Home Agents vs. Dedicated Agents

While deciding to outsource your call center, IT or ITES needs, you might be considering whether to select home-based agents, or dedicated agents. Home agents are people who work from their homes or other private workspace and mostly offer a dedicated service. While dedicated agents work for a vendor to offer various specialized services to you as a client.

There are many factors that must be considered before taking the next step. Factors mentioned below will help you analyze the pros and cons of both, and assist you in making a better and informed decision:

Business Pointers

Home Agents

Dedicated Agents

Business Pointers

Cost

Home Agents

Cheaper than in-house employees

Dedicated Agents

Cheaper than in-house employees and cost almost the same or more than home agents

Business Pointers

Level of dedication

Home Agents

Mostly an individual working alone, so dedication levels may vary

Dedicated Agents

More specialized, dedicated and trained resources who work in a team, under a supervisor

Business Pointers

Quality standards

Home Agents

Promise quality

Dedicated Agents

Maintain set industry quality standards and practices

Business Pointers

Areas of expertise

Home Agents

Mostly in a single skill

Dedicated Agents

Multiple and related areas of expertise

Business Pointers

Security and confidentiality

Home Agents

Sign NDA, but 100% security cannot be maintained due to informal work environment

Dedicated Agents

Security standards and contracts are followed and best practices are in place to ensure data confidentiality

Business Pointers

Work deviations

Home Agents

Yes, as they work from home*

Dedicated Agents

No, as they work at dedicated work bays

Business Pointers

Meeting deadlines

Home Agents

Maintain deadlines, but work deviations may cause delays

Dedicated Agents

Mostly on time

Business Pointers

Cost of maintenance

Home Agents

Almost nil, so no extra costs on clients

Dedicated Agents

New costs might arise which are shared by the clients

Business Pointers

Resources

Home Agents

Freelancers, females/mothers, retired adults

Dedicated Agents

Mostly fulltime job seekers

Business Pointers

Stability and continuity

Home Agents

Lack stability, as they can close down without any notice

Dedicated Agents

More stable and reliable; new agents can come in without delay in case of retrenchment

Business Pointers

Business relation

Home Agents

More personal and friendly

Dedicated Agents

More businesslike, that of a client and service provider

Business Pointers

Responsibility

Home Agents

Depends on the home agent's nature

Dedicated Agents

Highly responsible and accountable

Business Pointers

Service updates and new service offering

Home Agents

Less

Dedicated Agents

More frequent

Business Pointers

Scope of growth

Home Agents

Limited

Dedicated Agents

Can expand rapidly

Business Pointers

Availability

Home Agents

Hard to find credible agents

Dedicated Agents

Easy to find credible vendors who provide trained and ready agents

*In a recent survey on solopreneurs or home agents, 19.6% respondent hinted at time-management being a major source of pain, which includes attention to spouse, managing clients and family, time for yourself etc.
(Source: TheSolopreneurLife)

From the above table, choosing the type of agent clearly boils down to your outsourcing requirements and goals.

Select a Home Agent If:

You are running on a very low budget
You are not worried about a long-term commitment from the agent
You are only looking to outsource a single or specialized task for a short period of time or on an experimental basis
Outsourcing is not one of your primary business strategies
You want to get a task done quickly without much business procedures and processes
You are looking for personalized attention
The task that you wish to outsource is not business critical

Select a Dedicated Agent If:

You have decided that outsourcing is a major business driver with dedicated budgets and clear outsourcing objectives
You are looking for a long-term business association
You are looking for specialized and expert level services on a single or multiple areas of business critical operations
You cannot compromise on reliability, responsibility and quality
You wish to outsource across geographies
You seriously want 100% focus on your core business activity with better management of tasks

Factors like nature of the task, duration of the assignment, short-term or long-term association, budget allocations, ease of handling, etc., will have a clear say in choosing the type of agent suitable for your needs. Base your decision strictly on these factual reasons and have a profitable association.

Want to hire dedicated or home agents for your business? Contact us today.