Early last year, the world was confronted by a crisis due to a pandemic known as COVID-19, which resulted in many drastic changes in the way people live. The current way of living is now referred to by many as “The New Normal.”

COVID-19 is a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. ‘CO’ stands for corona, ‘VI’ for virus and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as ‘2019 novel coronavirus ’. It is a disease that causes respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal.

The said virus has caused and is still causing immense damage to how society functions in almost every aspect up to this day. People are anxious, uncertain or, for lack of a better word, distraught. Businesses are forced to close down either due to the new government restrictions or simply because there are not many customers or clients to cater to anymore.

A Shift In Customer Service

Companies have had to come up with new ideas to develop different strategies in order to keep their business going and at the same time, be able to cater to their customer’s needs in a practical and safe manner. Customers, on the other hand, have had to rely on the internet to be able to have access to their daily essentials such as food, medical needs, banking transactions etc., without having to leave their homes due to new restrictions that were put in place.

Despite these changes and challenges, a lot of government agencies and essential businesses, including the call centre industry, still perform their job during the pandemic. Call centres play a vital role in helping their client’s customers and at the same time, supporting the organizations they represent during these trying times.

How Does a Call Centre Help Businesses During COVID-19

Since people are encouraged to limit going out of their homes unless necessary in order to ensure stronger public health measures, having access to their daily needs has been a great challenge. This is where the role of call centres come in. Whether people need their groceries delivered to their homes or need to process banking transactions, there will always be call centres that are open 24/7 to assist their client’s customers.

While there are many self-help options that are available online, a lot of customers prefer to talk to a live person to provide them with real-time solutions in a more personal way. Some people are also anxious to provide personal information online that they would rather call customer service to ease their minds of being victims of possible online fraud.

Bridge The Gap Between The Customer and Your Business

Call centres also play a vital role in helping companies run their business as smoothly as possible amidst the pandemic. Since a lot of offices were forced to close either temporarily or permanently in the effort to help flatten the curve, many employees were forced to work from home. Call centre companies like an answering service help deliver messages via different channels like email, paging system, text or even live calls to help bridge the gaps between companies and their clients.

Call centres that answer for medical and health institutions, offices or organizations play an even more critical role in this situation. As the COVID cases increase, hospitals became more busy than normal, and the transfer of medical information from one institution to another became more demanding. These hospitals and health organizations can only do so much in keeping up with these demands. Some call centres help in answering call overflows in either hospitals or medical offices. 

Some call centres had to keep up with the sudden spike in call volumes resulting in a higher number of irate callers as these callers may have been on hold for longer than usual. Call centres have already equipped their agents with the skills through training in handling these kinds of situations. 

Working From Home

In some cases, agents were also given the option to work from home due to lockdown regulations. Other call centres, however, still continue office operations making sure that the safety of their employees is their top priority by following strict guidelines in proper social distancing at work and proper office sanitation.

Whoever these call centres answer for, they operate tirelessly around the clock to help businesses and their clients, as well as other organizations, bridge the gaps. The list can go on, but these are just some of the scenarios that prove the essence of the call centre Industry in helping the community get through this tough time. As the old saying goes, “This too shall pass.”

This sends a powerful message to the world that the vital role call centres play during the time of the pandemic is undeniable.

Reference: Wikipedia (for the definition of Covid 19)