Business Opportunities Weblog

October 2, 2007 by Angela Shupe | 0 Comments

KansasCity.com:

Late at night and on weekends, the lights flicker on computers in suite 100 of Kansas City’s Penn Tower at 31st Street and Broadway.

But this isn’t the work of ghosts.

Home-based workers are connected to computers 24/7 at the headquarters of ARO Inc. All but about 30 of the company’s 200 to 300 employees (the work force fluctuates) work from home. Even IT employees work remotely at least some of the time.

ARO, which provides processing services for a wide range of companies, 10 years ago gave up the traditional call-center format of all workers in one building. It is one of a handful of virtual workplace centers in the United States, said Lester Ham, ARO chief executive officer.

“The raised hand (for help) was replaced with instant messaging,” Ham said.

Customer service representatives working from home in 27 states do everything from general call-center activities to back-office functions and form processing.

One of ARO’s newest representatives is Robin Bennett, 43, a stay-at-home mom who, with her husband, owns a horse ranch in the Poconos Mountains of Lake Ariel, Pa.

Working part time as a medical history interviewer on behalf of one of ARO’s insurance clients, Bennett is on the job four days a week, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A menu on Bennett’s computer software allows her to log in and log out. It also shows when she is “available” or at “lunch.”

“We know what they’re doing at all times,” said Joye Moore, ARO general manager.

In fact, management of this “distributed” work force often is easier than when employees are on-site, Moore said. Calls typically are monitored two to three times a week, or even a couple of times a day for someone who is struggling, Moore said.

“We can look at what they’re looking at on the computer screen; listen to their voices,” Amigoni said.

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