A Virtual Call Center is an “automatic” call center

A Virtual Call Center is an “automatic” call center. It is basically the same thing as a call center, only costing a fraction of the price and being a lot easier to handle and mange. Included in most Hosted Call Centers are numerous amounts of advanced inventions and developments. One such innovation is a Predictive Dialer. Predictive Dialing reduces the amount of wasted time by agents. The Predictive Dialer will organize and rearrange the calling list that the agent has. It then filters out the “bad” numbers, such as not in service numbers, or disconnected numbers, while relisting other numbers, such as busy signals or unanswered calls, at the bottom of the list. The Predictive Dialer will then try the next few numbers towards the end of the Virtual Call Center agent’s call. By doing this, this allows the Virtual Call Center agent to maximize his time working and minimize his time being occupied with unnecessary and often bothersome and unproductive work.

Predictive Dialing has come a long way. It first started as an autodialer, which merely just dialed calls for an idle or waiting agent. A Predictive Dialer uses a variety of algorithms in order to predict the availability of both Virtual Call Center agents and potential customers and therefore customizing each calling process to suit what’s best for both agent and customer. Based on a 2002 survey, a Predictive Dialer can dramatically increase the amount of talk time agents utilize per hour as opposed to a traditional agent without a Predictive Dialer. The ratio is 50 minutes per hour utilized with a Predictive Dialer comparing to 20 minutes per hour used without using Predictive Dialing.

Other Hosted Contact Center features are Voice Broadcasting, which enables mass phone messaging to endless amounts of customers, and IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, which enables customers to “do it themselves” thereby reducing the need for customer service representatives. In addition to these features, Freedom TeleWork offers unique and amazing Hosted Contact Center Supervisory tools through their TeleWorkers campaign. These unique tools help Freedom TeleWork customers to ensure that the TeleWorkers are working properly and efficiently. These tools are Spy mode, Barge In mode, Whisper mode, MP3 recording of calls, monitoring of key strokes and random screen captures of agents’ screens. Not only do these features allow customers to check on their TeleWorkers, but they also give customers the ability to further train and coach their Virtual Call Center agents

Business process outsourcing (BPO)

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

Given the proximity of BPO to the information technology industry, it is also categorized as an information technology enabled service or ITES. Knowledge process outsourcing(KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of business process outsourcing industry.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Industry size
* 2 BPO Benefits and Limitations
* 3 Threats
* 4 References
* 5 See also
* 6 External links

Industry size

India has revenues of 10.9 billion USD[2] from offshore BPO and 30 billion USD from IT and total BPO (expected in FY 2008). India thus has some 5-6% share of the total BPO Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore component. This 63% is a drop from the 70% offshore share that India enjoyed last year, despite the industry growing 38% in India last year, other locations like Eastern Europe, Philippines, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa have emerged to take a share of the market[citation needed]. China is also trying to grow from a very small base in this industry. However, while the BPO industry is expected to continue to grow in India, its market share of the offshore piece is expected to decline. Important centers in India are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.

The top five Indian BPO exporters for 2006-2007 according to NASSCOM are Genpact, WNS Global Services, Transworks Information Services, IBM Daksh, and TCS BPO.

According to McKinsey, the global "addressable" BPO market is worth $122 - $154 billion, of which: 35-40 retail banking, 25-35 insurance, 10-12 travel/hospitality, 10-12 auto, 8-10 telecoms, 8 pharma, 10-15 others and 20-25 is finance, accounting and HR. Moreover, they estimate that 8% of that capacity was utilized as of 2006.

BPO Benefits and Limitations

One of the most important advantages of BPO is the way in which it helps to increase a company’s flexibility. However, several sources have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. Therefore business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways.

Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis. This helps a company becoming more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs. A variable cost structure helps a company responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making the company more flexible.Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes.

Another way in which BPO contributes to a company’s flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints. Key employees are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the firm’s core businesses.The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on – customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a company create a competitive edge.

A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by increasing the speed of business processes. Using techniques such as linear programming can reduce cycle time and inventory levels, which can increase efficiency and cut costs. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.

Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle. BPO helped to transform Nortel from a bureaucratic organization into a very agile competitor. A company can gain the advantage of maintaining ambitious growth goals while sidestepping standard business bottlenecks. BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation.

A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for the company over time.

Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations, management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are a few stumbling blocks, which could counter these advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual issues, changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility. Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process outsourcing

A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have similar Quality Improvement approaches.

Threats

Risk is the major drawback with Business Process Outsourcing. Outsourcing of an Information System, for example, can cause security risks both from a communication and from a privacy perspective. For example, security of North American or European company data is more difficult to maintain when accessed or controlled in the Sub-Continent. From a knowledge perspective, a changing attitude in employees, underestimation of running costs and the major risk of losing independence, outsourcing leads to a different relationship between an organization and its contractor.

Risks and threats of outsourcing must therefore be managed, to achieve any benefits. In order to manage outsourcing in a structured way, maximizing positive outcome, and minimizing risks and avoiding any threats, a Business Continuity Management (BCM) model is setup. BCM consists of a set of steps, to successfully identify, manage and control the business processes that are, or can be outsourced.
Another framework, more focused on the identification process of potential outsourceable Information Systems, identified as AHP, is explained.
L. Willcocks, M. Lacity and G. Fitzgerald identify several contracting problems companies face, ranging from unclear contract formatting, to a lack of understanding of technical IT- processes.

Custom CRM Boosts FXCM Customer Satisfaction and Increases Internal Productivity

Challenge
* Rapid growth at Forex Capital Markets (FXCM), one of the largest currency trading firms in the world, resulted in the need to consolidate client information in one location to improve customer service and productivity
* Microsoft Access could no longer handle the increasing sales lead volume that the company was experiencing
* FXCM needed a low-maintenance solution that could be customized to match its complex sales processes
* The company lacked coordination in sharing customer information among worldwide sales teams and customer service representatives
* A service and support application that could provide a transparent view of the customer and enable FXCM to deliver excellent service was also desired
* Other requirements included flexibility, customizability, and the ability to integrate with Oracle databases

Solution

* After evaluating solutions from Siebel, GoldMine, and SalesLogix, FXCM chose Salesforce CRM Professional Edition for its flexibility and customizability
* The company quickly upgraded to Salesforce CRM Enterprise Edition for security and integration capabilities, and was able to deploy and customize the solution in less than two weeks. In 2008, the company--confident in Salesforce CRM's ability to support its ever-changing business needs--upgraded again, this time to Salesforce CRM Unlimited Edition.
* Over 400 employees track FXCM customer interactions within Salesforce CRM; 300 of those employees also use Salesforce CRM Call Center to deliver client support 24/7 for 90,000 accounts
* With Salesforce CRM Call Center, FXCM agents resolve cases in 199 countries from six offices worldwide
* Web-to-case functionality allows FXCM to gather customer support requests directly from its Web site and automatically generate new cases within Salesforce CRM

FXCM’s tremendous success can be attributed to its iron focus on customer service

, Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) has grown into one of the largest currency trading firms in the world by offering traders direct access to this dynamic, global market. The company now boasts 90,000 accounts in 199 countries and an average International buying and selling of global currencies comprises the largest and most liquid market in the monthly trading volume that exceeds $200 billion.

FXCM’s tremendous success can be attributed to its iron focus on customer service. The company delivers customer support 24/7 with native speakers in more than 20 languages from six offices worldwide. All customer interactions are managed using Salesforce CRM SFA and Salesforce CRM Call Center.

“The entire life of a client, from when he is considering FXCM to when he wants his last penny returned to him is managed entirely on the Salesforce CRM platform,” said Nicole Viscome, director of project management at FXCM. “We’re a global operation so a client could call at any time. Salesforce CRM allows us to house all client information in one centralized location so that we can resolve issues quickly and keep customers happy.”

Early in FXCM’s history, the company tracked prospects and customers in Excel spreadsheets. As the company grew, the team switched to Microsoft Access to manage the increasing volume, but FXCM’s success soon outgrew that system, too. "The incredible volume was too much for Access to handle and was creating troubling inefficiencies that resulted in some leads being called twice while others were ignored," explains Marc Prosser, chief marketing officer at FXCM. "And to make matters worse, we were not able to easily share customer information as prospects moved through the pipeline. Our customers and our salespeople work around the world and around the clock, so seamless coordination is critical

Call center staffing: The importance of hiring well First, Get the Right People: Hiring Frontline Staff for Your Contact Center

Hiring Well

First, Get the Right People: Hiring Frontline Staff for Your Contact Center

The Importance of Hiring Well

It's no secret that one of the most difficult aspects of contact center management is finding and keeping the right people for the job. The contact center industry experiences one of the highest turnover rates anywhere—by some estimates, upward of 50 percent. Additional factors such as a tight labor pool of quality candidates and a limited career path compound the already challenging process of hiring. Furthermore, many contact centers are adding multiple contact channels such as e-mail and chat, which only adds to the need for a more skilled workforce.

Regardless of how difficult it is to attract and retain quality agents, however, it's crucial that you take great care in hiring for your center. Hiring agents isn't something that should be done in a rushed or desperate manner.

Hiring well can save you considerable pain down the road. Not only is it expensive to replace employees who have been miscast for a job, but it's also inconvenient and unpleasant to lose agents (whether the termination is your idea or theirs).

Even if you're not the person primarily responsible for recruiting and hiring agents, you are the person primarily responsible for managing those who get hired. For this reason, your knowledge of and participation in the hiring process are indispensable. At the very least, you should help define the skills and behaviors that drive job performance and participate in the selection process by speaking to prescreened candidates over the phone or in person and by participating in the final hiring decision

Become a Call Center Director

#
Step 1

Gain the required experience to become a call center director by getting at least 1 year of management experience in a call center or customer service work environment. While a college degree in business management, accounting or finance may be helpful in getting your resumé noticed, many call centers prefer to promote someone from within who understands their specific way of doing business.
#
Step 2

Possess an extraordinary attention to detail. A call center director must excel at multi-tasking and organization, since the work flow and the constant monitoring of data can seem overwhelming at times.
#
Step 3

Become familiar with the types of workforce management database software that call centers use to constantly refine their sales methodology and their bottom line, such as Blue Pumpkin, IEX, Siebel and eWFM.
#
Step 4

Hone your interpersonal and communication skills, since your effectiveness as a call center director will depend upon your ability to give constant feedback to your staff on how to improve their performances. Micro-management is very common in this sort of work environment, and your ability to offer constructive, impersonal criticism may be one of the keys to your success.

Find a Position as a Call Center Director
#
Step 1

Use an employment outsourcing service, such as Spherion, to locate the best call center director position to meet your skills and needs (see Resources below). These services are usually free, and you are given access to a variety of job listings, as well as a personal recruiter who will actively search for positions in which you are qualified.
#
Step 2

Check the classified sections of locals newspapers, as well as the bulletin boards of employment agencies. Call centers commonly use these methods to recruit entry-level positions, such as telemarketers and customer service representatives. You can use the contact information to inquire about management-level positions

Turn Call Flow into Cash Flow with Inbound Telemarketing Services Telemarketing

Telemarketing is the most interactive marketing medium available. Telemarketing allows you to answer your prospects questions, address their concerns, and overcome their objections.

Telemarketing is the only marketing medium that allows you to adjust your strategy midstream and make any changes at any time necessary to increase results. With telemarketing, you can change both your offer and audience with just one phone call. Telemarketing scripts can be edited with a moments notice. And telemarketing calling hours can be adjusted.

Where else can you change your marketing program on the fly? Telemarketing is the only medium that offers this flexibility.


Telemarketing provides you with immediate feedback & valuable information that can be quickly analyzed.
Telemarketing consistently outperforms all other forms of marketing and is the most powerful, cost-effective marketing vehicle available today. Telemarketing is a powerful, multi-billion dollar marketing vehicle. It should be part of your marketing plan.


Telemarketing is the only form of
advertising that requires an immediate response.
Newspaper and magazine ads, radio promotions, billboards or direct mail demand little or no immediate attention. They can all be ignored. Not telemarketing. When the phone rings, the natural response is to answer it. Rarely do you just ignore it.


Telemarketing provides you with a captive
audience the minute the phone is answered.
With telemarketing, you can instantly establish a conversation. It is much easier to get your message across when you engage in a dialogue and questions can be answered. Two-way communication using telemarketing is very powerful, and very productive.


Telemarketing provides you with endless
opportunities to increase and better your business.
Telemarketing is the ultimate marketing tool. Some popular outbound telemarketing applications include appointment setting, lead generation, surveys, market research, list cleaning, database update, seminar registration, fund raising, phone sales, and client reactivation... just to name a few.


Inbound telemarketing allows you to
respond and sell to your clients and prospects
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Telemarketing also has powerful inbound applications. Inbound telemarketing is perfect for order taking, customer service, any type of anwering service, after hours/overflow calls, taking credit card orders, voice mail service, dealer locator service, seminar registration, reservation desk, inquiry service, and direct immediate response to print ads and virtually any form of advertisement.


Turn Call Flow into Cash Flow with Inbound Telemarketing
Services

Maximize your results, B2B or B2C with AnswerNet’s Inbound Telemarketing services. Ask us to initiate and close inbound telemarketing sales, or forward qualified leads to one of your sales professionals.

Turn inbound telemarketing into CRM! We can help you to identify top inbound telemarketing buyers and prospects by examining purchase patterns. Interactive voice response (IVR) enables you to identify customers. Our agents then provide them with targeted offers.
Let Us Help Make Your Inbound Telemarketing Program a Success!

To make your inbound telemarketing campaign a success requires a combination of careful planning, scalability and flexibility. AnswerNet will consult with you to devise a customized inbound telemarketing program that will handle a realistically projected call volume.

Our project management staff works closely with you to carefully script calls to streamline the inquiry/order process and maximize conversions. All inbound telemarketing programs include scheduled meetings throughout the campaign to review and, if necessary, revise your program.
Flexible Inbound Telemarketing Program Options

AnswerNet can handle your inbound telemarketing program from start to finish, 24/7. Choose between full-time, overflow and weekend/after-hours support. Make your inbound telemarketing program one that your customers will remember with our toll-free vanity numbers!
Inbound Telemarketing Experience and Capabilities

No matter what size or scale, we have the experience to handle your inbound telemarketing campaign. Hundreds of companies, including leading businesses, charities and celebrities, have chosen AnswerNet to manage their inbound telemarketing programs. Our network also provides you with backup sites so if a disaster strikes one center another can take or make your calls.
Catalog and Order Entry Using Inbound Telemarketing

Sell your products and services on the Web? AnswerNet can enter orders directly into your existing e-commerce web forms. Your orders arrive to you in real time, ready for fulfillment. Don’t have an order entry system in place yet? We can design and customize one for you. Our scripting and IT experts let you concentrate on the other aspects of launching your inbound telemarketing campaign. When you need us to make inbound telemarketing happen AnswerNet is there to answer your calls. We are available 24x7, 365 days a year.
Turn DRTV / Direct Response into Inbound Telemarketing

By responding to all customer calls promptly, no matter how busy the phone lines get AnswerNet can turn promotion into inbound telemarketing. Whether you are anticipating 1,000 calls or 10,000; whether you are running a local spot or a national campaign - we are standing by to capture each order, donation or pledge. Our agents quickly and accurately enter all the information needed to turn each request into results using our web-based or customized order entry software
Appointment Setting/Sales Visits Using Inbound Telemarketing

Make inbound telemarketing happen face-to-face with product demos and sales visits. AnswerNet’s inbound telemarketing agents qualify leads and set up meetings between hot prospects and your sales teams with our online appointment scheduling system.
Customer Care and Support and Inbound Telemarketing

Ensure your inbound telemarketing program will keep customers for a long time. AnswerNet’s staff are trained to answer customers’ questions about your products and services pre-and post-sales. We can also provide help desk including problem resolution, opening trouble tickets for your support staff and paging/dispatching field reps.
Credit Card / Order Processing for Inbound Telemarketing

Let us show you the money from inbound telemarketing. AnswerNet offers a variety of credit card processing solutions to fit your specific needs. Using a secure bank routing number, we transfer funds directly into your account. This frees your staff from administrative chores and speed up your cash flow.
Multi-Language and Communication Support for Inbound Telemarketing

Inbound telemarketing to recent immigrants and international customers? AnswerNet has agents fluent in Spanish and French in our centers and in many more languages via our translation partners. Have hearing-impaired customers? Our TTY service connects them on your behalf.
Order Management & Fulfillment Services for Inbound Telemarketing

Deliver the results of your inbound telemarketing program! Call AnswerNet to warehouse, process, and deliver products and literature quickly and reliably. Our fulfillment facility is in easy trucking distance of 6 of the 10 top U.S. markets and two major airports.
Timely Reporting and Results for Inbound Telemarketing Campaigns

View your inbound telemarketing transactions and receive detailed information via AnswerNet’s easy-to-view and easy-to-use customized reporting packages, included with all our inbound services. Obtain critical data in customized daily, weekly, or monthly reports, faxed or emailed directly to you.

Trying to find success as a call center agent?


Trying to find success as a call center agent? This section includes comprehensive resources on call center metrics, quality monitoring, performance management, call center training and job satisfaction. Learn how to stay motivated as a customer service representative (CSR) and how to interpret and evaluate important metrics of the call center, including average handle time, average hold time, first call resolution (FCR) and occupancy. This section also includes information on agent churn in the call center and working as a remote or home-based call center agent.

Who uses Call Center Kit




Who uses Call Center Kit
• Ambitious call center supervisors that need results right away.
• CEOs and small business startups that want to introduce a vastly superior customer service experience for their customers.
• Business consultants that are tasked with improving and expanding a call center.
• HR managers that want to make their call center respond effectively both to their customers and within their company.
• IT managers that need to define and implement industry best practices for their Help Desk.

Step To Call Center Kit is a complete solution


Step To Call Center Kit is a complete solution for a newbie as well as source of new ideas for experienced managers to fill in the gaps in their knowledge of running a successful call or contact center. This solution covers everything one can wish for and is a simple walkthrough of what is actually needed to startup and efficiently run a call center. As someone who has set up IT helpdesks and has also provided application support to call centers I often wondered why typical call centers were so well managed and IT help desks, for the most part, are not. Now being a Manager of a startup call center I have used the Step To Call Center Kit to get a better idea of my customers' needs. I was pretty excited to discover that there's at least one good solution of what call centers do and how they do it. A complete solution for anyone who works in the inbound call center environment. This complete solution will help everyone from senior management to front line service reps gain a better understanding and appreciation of the dynamic call center environment. I highly recommend this kit to managers who wants to lay the ground work for an aspiring call center and hone the skills of the most experienced call center manager

AllCalls, your one stop shop for all your contact or call center needs.


AllCalls, your one stop shop for all your contact or call center needs.

Contact Centers and Call Centers are one of the fastest growing industries in South East Asia, especially in countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Philippines.

Currently the ROI (return on investment) for a call center is more than 100% after the second operational year, however it is all related to what kind of contact or call center solution and campaign(s) you go for.

Investors and entrepreneurs fail to understand the possibilities of a high profit in the contact or call center industry. Well, the answer to that is very simple! Someone’s Saving is Your Making AllCalls is one of the best pure-play offshore contact center and call center solution provider around the globe. In addition to HR Training & Resource, Product Training and Tele Marketing Campaigns AllCalls specializes in:

• Distribution of telemarketing and customer service business processes
• Call or Contact Center Setup
• CRM with Predictive Dialer
• Business Processes /Quality Campaigns
• HR Consultancy
• HR Training
• Operational Supervision

AllCalls with Clients and Partners based out of US, UK, Canada, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines and India offers a unique blend of Contact Center and Call Center outsourcing and off shoring Experience. AllCalls is best positioned to provide a localized approach to your Offshore Solution.

VARIETIES OF CALL CENTER INBOUND CALL CENTRE OUTBOUND CALLCENTRE AND BLENDED CALL CENTRE


Some variations of call centre models are listed below:

* Contact centre – Supports interaction with customers over a variety of media, including but not necessarily limited to telephony, e-mail and internet chat.
* Inbound call centre - Exclusively or predominately handles inbound calls (calls initiated by the customer).
* Outbound call centre - One in which call centre agents make outbound calls to customers or sales leads.
* Blended call centre - Combining automatic call distribution for incoming calls with predictive dialling for outbound calls, it makes more efficient use of agent time as each type of agent (inbound or outbound) can handle the overflow of the other.

THIS IS CALL CENTER


A call centre or call center[1] is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.

A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).

Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support.

WHAT IS CALL CENTER SPECIALITY


Types of calls are often divided into outbound and inbound. Inbound calls are calls that are made by the consumer to obtain information, report a malfunction, or ask for help. These calls are substantially different from outbound calls, where agents place calls to potential customers mostly with intentions of selling or service to the individual. (See telemarketing). It is possible to combine inbound and outbound campaigns[5].

Call centre staff are often organised into a multi-tier support system for a more efficient handling of calls. The first tier in such a model consists of operators, who direct inquiries to the appropriate department and provide general directory information. If a caller requires more assistance, the call is forwarded to the second tier, where most issues can be resolved. In some cases, there may be three or more tiers of support staff. If a caller requires more assistance, the caller is forwarded to the third tier of support; typically the third tier of support is formed by product engineers/developers or highly skilled technical support staff of the product.

Call centres have their critics, some of which argue that the work atmosphere in such an environment is de-humanising.[6] Others point to the low rates of pay and restrictive working practices of some employers.[7][8] There has been much controversy over such things as restricting the amount of time that an employee can spend in the toilet.[9] Furthermore, call centres have been the subject of complaints by callers who find the staff often do not have enough skill or authority to resolve problems,[10] while the dehumanised workers very often exhibit an attitude of apathy to even the most abusive customer.[11]

Owing to the highly technological nature of the operations in such offices, the close monitoring of staff activities is easy and widespread.[12] This can be argued to be beneficial,[13] to enable the company to better plan the workload and time of its employees. Some people have argued that such close monitoring breaches human rights to privacy.[14]

[edit] Varieties of call centres

CALL CENTRES - A STRATEGIC ASSET FOR YOUR CU


According to William Durr, author of Navigating the Customer Contact Center in the 21st Century, call centers fall into several segments from a back office operation to a strategic asset. In credit unions, call centers start out as back office operations. These call centers ultimately emerge into a unit that supports a branch network, but often has no goals or metrics of its own. The organization may place more emphasis on the value of serving members via phone and eventually develop a more professional center. Professional centers look to manage caller wait time, measure call quality and improve member interaction. There is some limited measurement in a professional center, but no link between the call center and the rest of the organization. For example, the marketing department and call center may not coordinate activities. The final segment is the strategic asset segment. In this segment the strategy of the call center is completely aligned with the rest of the organization. According to Durr, strategic asset call centers imply that it is hard to imagine the company being successful without a call center operation.


A Call Center as a Strategic Asset
What makes a call center a strategic asset? According to Durr, call centers that are strategic assets at organizations do the following:


Create new business opportunities
Provide useful insights and information about the member
Support new ways of doing business
Are a unique, sustainable competitive difference

ING's call center representatives answer the phone with the phrase, "Thank you for calling ING, how can I help you save your money today." ING's call center helps extend the brand of the organization. Service Credit Union, a New Hampshire-based credit union with a field of membership that includes all U.S. military, operates call centers 7 days a week in both Europe and the U.S. to meet the needs of members that reside worldwide. American Eagle Federal Credit Union in Connecticut captures member comments and complaints through its call center. The call center interacts with thousands of members daily. American Eagle FCU's I-Sight solution allows the credit union to capture member comments and use them to impact the performance of the entire organization.

Measuring the Strategic Asset
High performing call centers that are aligned with the goals of the organization look at performance metrics in three areas: service performance, call quality and sales productivity. Service performance includes the operational metrics of the call center, quality measures the employee's interaction with the member and the usage of the core processing system to perform the transaction, while sales productivity highlights the impact the call center has on the growth of the credit union.

INFORMALL CALL CENTRES PROVIDES A VALUABLE SERVICE



Informal Call Centre receives calls coming into a contact group and distributes the calls among agents of the company assigned to that group.
Informal Call Centre provides a valuable service for those business customers who have a help desk, order entry department or any contact group, especially with variable or even seasonal call volume.

In place of lost calls, busy signals or expanding staff just because of peak periods the Informal Call Centre application handles incoming calls in an orderly and professional manner whether agents are immediately available or there is a period of call overflow.

The informal call centre receives calls coming into a contact group and distributes the calls among agents of the company assigned to that group, whether the agents are in the call centre or working from home or other remote location.



The ACD (automatic call distribution) capability helps especially with busy call periods to present a professional customer interface and to maximize caller satisfaction. ValueNet can easily configure multiple queues per customer, with custom choices, meeting customer needs while saving their customers from call centre capital expenditures

CALL CENTRE AGENT FAMILARITY A MAJOR TURN_OFF


CALL CENTRE AGENT FAMILARITY A MAJOR TURN-OFF :What's worse than a call centre agent ringing right at dinner time? A call centre agent ringing right at dinner time and then repeatedly calling you "Angus". The aim of that approach seems to be enforced familiarity, but it turns out that neither customers nor call centre workers enjoy the experience. Because most call centre staff are trained to use an ultra-social, North American approach, the whole thing quickly goes astray, according to a new Oxford University study. As researcher Dr Katrina Hultgren explained to the Daily Telegraph:


The problem is that agents are under pressure to process customers as quickly as possible, so they are inclined to opt for ways of creating rapport which can be done speedily. This tends to be by using the customer's name as it's quicker than engaging them in small talk. As a customer, we then have the impression of our name being overused and feel uncomfortable.

Aside from the intrusion, what gets your goat about call centre interactions? Share your experiences -- and tactics for getting rid of them -- in the comments. (I've sunk to hanging up without a word these days.) To improve your day-to-day interactions, check out our top 10 conversation hacks.

Call centre customers irritated by over-familiar American-style chat [Daily Telegraph]

THERE HAS BEEN HUGE MOVEMENT TOWARDS THE BPO SECTORS IN PAKISTAN IN RECENT YEARS



there has been a huge movement towards the BPO sector in Pakistan in recent years, as to boost its appeal as a high tech-hub, the Pakistani government has provided a 15 year tax exemption on software exports, eliminated duties on technology imports and streamlined the investment process, reiterates Iritani.

Though Pakistan has been slow to start off from this BPO revolution, it is vying a spot in the international market with efforts such as mentioned by Iritani, and also as Rafi-Uddin- Shikoh mentioned is his write up regarding PSEB and call center revolution in Pakistan, that Pakistan has already started offering regulatory incentives such as 100% foreign ownership, tex exemption till 2016, 7 years tax holiday for venture capital (VC) funds.

Primarily, purpose of this article is to highlight one of the basic ingredients of the contact / call center industry, which stands on strong grounds provided by a detailed infrastructure, efficient and effective support services including staff and hardware, and the front line customer interaction agents, which in clear and concise manner are called the Customer Services Representatives (CSRs) at least in Pakistan, as I have discovered.

Having worked with one of the very few, established and much celebrated BPO units in Islamabad, Touchstone Communications in both operations and supports functions I enjoy a comfort zone knowledge level regarding the CSRs, and their everyday life.

Life cycle of an average CSR starts from the point of his / her induction program, which I will base upon my experience in the call center industry, as to say when their appears an advertisement in the newspaper “Work in America without leaving your homeland”. Now how tempting would that be?

It all starts with an initial interaction with one of the HR personnel, who would after having a telephonic conversation, deem you fit enough for a personal interview. In doing so, you have actually made an impression of being able to carry out a confident telephonic conversation, a basic criterion for a call center agent. During your initial HR interview, you will management an agent has to undertake at relatively a young age, since average age of the agents varies hovers between 18-25. This also includes the in dependability of being self financed, not to be carried away with the fact that one is making as much as some seasoned government employee would be by the end of 12 years of his service. Within itself, it is a big statement, and enough to make anyone’s mind go on an ego flight.

Second factor as I mentioned a lot of peer pressure in regards to the social profile that an agent has, and alternatively wants to maintain, which normally do not match each other. The amount of peer pressure present in call centers industry is enough to make a raw soul turn into an established smoker, avid night-outer and stuff affiliated to it. But the hard fact of life is that anyone who has made up his mind to stick to work will able to make a profile for him, and will always be known for not succumbing to such force called “Peer Pressure”.

Working at a US based call center in heart of the Federal Capital, it is heartening to see development of agents from mere entry level telemarketers to positions such as Project Managers, Operations Directors, Human Resource Personnel, Training Coordinators, Accent Neutralization Coordinators. These are just the Initial settings of an agent’s strategic plans, if anyone has some, because it is just not a Phone Monkey that I wanted to be when I joined Touchstone Communication. Having a business degree under my belt, I wanted to progress through the ranks of a the front line staff, but after acquiring considerable knowledge about the system and set up, so wanted to be part of strategic marketing, and human resource plans, I had to actually get to know the basics, the tricks of the trade, as they say, “A thief knows what a thief does”.

For that matter I had to start & serve as that thief, before actually managing such or being responsible for such. As the call center industry expands, and takes it’s roots in Pakistan, there will be great emphasis on career building in call centers not just the best ones, but it’ll become a hallmark of call/contact center industry to provide professionals to business media, IT super dudes, Immaculate Sales staff, and extremely talented conversationalists. To see this industry as just a few hundred people sitting within their cubicles, and dialing to remote locations of the world would simply be a fool’s vision, because this is a start, where young professionals get hands on training and grueling working hours to ensure strength in mental and moral grounds.

As much debate as we want to get ourselves into, the hard fact is that Call Center or Contact Center Industry, according to Farukh Aslam, Vice President Touchstone Communications, Islamabad, is a $600 billion mega pie, And Pakistan’s share to this date is not even a meager $10 million. And to make sure we get not just that $10
Million share, but more than that, we will have to Ensure that our grass root strategies are aligned to actually support such ventures where Pakistan without a doubt out classes India in terms of the quality of its Contact Center Agents, and just with the right kind of Human Resources and policies to own such talents, Pakistan could well be in the hunt for this huge $600 billion pie, which currently India, Jamaica, & Sri Lanka are simply having fun with.

As the call center industry expands, and takes it’s roots in Pakistan, there will be great emphasis on career building in call centers not just the best ones, but it’ll become a hallmark of call/contact center industry to provide professionals to business media, IT super dudes, Immaculate Sales staff, and extremely talented conversationalists.

CALL CENTRES WILL BE PULLINGOUT ALL THE STOPS TO SUPPORT RED NOSE DAY


On Friday 13 March, hundreds of Call Centres across the UK will be pulling out all the stops to support Red Nose Day 2009. From taking tons of vital calls from the public when they ring in to donate, to getting up to all sorts of shenanigans to fundraise too, we couldn’t do it without them.


If you’re from one of these wonderful call centres, thank you! We hope you’ll have a great time on Red Nose Night and that you’ll get into the spirit of things with your colleagues to help thousands of poor, vulnerable or disadvantaged people, both across Africa and the UK.

And if you think it’s just about taking calls, think again! Call centre volunteers often send us testimonials highlighting all the fun, frolic and fundraising they’ve taken part in on the night helping to keep everyone motivated through to the early hours of the morning: If you want to join in the fun, why not get the local community involved? Here’s a few ideas to get you going:

Invite a local masseur to come and give volunteers neck and shoulder massages, so you’re relaxed and raring to take those calls.
Ask a local pizza place or supermarket to donate some food to keep those energy levels up!
Local magicians and Balloon artists will jump at the chance to come and entertain you while you work and play hard.
Call centres have contributed massively to the success of Red Nose Day over the years and we never forget that - so have fun and let us know what you got up to! If you’re one of our RND 09 centres, be ready to send us around 100 words and 3 or 4 photos and we’ll try to put them on our website.

"Call centre managers – if you want to be a part of our future campaigns, we’d love to hear from you! Contact Callcentres@comicrelief.com – after red nose day please!”

THE VALIBILITY OF ALTERNATIVE CALL CENTRE PRODUCTION MODELS




In this we outline three alternative production models and discuss their applicability to call centre management. These include the classic mass production model, the professional service model and the mass customisation model. We then develop a theoretical framework that identifies potential causal links between management practices, workers‘ affective and cognitive reactions, and performance outcomes. We use this framework to review literature on service workplaces in organisational behaviour and HR studies and to assess the empirical evidence regarding these causal explanations. Finally, we present two recent quantitative studies of call centre performance – one that examines affective explanations and one that explores cognitive explanations for the HRperformance link. We conclude with directions for future research

WEB INTEGRATED CALL CENTRES



The integration of the Internet and call centre will fuse two of the most potent direct customer access channels available. Effective use of the new operation has the potential to revolutionise customer facing operations and lead to real business benefit for online operations. Datamonitor's new report, 'Web Integrated Call Centres In Europe', examines the new approach to customer facing systems and it's impact on business functionality. Key questions that are answered include : What are the key business drivers for web enabled call centres, and how can they be harnessed for maximising online success? What are the key technologies for successful web integration, and what does this mean for the call centre architecture of the future? How will the web impact on call centre agent functions, and influence internal operations? Identification and analysis of key market drivers, pan-European web integrated call centre market sizing, in addition to vertical market product and activity suitability; What strategies should vendors, integrators and operators adopt to fully exploit the new opportunities

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN CALL CENTRES REPORTS


Overview: This report is about the human resource practices used in U.K. call centers. It is based on a survey of 142 call centers, nearly all CCA members. Senior Call Centre Managers completed the majority of questionnaires. It covered most sectors, but particularly financial services, local government, travel and retail. The average number of employees in each call centre was 130, and the total number of employees covered by the survey was 17,000.

PUBLIC SECTOR CALL CENTRES LAGGING BEHIND PRIVATE SECTOR


Public sector call centres lagging behind private sector
Woking (UK) - February 2009. Research carried out by Rostrvm Solutions has shown that public sector call centres are not making the most of technology such as Computer Telephone Integration (CTI).

In today's challenging environment, every organisation needs to be as efficient as possible. Rostrvm Solutions' research has shown that less than 20% of public sector contact centres take advantage of the technology compared with over 50% in the private sector

Ken Reid of Rostrvm Solutions commented "Public authorities need to look closely at the advantages brought about by CTI. With efficiency being a hot topic in the public sector at present with initiatives such as 'National Indicator 14: Reducing Avoidable Contact' and the efficiency agenda, it is essential that public bodies use the best available technology to streamline customer contact, consolidate business processes and deliver services as efficiently as possible. With all the advantages that CTI has to offer, public authorities can begin the move towards better efficiency in their contact centres."

Rostrvm's research also highlighted the large number of different software applications used by call centre agents to process calls - the numbers ranged from 1 to 20+. Call centre agents use an average of 4 software applications to process a call. Managing multiple applications is a large drain on resources that can be addressed with CTI technology

CALL CENTRES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN LESS FAVOURED REGIONS



Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, Newcastle upon Tyne

This article considers the role of call centres in the economic development of less favoured regions (LFRs). It suggests that call centres represent a new form of mobile service work which these regions are increasingly seeking to attract. It considers the factors which are important in attracting this work. It then explores the policies adopted by two LFRs which have been reasonably successful in doing so. It suggests that there are a number of benefits from the attraction of call centres, particularly employment opportunities not otherwise available in such regions. It also strikes a note of caution, however, questioning, in particular, whether these jobs will last.

CUSTOMER SERVICES REPRESENTATIVES(CSRs)


Customer Services Representatives (CSRs), the key resource within a call centre, are front line employees that have direct knowledge of customers and often play a mission critical role in shaping customer perceptions of organisations. The role of the CSR is increasingly requiring a wide skill set e.g. oral, written, product knowledge, sales, pricing, and technology skills along with an ability to handle stressful situations when dealing with customers.
Call Centres are increasingly being accessed via the Internet and e-commerce is being used to simplify transactions and to provide 24/7 availability. Call Centres use automatic call distributors (ACDs) to route calls to the appropriate CSR. ACDs are computerised phone systems that respond to callers using voice menus and distribute calls evenly between agents. Blended Call Centres allow agents to both make, and receive, calls as demand or strategy dictates. Blended Call Centres often combine ACDs (for incoming calls) with predictive dialling (for outbound calls) thus enabling more efficient use of the agents. The systems may also be linked to computer databases, adding a further level of service by making connections based on a caller's previous history. Skills-based routing can be invoked to connect a caller, along with the appropriate database files, to the CSR having the appropriate skills required e.g. a foreign language. Some ACDs can also route e-mail, faxes, web-initiated calls and customer call-back requests

EGYPT WANTS A BITE OF INDIAN CALL CENTRE MARKET


Egypt Wants a Bite of Indian Call Centre Market


Egypt has set its sights on grabbing a share of the multi-billion dollar Indian-dominated call centre market and is looking to an unexpected corner for a helping hand — India.

As it makes its pitch to the world, touting a multilingual workforce over India’s English-speakers, a time zone shared with Europe and proximity to the US, Egypt is marketing its edge over India to India itself.
The government has sent a high-level delegation to India to convince the IT behemoth to sub-outsource its outsourcing to Egypt.


Several cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed between the two countries, and Indian industry giants such as Wipro and Satyam have signed agreements to set up support centres in Egypt.

According to the Yankee Group, a US-based technology research and consulting firm in IT outsourcing, Egypt is 15 to 20 years behind India, which has boomed to dominate 60 percent of the overall offshore market.

But the south Asian giant struggles to maintain an adequate supply of skilled workers, and handing some of the pie to Egypt could be mutually beneficial, Egypt says.

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) was set up by the government of technocrat Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif in 2004 to guide Egypt’s burgeoning IT industry and propel it onto the world stage.

The government hopes to entice major IT players to set up their call centres, accounting and payroll management — known as business process outsourcing (BPO) — in Egypt, pumping resources into an industry it hopes will elevate the national economy.

“This sector will lead to a renaissance in Egypt,” ITIDA CEO Mohamed Omran told AFP.

So will Egypt become the new India?

“Absolutely not,” said Omran. “We cannot compete with India, we don’t want to compete with India, we want to cooperate with India.”

“It’s what makes the most sense,” said Mai Farouk, an independent IT analyst, currently researching Egypt’s outsourcing industry.

“It would help the industry grow and elevate its standard,” said Farouk, but she fears that the lack of a formal analysis of Egypt’s IT experience so far could send the country down the wrong path.

“There has been no thorough analysis of the Egyptian experience,” she told AFP. “In Egypt, if a type of business is successful, everyone jumps into it. It is an individual and business trend here.

“We need to study and learn from other’s mistakes,” she said.

One problem facing India is the country’s poorly planned roads making it difficult for staff to reach some of the outsourcing centres, something Egypt has picked up on.

Far from the clutter of Cairo, the government has allocated a vast expanse of desert to the highly marketed “Smart Village,” a gated compound built with state of the art technological services.

The lush techno park already houses industry giants Microsoft, Vodafone, Ericsson and Alcatel among others.

At the high-tech Vodafone Egypt offices, employees have already tasted some of that renaissance mentioned by Omran.

Staff have access to their own restaurant, cafe and gym.

Sherif Bakir, head of retail at Vodafone Egypt, says the Smart Village has been very enticing for investors as well as new recruits.

“Young graduates in Egypt are attracted by so many factors in the IT industry: the prospects of a career, the salaries (which are four times that of an average starting salary) and the opportunity to work somewhere like Smart Village with all its benefits,” he said.

“And in Egypt, being a call centre agent is not seen like being a telephone operator. It’s not a dead end job, it’s seen as a stepping stone to a career in the IT industry.”

But critics say Egypt’s outsourcing “boom” won’t develop into more than a boutique industry, with the much-touted multilingual and skilled human resource pool amounting to a tiny percentage of Egypt’s 76 million population.

A high level of illiteracy, dire poverty and a very large rural population mean that most won’t touch the benefits of a booming IT industry.

Omran, of ITIDA, says the figures speak for themselves.

“A tiny percentage of a huge population is a lot of people,” he said. “We’re talking millions. And IT is like blood, it gets into the veins of all industries and sectors.”

He is eager to showcase his agency’s pride and joy: Xceed, one of the largest contact centres in North Africa and the IT arm of the government-owned Telecom Egypt.

At the 16,000-square-metre (170,000-square-foot) space equipped with “cutting edge fault tolerant IT infrastructure,” 1,200 agents offer customer and technical support to General Motors, Microsoft and Oracle among others, in eight languages including English, French, German and Hebrew.

According to Xceed, in 2005, nearly 70 percent of total outsourced Egyptian workstations were supporting local customers.

“However, by 2010 this will be nearly completely reversed with 65 percent of Egyptian outsourced workstations servicing foreign end-users.”

The ministry of communication and information technology is trying to attract foreign companies with a special focus on call centres, by offering five to 10 year tax exemptions, branding Egypt as a safe oasis in a troubled region

GUIDLINES FOR CALL CENTRE ESTABLISHMENT


This guideline provides important information for agencies considering the establishment of a Call Centre as part of their service delivery strategy.

The guideline outlines the key criteria that should be used in approaching the establishment of an internal call centre, with advice given according to industry best practice. The main sections in this guideline examine:

Assessing the need for a call centre to be created, researching anticipated benefits and identifying required resources;
Planning and development decisions, addressing size, location and financial issues;
Practical establishment factors, such as telecommunications, facilities, staffing and marketing.
Call Centres - or Customer Contact Centres - now play an important role in the delivery of government services, as agencies require more cost-effective strategies for service provision.

This guideline is primarily for agency level practice but to meet government requirements it should be applied to individuals, sectors and whole-of-government programs. The guideline directs readers to other sources of information standards and legislation, and contains appendices outlining various steps in the establishment of a call centre.

This guideline is best read in conjunction with the Operational Guidelines for Best Practice Call Centres.

SERVICES OF AN INBOUND CALL CENTRE


SERVICES OF AN INBOUND CALL CENTRE
Inbound call centers are designed to take catalog orders, help desk queries, dealer locations and more. They offer customized services according to the business they are dealing and hence give constant orientation and training to there employees working for that particular project. The inbound call centre professionals process calls and integrate Interactive Voice Response. They also use Internet services to sell additional products and offer services in a dedicated environment.
Apart from this they also integrate customer care services, predict customer behavior and take action accordingly, while the customers are still on the line. So it can easily be said that in this business you have to be on your toes all the time. The inbound call center employ a dedicated team of live operators, account representatives and program managers. Offering 24/7 operator availability for the customers, these call centers provide round-the-clock account management. Attention on detail is a must trait for surviving in this business.
Inbound call centres offer communication services specifically designed to maximize the efficiency of direct marketing efforts or to be a part of the technical support team of the clients. They help the business in building a successful long-lasting relationship with customers and hence ensure the growth of the business.
Inbound Call Center offer
• Skilled, professional, customer support and technical service representatives
• Experience with programs similar to yours
• Rapid response to market conditions
• Market research
• Account management expertise
• Enhanced reporting capabilities
• Market testing capabilities
• Improved market coverage
• Faster ramp-up, launch, and roll-out of new campaigns

CALL CENTRE DYNAMICS


CALL CENTRE DYNAMICS
Types of calls are often divided into outbound and inbound. Inbound calls are calls that are made by the consumer to obtain information, report a malfunction, or ask for help. These calls are substantially different from outbound calls, where agents place calls to potential customers mostly with intentions of selling or service to the individual. (See telemarketing). It is possible to combine inbound and outbound campaigns, but it is not a common practice.
Call centre staff are often organised into a multi-tier support system for a more efficient handling of calls. The first tier in such a model consists of operators, who direct inquiries to the appropriate department and provide general directory information. If a caller requires more assistance, the call is forwarded to the second tier, where most issues can be resolved. In some cases, there may be three or more tiers of support staff. If a caller requires more assistance, the caller is forwarded to the third tier of support; typically the third tier of support is formed by product engineers/developers or highly skilled technical support staff of the product.
Call centres have their critics. Some critics argue that the work atmosphere in such an environment is de-humanising. Others point to the low rates of pay and restrictive working practices of some employers. There has been much controversy over such things as restricting the amount of time that an employee can spend in the toilet. Furthermore, call centres have been the subject of complaints by callers who find the staff often do not have enough skill or authority to resolve problems, while the dehumanised workers very often exhibit an attitude of apathy to even the most abusive customer.
Owing to the highly technological nature of the operations in such offices, the close monitoring of staff activities is easy and widespread. This can be argued to be beneficial, to enable the company to better plan the workload and time of its employees. Some people have argued that such close monitoring breaches human rights to privacy.

INBOUND VS OUTBOUND CALL CENTRE


At its most fundamental, a call center is nothing more than a workflow. The main distinction in call centers specialization is the direction of that workflow: inbound or outbound.
In one scenario, customers call in; the system prompts them for information; the call is routed to an appropriate person; and the call is handled. Specialized programs can help your company save and manage information about the interactions you have with customers.
In the other direction, a call center employee initiates the contact from a client or customer list, and may track the customer interaction in a specialized software program.
In the inbound category, you have the types of interactions that are initiated by the customer:
• Customer service (customers call with questions about accounts)
• Sales (customers call in response to direct mail or other advertising to purchase items)
• Technical support (customers call with questions about how to use a product or service)
You already know whether customer service or sales work is integral to your business. The questions will be whether to expand the options for interacting with your customers by setting up a contact center, and whether you invest in a complete in-house system or outsource all or part of the service.
With outbound call centers, the company initiates the call. This area includes:
• Telemarketing (salespeople call customers or prospects)
• Collections (agents call customers regarding overdue bills

SOUTH AFRICA OUTSOURCED CONTACT CENTRE INDUSTRY


South Africa’s outsourced contact centre industry has enjoyed sound growth and expects to see the number of outsourced seats reach about 60 000 in the next five to seven years.
However, the government’s aim to add 100 000 seats to the industry from offshore operations by 2009 seems improbable unless the country addresses its value proposition, Frost & Sullivan information and communication technology analyst Spiwe Chireka reports.
The two critical success factors for South Africa will be the availability of skills and its telecommunications infrastructure. To improve the growth rate for this sector, South African call centre stakeholders should consider investing in skills development and contain the attrition rate. All the initiatives to attract investment will be futile if the contact centres do not have the human resources to deliver.
Chireka says that stakeholders must tackle perceptions that are harmful to the growth of the industry. There is a belief in the market that South African telecommunications costs are among the highest in the world, and this is affecting South Africa’s cost competitiveness. This contention has, however, never been independently proven to be accurate, he says.
Chireka explains that in order to manage this negative perception, industry stake- holders need to appoint an independent body to verify whether this is indeed the case, and resolve it promptly if it is, either by reducing costs or by justifying them to potential investors.
Resolving these concerns could go a long way towards enabling South Africa to grow its domestic and offshore contact centres effectively, he adds.
In addition, the availability of skills will reduce the initial human resources training costs, which would be a major competitive advantage. Low attrition rates also translate into increased efficiency of the contact centres and less retraining costs.
However, South Africa‘s information technology (IT) and contact centre skills are limited, which is a hindrance to the country’s success as an alternative destination for investors. The skills shortage is not limited to the IT sector however. In-house and outsourced contact centres in South Africa have to deal with a lack of appropriate skills, particularly in middle management. Operators looking to set up operations in South Africa are subsequently likely to face increased overheads as they have to conduct extra training.
Chireka notes that expected growth in the industry seems likely. However, an analysis by Frost & Sullivan suggests that the planned growth in the industry is unlikely to be realised under the current circumstances.
Factors influencing growth are value propositions that are not all relevant, since South Africa is relying increasingly on factors such as good language capabilities, favourable time zones, its advanced financial services sector and strong government support, which investors are not necessarily looking for anymore.
Language and time zones have become irrelevant as most offshore destinations are operating 24-hour centres and have large English-speaking populations.
Nevertheless, the South African call centre Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) landscape seems to be develop- ing well. In 2005, the South African government earmarked the sector as a target for job creation and attracting foreign direct investment. With this increased interest, the number of call centres has grown significantly, from 450 call centres, in 2004, to over 1 300, in 2007. This number is expected to reach 2 000 in 2012.
Chireka says that although government has provided support, this support is regarded by some industry organisations as slow and bureaucratic. This has in some cases frustrated investors into setting up their operations elsewhere. Nevertheless, South Africa is also expecting growth in the offshore contact centre market, Chireka says.
The government, in partner- ship with call centre industry bodies, launched an aggressive campaign in 2007 to promote South Africa as a viable destination for offshore contact centre operations. This drive aims to create about 100 000 offshore seats and to attract foreign investment of between $90-million and $175-million.
The number of outsourced contact centres has grown from 130, in 2004, to 435, in 2007. The number of outsourced seats in the country is estimated to be between 24 000 and 25 000. The key factors driving this growth have been increased government support for the sector and the strong alignment with key offshore markets.
South Africa’s value proposition offers savings of between 30% and 40% on near-shore contact centre operations, an advanced telecommunications infrastructure, good language capabilities and world-class skills standards.
Other offerings include an advanced financial services and insurance sector and strong government support that creates an enabling environment for existing and potential investors in the industry.
However, South Africa does not compete favourably in terms of set-up and operating costs. Local labour costs, in particular, are considered too high in comparison with those of the country’s competitors. Although there is an increasing trend for a high price-quality ration in operations, outsourcing is still fundamentally driven by cost. This is a significant factor in restricting the growth of the outsourced contact centre industry.
Countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya are also making headway into the offshore contact centre space. Kenya has made large investments into its telecommunications infrastructure and is looking to have a world-class telecoms network by 2015. Ghana and Nigeria have also undertaken aggressive BPO initiatives, although it is on a smaller scale.
“With this increasing com-petition, especially from Kenya, South Africa’s dominance as an offshore destination for contact centres in Africa may be under threat,” Chireka reports.
Meanwhile, contact centres and call centres are dependent on the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
An unnamed analyst comments that ongoing competition between telecommunications operators Telkom and Neotel is still affecting the industry. He comments that, when companies need additional bandwidth or capacity, Neotel seems be the preferred provider.
The analyst notes that industry players are taking new business to Neotel, and that it will take some time before Telkom will be able to provide the same level of service. Nevertheless, Neotel has access to the submarine SAT-3 cable that will link South Africa to Europe and the West Coast. The company is still rolling out its network and Telkom is only likely to see the loss of big contracts in the next one to three years.
Meanwhile, international bandwidth has been significantly overpriced in South Africa, the analyst reports. Besides Neotel accessing the SAT-3 cable, the connection of other undersea cables such as the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy) and Seacom will benefit users and provide meaningful reduction in terms of bandwidth costs. The analyst predicts that the implementation of these cables in the industry will probably cut bandwidth costs by at least half.
Another trend in the industry is the growth of mobile telecommunications companies. Although there is a lot of double counting, which means that there is still a lot of growth in the mobile market, the market is still fairly well penetrated, the analyst reports. Mobile oper-ators are looking to companies that are rolling out their own fibre cables for future growth. Instead of leasing lines with Telkom to broaden their base, mobile operators will be leasing it themselves which will, more than generating revenue, save costs on the short term.
Finally, alternative network companies, such as Vox Telecoms, are buying wholesale capacities from incumbents and offer services directly to corporate companies. They are not rolling out their own networks and although they are making progress, it will be a slow and steady process before they will make a national impact on the market.

BULGARIA FUTURE AS A CALL CENTRE


The UK Daily Mail is reporting that several leading British firms are preparing to move their call centres to Bulgaria. The newspaper reports that workers' salaries in Bulgaria now undercut those of India.

"Bulgarians can staff customer service centres, enter data and develop software for less than India, where wages have soared in recent years following an influx of foreign firms," the paper reports. "Bulgarian call centre staff can command 1500 pounds sterling a year, compared with 2500 pounds in India."

The Daily Mail also reports that, last week, bookmaker William Hill announced that it was moving some jobs to Bulgaria and that computer firm Hewlett Packard has also opened a call centre in Sofia. The paper quotes Kerry Hallard, of the National Outsourcing Association, as saying: "A major draw is that it's near. If there is a problem, the management know they can get there within half a day. The salaries are some of the lowest in Europe and there is a big pool of graduates. Call centres and white-collar work are seen as good jobs because the alternative is manufacturing or, unfortunately, unemployment."

CALL CENTRE SECTOR IS BOOMING


CALL CENTRE SECTOR IS BOOMING

A recent report by Tricia Phillips for the Mirror gives some much-needed positive publicity for the customer contact industry.

Focusing on the fact that three per cent of the working population are employed by call centres, the report states that “the modern call centre is a far cry from its battery farm image.”

There is even a quote from CCF’s own editor, Claudia Hathway, who said: “Call centres are not 21st Century sweatshops that do not care for their staff or offer a worthwhile career.

“What’s more, the industry is currently bucking the economic trend and the overall number of positions is growing.”

The article goes on to profile mum-of-two Julie Hourihan, who has built a successful career with Lloyds TSB Direct.

BUSY CALL CENTRES-EASY CALL CENTRE SOFTWARE


BUSY CALL CENTRES - EASY CALL CENTRE SOFTWARE
An important situation which needs to be handled is when the next call comes in to an operator before he or she has finished inputting the details for the last call. Both Rockets' call centre software, Ansaplus and Dynamic Plus handles this situation but in different ways. Ansaplus handles this by automatically saving the message and flagging it as unfinished. The operator can return to the message and complete after finishing the current call. Dynamic Plus handles this by allowing the operator to answer the next call by presenting the next greeting while still finishing the current script.

ECONOMIC DOWNTURN GOOD FOR CALL CENTRES BUISNESS


ECONOMIC DOWNTURN GOOD FOR CALL CENTRE BUISNESS - IPSCAPE OPEX MODEL ATTRACTS NEW DEALS
IPscape Pty Ltd today reported the current economic downturn has boosted sales of its pay-as-you-go call centre solutions and pay-if-you-use disaster recovery service. IPscape specialises in hosted customer contact solutions including inbound and outbound call centres. The solutions bundle telecommunication costs, call centre software and administration into a monthly payment rather than an upfront capital expenditure.

Sydney, Australia, February 20, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Pscape Pty Ltd today reported the current economic downturn has boosted sales of its pay-as-you-go call centre solutions and pay-if-you-use disaster recovery service.

‘The concept of transforming a capital cost into a variable cost is very compelling when available capital is limited and the outlook uncertain,’ said Simon Burke, CEO at IPscape. ‘Call centres can be extremely capital intensive and we’ve had a rash of new sales from businesses wanting to break free of the “constant investment” cycle.’

Latest IPscape deals include Thomas Direct, a QLD based outsourcer; a Northern Territory government department; professional sales & lead generation company, Strike Force Sales; Home Based Call Centres (HBCC) and SEMA, a marketing IT solutions group.

‘Every day we learn of another indicator highlighting economic uncertainty, causing concern and capex restraint in the business community,’ noted Burke.

‘The real kicker is the organisations that are more efficient will be better placed to ride out the turbulence but efficiency is often predicated on new or updated technology; which in old world technology parlance means capex.

‘In these harsh times IPscape’s modern opex model for new contact centres, or to gain additional functionality, can boost efficiency even when capex has been frozen or slashed.’

IPscape specialises in hosted customer contact solutions including inbound and outbound call centres. The solutions bundle telecommunication costs, call centre software and administration into a monthly payment rather than an upfront capital expenditure.

IPscape also offers a disaster recovery service for contact centres on a pay-if-you use basis reducing the disaster recovery spending to only when a disaster strikes.

‘Our solutions are designed to make operating a call centre simple and cost effective but include all the clever features that improve response and productivity,’ commented Burke. ‘Our hosting model means we can have a new campaign ready in minutes so clients can capitalise on even a fleeting window of opportunity.’

PRIMUS AUSTRALIAN CALL CENTRE CREATED 1000 JOBS IN 2008

PRIMUS TELECOM HAS CREATD 1000 LOCAL JOBS WITH THE LAUNCH OF A FULL SERVICE CALL CENTRE IN THE MELBOURNE CBD :The $3.2 million call centre in Flinders Street was officially opened yesterday by Federal Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy.The 430 seat centre will employ 700 staff directly and another 300 indirectly. The new facility also incorporates a training and development centre."This is great news for the local economy with more jobs staying here in Melbourne," Senator Conroy said."By investing in Australia’s telecommunications industry, Primus is continuing to play an important role in delivering competition for the benefit of Australian consumers. The Australian Government welcomes investments such as the new Primus call centre in Melbourne."Bucking the trend to move call centre operations overseas, Primus Telecom CEO Ravi Bhatia said an Australian workforce delivers a superior standard of customer care."Almost all of our competitors have moved their call centre jobs and customer support jobs overseas," Bhatia said."Primus is one company which has faith in Australia and thinks people in Australia are highly talented and can do a wonderful job and have high productivity levels."Serving around 500,000 customers, the call centre handles all aspects of customer contact including inbound and outbound sales, service delivery, provisioning, billing, customer care and technical help desk functions.The opening comes a month after Primus completed a multi- million dollar upgrade to its Melbourne data centre. The upgrade doubled the footprint of the data centre, allowing Primus to expand its offering of virtual web hosting, ASP services, e-commerce, co- location and dedicated server farms.Primus' decision to retain Australian call centre staff comes amid a growing customer backlash against offshore call centres. A recent customer churn survey undertaken by BMC Software found 75 per cent of respondents listed onshore call centres as a key to customer loyalty.

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