If you’re a contact center executive considering taking your contact center operations to a global level, you’ve doubtless spent a lot of time thinking about logistics, necessary technology, hiring qualified agents, and the other considerations that global operations require.

Scaling up from single-country operations to multi-country can be an overwhelming proposition. If you go in unprepared in even a single area, it can negatively impact your contact center back home, and the company as a whole.

Here are 4 things to consider when you’re taking your contact center global.

1. Make sure that your phone technology can handle international calls without lag time.

One issue that customers experience often with international contact centers is a lag on the phone line. This is due to the fact that many vendors serve their international clients from a single data center located in one part of the world - meaning that when a call is happening, the sound has to go from the caller’s phone to a data center in, say, Nebraska, and then from there to the country where the contact center is located. The same is true when the contact center agent speaks.

This can create a noticeable lag, which negatively impacts the quality of the call. Not only can it disrupt the agent’s ability to assist the caller, it can also make an organization sound unprofessional and unpolished. To get around this issue, make sure your cloud provider uses regional data centers, instead of just one.

2. Make sure your agents understand multiple languages and cultures.

You can’t underestimate the importance of culture when it comes to customer service - even in calls as simple as a caller needing a copy of their account number.

When you’re taking a contact center global, you’ll need agents who have a grasp of anywhere from two to a dozen or more different cultural norms and languages so they can serve customers from those countries correctly.

This requires quality training that gives agents substantive information about how to interact with customers from different parts of the world. While this kind of training can take time, neglecting it can mean lower customer satisfaction, and even unintentionally offending someone.

In addition to training, agents should have access to a knowledge base with information on key cultural or language issues. This way, they can refer this information in real time, as needed.

3. Ensure agents in every country speak your brand language.

When contact center agents are located in another part of the world, it can be more challenging to ensure that they speak your brand language.

Just like cultural norms, brand language is something that agents need to be well-trained in. Ideally, someone from your company’s headquarters should perform the training in person, traveling to the new location for a few weeks or months to oversee the center’s setup.

If this isn’t possible, there are plenty of videoconferencing options that can allow you to connect with your new managers and agents virtually. Make sure to stay in touch after the initial training, too - keeping your global contact center managers in the loop regarding product changes, changes in brand language, and more will ensure customers have a consistent brand experience no matter who they’re put in touch with.

4. Ensure your global contact center managers and agents have the technology they need to be successful.

As with domestic contact centers, the right technology is key to ensuring that your customers’ needs are being met. Software solutions like Workforce Management, Customer Experience Surveys, and Enterprise Feedback Management allow managers to ensure that agents’ skills are being used efficiently and that customer satisfaction remains high.

With a global workforce, the technological scaling can be a challenge - but with the right solution partners in place, contact centers that are going global can achieve major success.