Virtualization is touted as central to helping IT organizations optimize and secure application performance in a cost effective manner, but it can also present its share of application delivery challenges.

Virtual call center technology gives enterprises flexibility in how they staff and manage a call center. Enterprises can move agents out of a central office and distribute them globally anywhere with an Internet connection. For enterprises that rely on a pool of people to man customer service, sales or technical support lines, virtualizing the call center might be the best opportunity to reduce overhead, ensure business continuity and hire the best staff available.

Early virtual call center products relied on analog phone lines at the remote agent’s home office. The technology would either forward calls to the user’s phone or establish a steady connection to the agent’s line while the agent was logged in. IP telephony has made virtual call center technology more sophisticated and simpler to set up. Now a call center agent needs only a broadband Internet connection and a computer with a USB headset.

Virtual call centers offer enterprises several strategic benefits. They can reduce the overhead of maintaining commercial office space for large call centers. Enterprises also no longer have to hire locally for specialized agents, such as nurses or technical staff. They can find the best employees regardless of where the agent may live. This geographical diversity has the additional benefit of enhancing an organization’s disaster recovery and business continuation plans.

“Physical call centers are susceptible to natural events, ranging from bad weather that prevents agents from getting into the office to large-scale disasters. A virtualized call center is an excellent business continuation strategy.” said Michael Barbagallo, president and principal analyst for Shenandoah Analytics. “Agents spread throughout the country means that no matter what happens, someone is always there to answer the phone.”

Enterprises will also experience some soft benefits with virtual call centers, such as improved work-life balance and higher employee morale.