Level Up Your Remote Service Business:
5 Vital Ingredients
5 Vital Ingredients
The remote workforce is here to stay for many service-based organizations. We explore the top five non-negotiables when it comes to serving clients remotely.
If a service can be offered remotely, enabling a remote workforce allows companies to retain the best talent and provide the best services. Win-win-win. While the days of geographical limitations are gone for many remote-capable service organizations, there are unique needs to consider.
5 Take-aways:
1. Establish consistency in the team set up
2. Implement a remote quality management system
3. Security & compliance: Protect client information
4. Budget additional expenses for remote workers
5. Empower your team members!
Rule #1
Establish consistency in the work from home set-up
When working from home, what’s acceptable? Laptop on a couch, in front of a TV with a cat making a cameo during a video call with a client? Err… no thanks. Maybe that’s obvious, but consider a codified remote work standard that ensures the consistency of service quality your clients have come to expect.
When your team is working from home, consider standards that address items such as:
• Wifi or hard-wired
• Distraction-free background
• What not to wear
• What to wear
When running a remote services business, you cannot over-communicate! Everyone communicates differently.

Avoid the assumption that the remote work expectations have been fully understood. Seek out feedback on your delivery by asking questions.
How are you going to inspect what you expect?
Rule #2
Implement a remote quality assurance system
A strong organizational culture committed to quality excellence requires tools to make it happen. Consider automation and software tools that offer quality assurance support.

ONBOARDING
Screening potential service providers in onboarding through remote assessment tools designed.

BEST FIT
Consider customer and service provider compatibility by establishing a system to filter and track based on a set of criteria.
Certifications required to provide services to a contract location?

COMPLIANCE
Filter out providers that don’t qualify for services at a particular contract location by automating assignments solely to those that fit the requirements. |

FEEDBACK LOOP
Create opportunities for discrete feedback (from both the service provider and customer).
Rule #3
Protect client information through security and compliance guidelines
If your team members handle student or patient information, then you are no stranger to the protection of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) and PHI (Protected Health Information). With a remote workforce, the pressing question becomes — How to ensure the security of information handled by remote team members?
Whether it’s a student, patient, or other type of client your team is serving — ensure client data is protected.
When it comes to HIPAA and FERPA requirements, we compiled some resources from the experts.
Budget additional expenses for remote workers
When a specific set-up is mandated, it’s fair to assume that an organization will shoulder a portion of the costs to the team member. This may also require a look at how you bill customers. Streaming video isn’t cheap!
• Subsidization of internet costs, adapters, printers, and other must-have technologies.
• Sound machine to drown out the sound of life happening in and around your home!

The Society of Human Resources Management breaks down a few of these costs and anticipated necessities. Some businesses do not cover additional costs, thinking of it as a trade-off for lack of commute and other benefits provided to employees by working from home. For service businesses, it’s not as cut and dry.
Empower your team members!
Those interfacing with your clients day in and day out are your front-lines workers. As the face of your brand, it’s impossible to overstate their importance to the business. In a #RemoteRevolution, we have nothing without trust.
Trust is built when your team is empowered with the tools, and resources to serve customers well.
According to a report by Forbes, VMWare, and Entrepreneur, empowering employees makes all the difference.
Consider business software solutions designed to —
• Schedule service providers
• Oversee quality assurance
• Automate compliance
• Streamline accounting
• And more!
In short, the #RemoteRevolution is here to stay. Now is the time to adapt to meet the needs of the changing service landscape. It may seem like a lot, and it probably is for many small and medium-sized businesses, but keep in mind that sweeping change is built on small steps.
Who made us the experts? Glad you asked! We are a software company with deep roots in the world of CART captioning services.
Ūsked is a management platform designed for the non-traditional workforce to serve clients well.
Ūsked was built to juggle quality screening, scheduling, services, and reporting. Any organization that has people serving people can appreciate the complexity and value of good services.
Ūsked helps businesses realize service excellence through software and automation tools. If you are a business owner in need of an all-in-one solution, we would love to connect with you. Schedule your demo today!