The COVID-19 pandemic changed how we work. Work is no longer confined to a specific location; it can be done anywhere. Industries around the world adopted this new truth, and call centers were no exception. The pandemic disrupted traditional call center operations, pushing organizations to quickly transition their workforce to remote environments. This sudden shift created numerous challenges, such as providing employees seamless access to systems and maintaining security in a modern remote working environment. Even though people have moved on from the pandemic, the need for job flexibility and agility is still critical as Gartner predicts almost 50% of employees will continue to work remotely post COVID-19.
This is where VMware Horizon can help.
Horizon offers a comprehensive solution for call centers, enabling call center agents to overcome the obstacles posed by remote work. By leveraging VDI technology, Horizon empowers call center agents to access their virtual desktops and applications securely from anywhere, using any device.
Here are three important ways call center agents and IT admins can leverage Horizon for remote and hybrid work.
1. Greater flexibility
VMware Horizon allows call centers to provide virtual desktops and applications to their agents, enabling them to work from anywhere with an internet connection. Agents can access their virtual desktops and applications from a variety of devices, including thin clients. They can even use their own personal devices. These setups provide flexibility and remote work opportunities. In addition, organizations can save on costs, because they do not have to ship out expensive devices to their employees.
Horizon also offers flexibility regarding where call center desktop and application workloads live by providing the options to deploy in public clouds, hybrid clouds, or on premises. The available public clouds include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Without this flexibility, call center agents would need to work in the same location as the organization’s data centers, and IT admins would be limited to deploying based on the size and location of their data centers.
Agero provides an excellent customer example for the use case of deploying Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. Agero is a company that provides connected vehicle services and roadside assistance solutions. They are pivotal in ensuring the safety and protection of 300,000 drivers and businesses globally. Agero’s IT admins benefited from the flexibility and efficiency offered by Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
“By moving to VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure and giving a very consistent experience to our agents, we’ve freed up our engineers. It doesn’t take as much time and effort to manage the Azure Virtual Desktop devices, so the engineers can take on new roles and responsibilities, improving other critical solutions and support experiences.”
— Billy Macdonald, Agero, Senior Director of DevOps
Leveraging Azure Virtual Desktop coupled with the management and user experience capabilities of Horizon Cloud, Agero maintains service quality and minimizes costs by scaling its operations up and down related to seasonal demand spikes.
2. Simplified IT management
Managing a call center’s IT infrastructure can be complex and resource intensive — and could become more so. Gartner is already predicting that the number of remote call center agents will outnumber on-site agents by 2024. With this knowledge, it will be even more important for service leaders to equip their IT admins for success as call centers scale. VMware Horizon simplifies IT management by centralizing the deployment, provisioning, and maintenance of virtual desktops and applications. IT admins can easily manage and update the virtual desktops and applications from a single control plane, streamlining operations, and reducing administrative overhead compared to managing physical devices. Horizon also offers features like instant clone technology and automated provisioning, which enable IT teams to quickly deploy and scale virtual desktops, improve efficiency, and reduce downtime.
This leads to more streamlined Day 1 and Day 2 operations by providing an efficient way to sustain the operational state and to ensure a successful business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Clal Insurance is a company that recently modernized its IT infrastructure by implementing VMware disaster recovery and digital workspace solutions. As one of Israel’s largest insurance companies, Clal Insurance provides a wide range of insurance products and services to individuals and businesses. In 2019, Clal upgraded its IT infrastructure, which helped prepare them for the unanticipated COVID-19 crisis by providing employees virtual desktops and applications that mirrored their office PCs visually and functionally.
“At the time, the COVID-19 crisis had yet to start, but we were already prepared without even realizing it. When the government ordered businesses and offices to close down in March, management asked me what it would take to get our employees to work from home. I answered with complete confidence that there was actually nothing we had to do. We were already ready for this scenario.”
— Haim Inger, Clal Insurance, Chief Technology Officer
3. Enhanced security
Call centers deal with sensitive customer information, which makes security a top priority. VMware Horizon enhances security by centralizing and securing data within a server. By leveraging VDI, DaaS, and app virtualization, call centers can keep sensitive data off endpoint devices. This eliminates the need to protect data in two locations and, ultimately, reduces the risk of employees falling victim to data theft from lost or stolen devices.
In addition, VMware Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) is a component of Horizon that can help with maintaining security through personalization and dynamic policy configuration. DEM is a software solution for configuring and deploying end-user desktop settings. DEM allows IT admins to define and enforce policies based on user roles or groups. These policies can include security-related settings, such as restricting and allowing access to specific applications or enforcing security configurations based on the end user’s location. By centrally managing and enforcing these policies, DEM can help enhance security in VDI environments.
Read our Tech Zone article to learn more about Horizon and the solutions it can provide you. For any further questions, or to get started in revolutionizing your call center operations, please contact your sales or partner representative.
