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.

ads

SEARCH ENGINE

Check these out!

Clock

Online Flag Counter

Flag Counter

free counters

CALL CENTER FEEDS