Scaling your virtual workforce during a crisis.
From helpdesk to application to customer service support, Apex’s Support Service Centers (SSCs) are designed to balance customer satisfaction, efficiency, and quality of work. These SSCs can be managed either at a client’s physical site or arranged at an off-site location. In the event that our clients require an off-site support center, Apex works with our clients to determine their requirements for hardware, software, office space layout, desk sizes, etc. and then builds a facility to meet these needs. Our SSCs are particularly well suited to meet disaster response plans and as client’s needs evolve, Apex is able to quickly scale these facilities (up or down) to match business demands.
Scaling in a Disaster
When disaster strikes, a SSC is often where most essential resources are located. These could be your customer support agents for your phone, internet, financial, or utility concerns. As well as the engineers that support network or data breaches and work in a 24/7 environment to patch issues. In a time of disaster, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, there are several industries that see a surge of SSC hiring including Energy, Financial Services, Logistics, and e-Commerce. Apex works with our clients in these industries to scale their support centers up to help with the increase of calls and issues flowing into these centers.
Moving an SSC to Virtual Work during a Disaster
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to see companies implementing work from home policies for the bulk of their SSC resources. There are several considerations to be made when implementing this type of plan, such as:
Hardware
Ensuring all of your resources have equipment to work on from home, creating a “virtual support center” including, but not limited to:
- Laptops, monitors, headsets, TV's (for gaming development and network monitoring purposes)
- Security badges for secure hardware access
- Access to high speed internet for troubleshooting
- Training and virtual team conferencing
Security
- Giving your resources access to secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnels
- Ensuring your network is secure and not at risk to be hacked
- Adding stipulations around where a company’s network can be accessed (i.e., only at home vs. in a public space, like a coffee shop)
We see several factors go into determining how and where a SSC will be created or moved. When facing a crisis, Apex has the expertise to recruit and hire fit- for- purpose teams that can be scaled up as quickly as needed. Our project teams take our clients’ physical, security, and operational needs into consideration and deliver quality facilities that provide our managed workforce a space to fulfill technical requirements.
