5 Ways To Make a Better Home Office

COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected all aspects of our lives. We can’t tell what the future holds, but the world will surely be a different place. Among the various changes we’ve incorporated, remote working is definitely here to stay. Therefore, it’s essential to create a better home office experience—for both your employees as well as customers.

At the heart of every business is customer experience. This doesn’t change just because your working location has shifted. This far into the pandemic, you’re expected to have adapted to the new model and create a safe and comfortable working environment with the utmost professionalism. It can be tricky to maintain this balance, but our guide will help you navigate through your remote set-up and improve your staff’s remote offices.   

Ensure your employees have all the equipment they need

Firstly, and most importantly, you must ensure that your teams have all the equipment they need to work comfortably from home. Depending on the nature of your business, they may need a laptop, tablet, or a smartphone—in addition to a stable Internet connection. 

Once that’s taken care of, they can focus on improving the customer experience rather than struggling with substandard equipment. In terms of data protection and privacy, providing your staff with company equipment is a great way to ensure that necessary security protocols are followed at all times. 

Check-in with teams frequently and encourage meetings

Remote working can be lonely and monotonous at times, particularly for employees who live alone. Their mental health can suffer due to heavy workload and the burden of preventing a burnout rests in the manager’s hands. A hosted phone system allows colleagues to connect in a matter of mere seconds, simply by dialling or clicking on their number/extension. 

Instant messaging is also a great platform to utilise. It allows people to share specific details and also simply chat without disturbing their workflow. 

Remote team meetings via conference call further help the teams and leaders feel engaged in the organisation. They can also freely share their ideas and opinions for the firm and be better involved, even from home.

 A simple video call can drastically increase the personalisation level, and therefore, bring people closer together. Whether it’s a team meeting or a check-in from a manager, hosted phone systems make it easy to keep in touch with colleagues during remote working. 

When teams collaborate effectively to solve problems and share information, customer experience is bound to benefit too. Well-informed staff can give great customer service even when remote working. Since the online portal stores all customer data as well as product information the agent might need to solve queries, customer experience doesn’t need to suffer at all! 

Greater access to relevant information 

Working remotely can be a real struggle for employees as they may find it difficult to access information which would freely be available in the office. To ensure that all workers can access the same information in real-time, Acefone’s online portal is the ideal solution.

The online portal is capable of storing all the information you need, including customer phone numbers, purchase information, and more. Each employee can access the portal from their compatible device and can see detailed notes on customer accounts. It also connects seamlessly with most CRM systems, so data is shared freely back and forth. 

So a simple log-in into a secure portal (with two-factor authentication) gives agents everything they’ll need on a single screen.  

With access to this information and the ability to collaborate and leave notes for other employees, say about customers preferences, your remote workers are at no disadvantage from not being in the office. They can provide excellent customer service from the safety of their own homes. Customers are much more sensitive to the struggles businesses are facing through the pandemic, and will appreciate your investment and dedication to providing consistently strong solutions even more. 

Encourage self-care 

Happy, healthy staff are more likely to provide a great customer experience. It’s in the interests of both employer and employee to ensure that teams take regular breaks, spend time away from their home offices, and have the correct set-up.

So how should an ideal home office look? There needs to be a suitable desk and chair to avoid back pain, and good lighting to prevent straining the eyes. You need to support your teams to ensure they’re getting such basic amenities, in addition to their cloud-compatible devices and Internet connectivity. Their comfort is essential to enable their productivity. 

Encouraging staff to take regular breaks is also a great way to keep them motivated, and safeguard their energy for delivering exceptional customer service. Having these simple considerations in place will optimise your teams’ productivity as well as enhance consumer experience—as agents will likely go the extra mile when they’re comfortable and motivated. 

Create a better home office experience with a hosted phone system

Hosted phone systems provide a flexible solution for remote working. It allows agents to have access to everything they need, and they can work from the device of their choice, as long as they can connect to the Internet. Acefone’s cloud phone solutions are secure and robust; they can support your remote workers, regardless of where they’re based.

Once your staff has all the tools they need, they can focus on delivering excellent customer experiences to each and every person who calls.

To find out more about remote working and creating a great home office experience, call our team today on 1888-859-0450.

Acefone Editor

Acefone provides a broad range of cloud communication services to businesses of all sizes, which includes Hosted Phone Systems, Free Phone Numbers, and Cloud Contact Center Solutions. Being the UK’s leading provider of VoIP service provider, we always strive to provide excellent customer service and high-quality custom solutions to our customers.