IAR E-News, October 2002 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 10/1/2002
Last Visited: 7/23/2008
Keith Brender, Vice President of Customer Communications, ANC Rental Corp.
"We view Willow's virtual network of independent contractor CSRs - the CyberAgents - as another call center for Alamo," says Keith Brender, vice president of customer communications for Alamo-Rent-A-Car, Inc., a subsidiary of ANC Rental Company, which also owns National Car Rental."In fact, Willow is the only outsourcer that ANC uses."
Unlike traditional contact centers, Willow does not maintain a facility staffed by customer service representatives (CSRs).Rather, its network of highly qualified independent contractors, called CyberAgent CSRs, operate remotely from their home offices and are managed by clients through Willow's proprietary workforce management technology.
Brender oversees all three of ANC's in-house call centers.
...
Usually they grab the extra hours within minutes," explains Brender.
Brender says quality is another key reason for using the Willow network, commenting, "The CyberAgents are exceptionally good.In fact, if they weren't as productive as in-house CSRs, I wouldn't continue to use them."He has found that CyberAgent CSRs follow the corporate training rules exceptionally well; as a result, the remote agents have very high value bookings.
Brender notes that CyberAgent CSR attrition has been very low, particularly when compared with that of in-house agents.Today, there are approximately 200 agents working for Alamo.Today's Alamo agents are the same ones who trained with the company when it first joined Willow.Brender attributes this to Alamo's efforts to maintain a good relationship with its virtual agents, as well as the differences in pay structure.
"Unlike our in-house CSRs, who are paid an hourly wage regardless of whether the phone rings or not, we only pay the Willow CyberAgents for the calls that they take," says Brender."If we don't route the CyberAgents calls, they don't make money, and won't want to take calls for Alamo anymore.We don't want this to happen, so we make sure the CyberAgents are satisfied with their daily call volume."
Brender goes on to say that this pay-for-performance model circumvents a key issue that he faces regularly with his in-house agents - competition with other call centers for in-house agents."Our call center facility is located in an area with other call centers nearby.If a competing center increases its hourly wage to attract more candidates, Alamo will experience increased turnover as agents jump ship," he explains."This doesn't happen with the Willow CyberAgents because they can control their income to a certain extent, based on the hours that they work and the clients that they work for."
Brender summed up his Willow experience, saying, "Willow really works, it's easy, and it gives us a lot of flexibility.In short, it's a no-brainer."
For more information, contact Keith Brender at ANC Rental Corp.
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