What is a Remote Receptionist?

You may have heard the term “remote receptionist,” but what exactly does it mean? You might think, “How can receptionists attend the front desk without being at the front desk?”

To help you out, here is the what, how, and why of having remote receptionists for your business.

What are “remote receptionists”?

Put simply, remote receptionists are receptionists that work remotely. They perform the same functions as receptionists, such as addressing customer queries, answering phone calls, responding to emails, and scheduling appointments.

To get remote receptionists, you can either hire new receptionists or leverage your current receptionist team. The advantage of the latter is that it costs less, requires less training, and maintains your current team integrity. You can do this by putting together a set of workflow policies in agreement with your front desk team and using a virtual receptionist platform like WelcomeWare.

How do remote receptionists work?

Since remote receptionists work away from the location (usually at home), they require the same basic equipment as remote workers. These include:

• Strong, consistent internet connection
• A dedicated receptionist-side kiosk device
• Clear webcam and headset

To fully enable the remote work experience, it’s vital to use a live streaming receptionist platform like WelcomeWare. This enables your receptionists to transition seamlessly to a remote setup, allowing them to perform as they would on-site. One major advantage is that this also allows each receptionist to cover multiple front desks from a single computer.

For customer interactions, the usual workflow will look like this:

1. A customer interacts with a kiosk/screen at your location that is connected to your front desk platform.
2. All of your active receptionists receive a notification about the interaction.
3. One of your receptionists answers the cue, and the kiosk will show them on the screen.
4. The receptionist addresses the customer’s needs, such as checking in or out, scheduling appointments, or answering questions.

If you require your customers to complete intake forms, provide documents, or undergo COVID screening, it’s important to evaluate whether the platform of your choice offers these features. WelcomeWare, for example, lets your receptionists provide intake forms that customers can sign on a touchscreen kiosk, scan documents from visitors, and process payments remotely.

Remote receptionists also use other necessary software to perform administrative tasks. For instance, they use scheduling apps like Calendly to schedule appointments, email platforms for receiving and responding to emails, and online platforms like Google Docs or CRM systems for databasing.

Why should I use remote receptionists?

At this point, you may be wondering:

• Why do I need remote receptionists when in-person receptionists already do just fine?
• Will it be expensive to put together a virtual front desk team?
• Is having remote receptionists even worth it?

These doubts exist primarily because the idea of the “remote receptionist” is still novel. It’s a common notion that front desk work requires employees to be in-person. However, “virtual front desk work” is indeed possible with the right equipment and implementation.

In fact, it’s a lot more than a possibility. Having remote receptionists can be tremendously beneficial for your business:

1. Make your receptionists more effective. Traveling every day to the location is no longer necessary, allowing your receptionists to be more energetic.
2. Enable your front desk to be always available. When one of your remote receptionists is unavailable, other receptionists can seamlessly cover them.
3. Streamline the customer experience. It’s now possible to use the same strong front desk team to cover all your locations at the same time.
4. Retain the human touch. Unlike self-service kiosks, which sacrifice the human touch through automation, remote receptionists retain both the human touch and productivity.
5. Greatly reduce your expenses. Using remote receptionists lets you avoid the costs of receptionist turnover.

Overall, remote receptionists can significantly improve your business in terms of productivity, customer experience, and cost-effectiveness.

Use WelcomeWare to achieve a remote front desk

Wanting to virtualize your front desk is half the battle – the other half is won with proper implementation and equipment. This is only possible with a virtual receptionist platform like WelcomeWare.

With WelcomeWare, you have an all-in-one software and hardware solution that enables your business to have a virtual front desk and lets you leverage your current front desk team to cover multiple locations.