Arise-BCDR-Whitepaper

1© Copyright. 2015. Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
How the Virtual, Crowdsourcing Model Ensures Seamless
Service Operations During Planned and Unplanned Events
With virtual service organizations, there is no downtime. The
ability to provide continuous service during natural disasters, as
well as planned events is a quantifiable advantage. With the
flexibility of a virtual environment, companies can have
peace-of-mind knowing their business and customers will be
insulated from potential service-impacting events.
WHITEPAPER

Introduction
In today’s extremely competitive business environment, where customer
expectations are higher than ever before, service interruptions are simply
unacceptable. Regardless of the reason, busy signals or long on-hold
times can damage brands, diminish loyalty and cause customers to turn
to competitors.
A State of Emergency
Ensuring business continuity is vital to business success, like never
before. Virtually every aspect of a company’s operation is interconnected
and vulnerable to disruption. While all parts of a business are affected,
as a result of natural or man-made disasters, the customer contact
organization is the most vulnerable.
According to a recent Frost and Sullivan Market Insight report, “customer
contact organizations are at the heart of business continuity/disaster
recovery (BC/DR) strategies, as they are the go-to information centers in
times of calamities and disasters.” When disasters strike or systems fail,
customers want help and they want help now. They expect immediate
service and are not willing to compromise. When dealing with a service
organization, during times of crisis, customers demand even greater
levels of service, attention and problem resolution than usual. Being
“down” for days, or hours is not an option when every minute of downtime
could prove fatal for a company.
Yet, according to Frost and Sullivan, fewer than one-third of companies
are prepared for a business interruption. While many companies have
complex disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place, most
of these plans are built with a concentration on data processing and IT
recovery. Many of these same organizations have not given the same
level of consideration to the continuity of their contact center – the very
place that will have to handle customer calls during and after a disaster.
When Disaster Strikes
Natural disasters are happening everywhere and more often than ever
before. We don’t have to look too far to see evidence of this today.
Whether it is West Coast wildfires, Midwestern tornados, coastal
hurricanes or severe storms and flash floods around the globe, the result
of even a small event can have a big impact on your business, your
employees and your customers.
© Copyright 2015. Arise Virtual Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2

Even with unpredictable weather raging on, disrupting the economy, the
environment and businesses, most disaster recovery plans only identify
critical business response for recovery after a catastrophic disaster.
Most plans do not tackle the preservation of service delivery or address
the greater likelihood of partial failures and service disruption during
catastrophic and equally debilitating unplanned events.
The harsh reality is that regardless of where a brick-and-mortar contact
center is located, at some point it will be at the mercy of Mother Nature.
That same center will then have to support customers who are not
affected and not interested in excuses. No matter the reason, whether
it is operating in the aftermath of a tornado or providing customer care
during a blizzard, busy signals and long on-hold times can damage
brands, diminish loyalty and cause customers to turn to competitors.
Not Business as Usual
While in the past, customers might have accepted a call-back the next
day or a “closed” recording, during a disaster or unplanned event, this is
no longer the case in our instant access world. When companies try to
rebuild after a major disaster or recover from an unplanned event, they
need to keep their customer base strong. They need to reassure their
customers by handling their calls and function, as if it is business as
usual.
Consumers demand 99.999% uptime; but, when disasters and
unplanned events happen there are unique business challenges when
operating a physical brick-and-mortar contact center; such as ramp time
to gather and train agents, increased costs to due overtime and strains
on operating technology.
Most companies operate using redundant processes and business
systems that allow them to operate smoothly and economically, with an
acceptable level of customer service when times are good. However,
when issues arise, business services, systems and structures are really
put to the test.
Many organizations believe they will operate without interruption by
having multiple, redundant contact centers in different cluster locations
or geographic regions around the globe. centers are not flexible enough to
respond quickly, adapt to call fluctuations and have hundreds, if not thousands,
of skilled, ready and available people at a moment’s notice.
This is forcing companies to seek out virtual contact center outsourcers, who
have reshaped and focused their services to provide flexible, on demand, real-
time support.

The Current State of Change
Customer contact centers are often the heart of a company, intertwined
with every other part of an organization. To think that there is one,
single, fail-safe solution for all planned and unplanned events is just
not reasonable. However, when organizations take into account a full
range of business perspectives including: security, scalability, flexibility,
geographic needs, regulatory compliance, cost, customer service,
availability and reliability, the answer becomes clear that virtual contact
centers are more than a trend or a fad. Virtual contact center services can help
an organization maintain continuous business operations during disasters and
unplanned events, while seamlessly handling their ever-changing daily business
requirements.
With true geographic diversity and an advanced technology
infrastructure, home-based, cloud, customer contact solutions can
provide peace-of-mind in times of crisis. A virtual, cloud-based approach
ensures service resiliency so that business is not interrupted.
Benefits of working in the cloud:
• Provides access to a widely distributed network of work-at-home
professionals.
• Ensures quicker recovery from unanticipated customer contact volume
fluctuations.
• Creates a frictionless customer interaction in times of urgent service,
making it as easy as possible for the customer to get what they need,
when they need it.
• Enables companies to streamline their operations and achieve significant sav-
ings as a result.
When selecting a virtual contact center service provider, look for an
outsourcing provider that is flexible and able to work with changing
business priorities within seconds, not hours. They should be able to
leverage advanced tools and sophisticated technology systems to ensure
uninterrupted service. A committed outsourcing partner will help their
clients design contingency plans, rather than just react to them ensuring
better understanding of customer contact fluctuations. The bottom line is to be prepared. Select an outsourcing
provider, who not only provides virtual, work-at-home services, but also truly understands the intricacies
and expertise needed to help reduce overall risks. One who provides
instantly flexible, security-rich business continuity, designed to address
your specific vulnerabilities and requirements.

Service Without Interruption
Arise’s virtual contact center operates in the cloud and uses an
innovative crowdsourcing model that can easily accommodate
call volume fluctuations. Fortune 500 and other industry-leading
organizations have partnered with Arise to fortify their operations during
unforeseen events because its model has unique business-continuity
capabilities, unavailable in other types of call center environments.
employees can be reluctant to work extra hours and frequently require
over-time pay when they do.
Arise provides its virtual services through crowdsourcing, using a
network of independent businesses (IBs) rather than employees. This is
a significant differentiator for Arise and an essential element in providing
seamless customer care during times of crisis. IBs are constantly looking
for opportunities to maximize revenue potential. Therefore, when a
client unexpectedly needs help handling their call volumes, IBs are
usually eager to step up and accept the additional workload. This is a
major advantage over the employee-based call center model, where
employees can be reluctant to work extra hours and frequently require
over-time pay when they do.
State-of-the-Art Technology
In this virtual environment, independent, customer service, sales
and technical support providers perform call handling services
from geographically dispersed home offices. With no commutes, it
is faster and easier for them to take calls at a moment’s notice.
In addition, these virtual resources service Arise clients in 30-
minute increments according to forecasts, which they can easily
access and select through Arise’s award-winning, online and mo
bile workforce management system, Starmatic®. Should a client
need an immediate increase in call coverage, this vast resource of
skilled providers can be quickly ramped up or down, as necessary.
Arise’s advanced technology system allows it to provide operation
al efficiencies, not available in traditional brick-and-mortar
environments. For example, to quickly engage an independent
business for an immediate need, urgent service requests are sent
through real-time communication channels, such as instant
messaging and text.

Additionally, the Starmatic® proprietary, award-winning, scheduling
system, developed from years of first-hand experience, allows for on-the-fly
adjustments to coverage levels, thereby ensuring high quality service
at all times.
Mirroring Call Curves
The ability to mirror changes in call volumes, with levels of re
sources is one of the strongest benefits Arise provides to its
clients. Not only are service metrics held constant during
unexpected events, but costs are kept to a minimum, due to the
unique combination of incremental service intervals and non-
employee professionals. Payment only is made for actual time
taking calls. This avoids paying for underutilized resources like
those typically found in brick-and-mortar centers.
The majority of independent service providers on Arise programs,
invest just part of each week taking calls, which creates a large
network of resources that can be called upon when “flexing” is
needed. Consider this example: All 100 resources on a program
average 10 hours a week. A heat wave hits and a client needs to
cover unplanned calls. If every resource added just one more hour
a day for 5 days, the client would benefit from a 50% increase in
coverage from knowledgeable professionals.
Moments of Truth: Business Continuity and Disaster
Recovery Case Studies
According to New York Times and Wall Street Journal’s Bestselling
Author, Shep Hyken, there are moments of truth and moments of misery
created each time a customer comes in contact with an organization.
These moments of truth are the moments that ultimately determine
whether a service strategy will succeed or fail, and the moments of
misery ultimately determine if a customer will stay or leave. All too often,
customers experience moments of misery when a contact center is
dealing with a disaster or unplanned event.
However, it does not have to be this way. There are smart organizations
that have found a better way to turn these moments into opportunities,
showing their customers how good their organization are.

By partnering with the right virtual service provider, they are building
long-term customer loyalty and providing total customer satisfaction even, in
the face of a disaster.
 Help When It’s Needed Most: A top roadside assistance provider
was experience heavy call volumes due to extreme weather conditions,
stranding motorists in times of need. The company partnered with Arise to
implement a business continuity plan (BCP), where once the plan was
activated, Arise had the ability to quickly get up to 150 agents servicing
within a very short time frame. Implementation of this program began in
August 2014 and was successfully launched in January of 2015 with 630
certified agents. As a result, the client activated the business continuity
plan a total of 23 times in 2015. In addition, 23,064 calls have been
serviced utilizing the business continuity solutions, and Arise had a 86.8%
“fill “ rate on BCP ask.
 Help After Hurricane Sandy: Early on October 29, 2012, Hurricane
Sandy struck the Northeastern coastline of the United States. Among
the devastation left in its path was a major cruise line, forced to
reroute nine of its ships and 20,000 passengers. The cruise line was
unable to internally handle thousands of calls resulting from last
minute cancellations, port of call changes, and shortened itineraries.
Leveraging its existing relationship with Arise, the cruise line was
able to secure immediate assistance with a single phone call to
Arise. Instantly, Arise issued an urgent service request and added the
equivalent of 120 full time resources to handle the unexpected call
volume. This was a 60% increase in capacity over the forecast for
that same period. Additionally, Arise and its network of independent
businesses worked closely with cruise line management to distribute
updated policy information to affected customers.
• Assistance When Disaster Strikes: When the cruise ship, Costa
Concordia, partially sank after hitting a reef off the coast of Italy, Arise was
one of the first companies the major cruise line called for assistance, to help
handle calls from concerned customers. Detailed communications were de
livered to the Arise network and an urgent service request was sent out via
text, phone and email asking for additional assistance. Over the period of
increased coverage, customer satisfaction remained steady and the
cruise line’s service metrics were consistent.

One Company. Countless Options
With virtual service organizations, like Arise, there is no downtime.
The ability to provide continuous service during natural disasters, such
as Hurricane Sandy or winter blizzards, as well as planned events
like product launches or seasonal business cycles, is a quantifiable
advantage of the virtual crowdsourcing model. With the flexibility of a
virtual environment, a large network of independent businesses, skilled
service providers and an advanced technology infrastructure, Arise
Virtual Solutions provides clients peace-of-mind, knowing their
customers will be insulated from potential service-impacting events.
Better Results With Arise
Arise Virtual Solutions is changing the way companies think about call
center services. Arise provides a virtual platform to connect primarily
work-at-home service professionals running small call center
businesses to Fortune 500 and other large companies. For over a
decade, Arise’s platform has enabled superior and extremely flexible
customer contact, business processing and consulting solutions for
numerous companies around the globe, uniquely blending crowdsource
innovation, virtual technology and operational efficiencies to deliver
an enhanced customer experience for a company’s customers.
Today, Arise leads the market in multi-channel
customer support and on-demand contact center services.
Arise accesses a diverse network of independently owned, small
businesses to provide flexible, efficient, high-quality contact center
services in the cloud, including customer care, sales, technical support,
ecommerce and social media support. No matter how customers
choose to connect - phone, email, live chat or text – the Arise network of
providers is there to help.
8
Arise Virtual Solutions Inc.
3450 Lakeside Drive
Miramar, Florida 33027
US: +1.954.392.2774
Toll-free: +1.855.274.7301
International: +44 (0) 795 780 3983
Email: marketing@arise.com
www.arise.com

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