HomeArchiveAboutDownloadsProductsContact Us

A Lesson from VIPdesk on Workshifting

By Kate Lister on September 30, 2009 9:41 AM | 9 Comments | No TrackBacks
The call center industry pioneered the all-virtual business model more than a decade ago. As a result, thousands of people now work from home taking pizza orders, sending flowers, booking flights, and answering informercial calls from insomniacs. Now think about that. Here's an industry that relies on fairly low wage workers to:

  • work untethered,
  • provide their own workplace--one that meets the companys' requirement for privacy and quiet,
  • purchase and maintain their own computer and broadband service,
  • and meet the stringent security standards required for handling credit card numbers, social security numbers, medical information, etc.,
VIPdesk, is an all-virtual call center based, well, everywhere. They provide customized solutions for premium brands such as Land Rover, Eddie Bauer, and others. "We refer to our home-based staff as Brand Ambassadors," says Sally Hurley, president of VIPdesk, "because their job is to inspire customer loyalty through great customer service." I asked Sally what led them to the virtual model. She described it as a matter of business survival.

vipdesk-logo.pngVIPdesk started life as a concierge service for MasterCard and other credit card issuers. If you hold a premium MasterCard, chances are you can call their 800 number and reach someone who can help you reserve a flight to Machu Pichu, purchase tickets to see Wicked on Broadway, or send your Mom a bouquet of her favorite orchids. As a platinum customer, you expect great service. That's where, back in 1997, VIPdesk saw its niche. At least that was the plan.

"We started out with a traditional big-building, cubicle-farm approach but quickly--or, actually not so quickly--learned that the kind of people who made great brand ambassadors didn't want to sit in a cubicle eight hours a day earning $10/hour. Initially we thought, well, maybe we're in the wrong place to attract the kind of people we need. Over the next several years we pulled up stakes and moved three times in search of a reliable pool of talent; to no avail. There just had to be a better way. In 2001, we completely abandoned the bricks and mortar approach for a home-based agent model. That decision, it turns out, made all the difference."

Here are just some of the benefits VIPdesk realized when they sent their people home:

  • The average age of their customer service representatives went from mid-twenties to early forties.
  • They attracted more educated people. Over 90% of their reps have college experience and 5% have advanced degrees.
  • Their retention rate went from 100% turnover, to 90% retention.
  • Their employee to manager ratio went from 12 to 1, to 25 to 1.
Now if that doesn't inspire managers to consider telecommuting, here's the clincher,: VIPDesk has never lost a single client to a competitor--something Sally attributes entirely to their virtual business model.

VIPdesk's experience is not unique. Time and again, companies have found that a home-based approach yields more qualified, more engaged, more professional, more available, more productive, and less expensive (by a long damn shot) workforce

If an industry can achieve unprecedented success by sending its lowest paid employees home, why doesn't the rest of the world follow suit?


Bookmark and Share

Share

Categories: Business, Case Study, Featured, Workshifting Tags: business, casestudy, featured, workshifting

No TrackBacks

TrackBack URL: http://www.workshifting.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/83

9 Comments

Author Profile Page ajleon.myopenid.com | September 30, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply

Wow, this is an incredibly progressive turn around for a large business. Thanks for providing the stats, very useful information. Love the post, Kate!

AJ

Poppy Hutton | December 15, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply

Hello, perhaps this post is not on topic but in any case, i've been browsing about your site and it looks really neat. It is obvious that you know your subject matter and you are passionate about it. I'm building a new blog and I am hard put to make it appear good, and offer excellent subject matter. I have discovered a much here and I look forward to more updates and will be back.

Perry Mikez | January 2, 2010 9:50 AM | Reply

To commercialize in terms of high-performance rather than monetary value, and in order to differentiate consequently, you want to follow the ordinary format of the 4 Ps marketing plan. That is, Price, Product, Place and Promotion evidently you know the central attributes of the merchandise, and the cost, but for place you should remember approximately the type of individuals who are willing to give over 4x price of competing production whereas the inferior option may be sold where accent is on cost, your merchandise will be suited to places/distributors where the customers will be willing to pay for quality. Thank you for this article! I've just observed a really good amazing news portal about how to get rich Judge it!

Trent Brozie | January 12, 2010 12:40 PM | Reply

Hi, I found this blog post while was searching for web tickets related information on yahoo and found it very good article, thanks for sharing, keep up to good work.

How To Stop A Divorce | January 13, 2010 11:52 PM | Reply

Hey, great site!. How do I subscribe to your RSS feed to ensure I get notifed when you make new posts? Thanks

Bangalore hotel | January 17, 2010 8:41 AM | Reply

I am serching for a bangalore hotel, and I am a bit confused. There seem to be hotels that target it business, hotels that cater to tourism but not any one that does both. I am gonig on business but I do want to be close to the main tourism attractions.

college degree quotes | January 18, 2010 4:05 PM | Reply

I am a father of a highschool girl. She is very interested in electrical engineering. I am considering sending her to get a college-degree in engineering but I am aftraid it does not suit a girl.

Cassie Mcalevy | January 29, 2010 8:23 PM | Reply

I use GetArticleBot to submit my articles to like 400 places

Benjamin Arreaga | February 1, 2010 10:42 AM | Reply

To market in footings of quality rather than price, and in order to specialise consequently, you require to adopt the criterial format of the 4 Ps marketing plan. That is, Price, Product, Place and Promotion obviously you recognize the crucial properties of the merchandise, and the price, but for place you should remember nearly the type of people who are willing to give over 4x price of competing merchandise whereas the low-priced option may be sold where accent is on cost, your product will be suited to places/distributors where the clients will be willing to pay for quality. Thank you for this article! I've just watched a surely good amazing archive about how to get rich Judge it!

Leave a comment

  • Now
  • Overall
  • Our Faves
  • Workshifting
  • Workshifting Motivation in eBook Form
  • A Conversation with Greg Matthews of Humana
  • How to Present Well Remotely
  • A Word From Somewhere Over the Rockies
  • Building a Community of Givers
  • Developing a Set of Consistent Principles
  • Is Telecommuting Good or Bad for the Environment?
  • Windows 7, Remote Technology and Idiots Like Me
  • The Need to Disconnect
  • Adding to Our Resources Library
  • From the Trenches: Poor Management
  • The Need to Disconnect
  • Is Telecommuting Good or Bad for the Environment?
  • Adding to Our Resources Library
  • Developing a Set of Consistent Principles
  • The Remote Connection - How to Build Trust
  • Subscribe to feed Subscribe to this blog's feed

Get every post in your inbox!

Enter your email address below and recieve each post directly to your inbox.

About workshifting

"If you work from your home, out of coffee shops, hotels, and airports every bit as much as the office, workshifting is for you. Tips, reviews, and opinions on the world of web commuting are what workshifting is all about."

Twitter | @WorkShifting

Flickr Feed | Photostream

Add a "workshifting" tag to your photos in Flickr to see them here

Featured Download


Featured Download

Web Commuting represents a potentially seismic shift in business and behavioral patterns. The "Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative" addresses this and is available to you for FREE. Download Now

Your Account

Creative Commons License
This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Categories

  • Air Travel (6)
  • Announcement (4)
  • Applications (4)
  • Attire (1)
  • Balance (7)
  • Bartering (1)
  • Business (28)
  • Career (9)
  • Case Studies (1)
  • Case Study (1)
  • Cloud-Based Apps (1)
  • Coffee (1)
  • Collaboration (4)
  • Communications (14)
  • Community (5)
  • Commuting (1)
  • Conferences (1)
  • Creativity (2)
  • Crisis (1)
  • Deal Making (1)
  • Disclosure (1)
  • Donations (2)
  • Download (4)
  • Email (1)
  • Employees (13)
  • Employers (9)
  • Environment (1)
  • Family (3)
  • Featured (26)
  • Fitness (4)
  • Focus (9)
  • Fun (8)
  • Generation Y (2)
  • Guidelines (1)
  • HR (3)
  • Healthy (5)
  • Hiring Process (2)
  • Holidays (2)
  • Home Business (4)
  • Home Office (2)
  • Interaction (1)
  • International Travel (4)
  • Interview (1)
  • Lifeshifting (5)
  • Lifestyle Design (15)
  • Longevity (1)
  • Managers (10)
  • Marketing (4)
  • Mobile (1)
  • Motivation (4)
  • Non-Profit (1)
  • Office (18)
  • On The Go (21)
  • Organization (2)
  • Personal (7)
  • Personality Type (1)
  • Poetry (1)
  • Politics (1)
  • Presentations (2)
  • Productivity (27)
  • Professionalism (4)
  • Remote Support (3)
  • Research (5)
  • Resources (8)
  • Routine (2)
  • Sleep (1)
  • Social Media (3)
  • Software (2)
  • Sports (1)
  • Staycation (2)
  • Strategy (3)
  • Stress (2)
  • Technology (15)
  • Time Management (6)
  • Tips (47)
  • Travel (1)
  • Trust (1)
  • Unified Experience
  • Video (18)
  • WiFi (1)
  • Work Environment (19)
  • Workshifting (86)

Monthly Archives

  • February 2010 (3)
  • January 2010 (13)
  • December 2009 (14)
  • November 2009 (16)
  • October 2009 (18)
  • September 2009 (18)
  • August 2009 (18)
  • July 2009 (19)
  • June 2009 (11)
  • May 2009 (11)

Tag Cloud

  • balance
  • business
  • career
  • communications
  • employees
  • employers
  • featured
  • focus
  • lifestyledesign
  • managers
  • office
  • onthego
  • productivity
  • resources
  • technology
  • tips
  • Tips
  • video
  • workenvironment
  • workshifting

Citrix | Online
© Copyright 2010 Citrix Online. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions