concerns with aggressive sales talk, saying, 'We can do it all,' but always approached each problem with a sincere attitude, saying, 'We'll try to find a way,' so we could trust their proposals,” said Ms. Kobayashi.

That is how Premier Anti-Aging decided to outsource the implementation of the Bell@Home work-from-home contact center service and its overall coordination to BELLSYSTEM24. We started with 10 seats in two contact centers and customer service via email, and then gradually expanded.

The second is the “follow-up of home-based agents.” To ensure that home-based agents do not feel isolated, we have established a system that allows real-time communication at all times. Based on this, we maximized the use of communication tools such as Zoom and Teams for in-depth follow-up. Morning meetings, training sessions, and one-on-one interviews are held via Zoom, while escalations and sharing of tasks and schedules by team are done via Teams.

Since digital communication is somewhat difficult compared with face-to-face communication, training sessions were also held to familiarize agents with digital communication prior to the implementation of work from home.

The third is “management, including attendance management.” We have built a system that can check the presence or absence of home-based agents on the contact center side. In addition, productivity management and quality control are performed, and the PDCA cycle is implemented with management equivalent to that of existing centers.

“In general, it is difficult to visualize the effectiveness of a contact center, but BELLSYSTEM24 always sets KPIs for productivity and quality and quantifies the results. In this way, they keep implementing the PDCA cycle toward high goals. This is a big reason why we trust them as a business partner,” said Ms. Kobayashi.

Before starting these operations, the company “defined human resource requirements” and selected personnel who met the requirements as home-based agents, In addition, compliance training, information protection training, and work rule training were provided in advance to ensure that the system was in place for smooth operation. This is the fourth point that we focused on.

As a result of identifying issues in advance and taking thorough measures to address each of them, Premier Anti-Aging was able to smoothly launch its work-from-home contact centers. Now, one year after its implementation, they achieved various goals.

“First, we are able to ensure business continuity. With the backup system in place for the work-from-home contact centers, we are now able to ensure stable operations even in the event of an emergency. I think that this also translates into sales for the company,” said Ms. Kobayashi. In addition, work-from-home contact centers have the advantage of reducing costs because they can reduce fixed costs, making them less expensive than regular booths.

Ms. Kobayashi continued that one of the major achievements has been the increase in agent engagement. “We have heard from home-based agents that they are ‘able to balance work and household chores,’ are ‘not affected by traffic conditions,’ and are ‘able to work without stress.’ A work environment that allows agents to work longer hours according to their family circumstances will increase their motivation, resulting in improved quality and productivity. I believe that this will in turn lead to profits for the company, creating a positive spiral,” said Ms. Kobayashi.

In fact, home-based agents are more productive than those in existing contact centers. And other agents are striving to meet the requirement for work from home, resulting in a virtuous cycle of increased productivity for the center as a whole.

Premier Anti-Aging’s work-from-home contact center started with only email answering services, but the company says it hopes to expand to telephone answering services in the future. “Since our founding, we have always challenged ourselves to grow. While there are some issues with our work-from-home contact centers that handle phone inquiries, we want to ensure a more stable and comfortable work environment and improve customer satisfaction by taking on challenges, learning, and making improvements,” said Ms. Kobayashi.

Ms. Kobayashi’s goal is to create “not defensive but aggressive contact centers.” “I want to work on marketing and strategy formulation, which can only be done by contact centers that interact with customers on a daily basis. To that end, I hope that BELLSYSTEM24 will continue to make new proposals that make use of input and feedback, and grow together with us.”