Wideforce Systems paves way for new telework applications
Forget about middle management pushback and broadband service headaches for the moment. One of the biggest inhibitors to wide-scale telework deployment is the job itself. Today, most of the 28 million teleworkers in the U.S. wear a white collar; they're highly trained knowledge workers, creatives and technical folks who don't need much more than a phone, Internet connection and a few applications to perform.
In contrast, the list of suitable nonprofessional telework jobs is short - virtual call center attendant and telemarketer. (That's not counting independent contractors or virtual assistants.) And while customer service call center outsource companies like Teletech and Convergys are spending a lot of money launching pilot programs for remote workers and developing software in-house to manage them, until now, no one's built a software platform for license to enterprise companies and service providers.
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Wideforce Systems is doing just that - and more. The Superior, Colo., software developer is building a platform that allows companies to use teleworkers to perform tedious, repetitive tasks that require some judgement, little collaboration and don't take very long to complete. While some jobs, particularly in the service sector, can never be performed from home (sous chef, police detective and lobsterman come to mind), Wideforce aims to tap the gray area of jobs that could theoretically be performed at home - with some help from technology.
The list of tasks Wideforce can remote-enable is long - telephone sales, lead qualification, market research, data entry, data conversion, resume sorting, translation, transcription, copy editing, digital photo categorization, video monitoring - and could grow much longer as customers come up with clever ways to use it.
The software also handles workflow, dispatching a new task to the worker upon completion of the last. Quality control inspectors can review completed tasks, and monitor and rate employee performance. Evaluation, recruiting and training tools are also in the works, according to Wideforce CEO David Jilk.
"Our plan is to build integration tools so the system can connect to other application software, such as Trados translation software or Deuxo lead management software, or almost any off-the-shelf or custom package, adding task management, quality assurance management, worker recruiting and evaluation, among other things," Jilk adds.
Wideforce is currently offering outsourcing services to customers using either its own remote workers or those of the customer, and managing the workforce with the software. Jilk expects the platform to be finished by the third quarter next year. Wait 'til the General Services Administration gets wind of this.
Toni Kistner is managing editor of Net.Worker. Contact her at tkistner@nww.com.
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