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.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOOD CALL CENTRE MANAGER

THE ABILITY TO LEAD . During the interview uncover if the candidate has successfully lead a group of people. Presumably the candidate has call center management experience, so ask about other leadership roles, whether it was in Boy Scouts, the military, schools, team sports, etc... How do they define their leadership style and how do they measure if their leadership style is the right style. Have them give at least 2 examples where they lead a team towards a desired result(s).
SENSE OF HUMOUR. My biggest strength as a call center manager is my use of humor to create levity. A call center manager who takes themselves too seriously just adds unnecessary stress into an already stressful environment and will eventually alienate their supervisors and agents. Being able to find the fun and enjoyable aspects of being employed in a call center, and there are many along with the benefits of, and then exploiting them will naturally keep agent turnover at a minimum, while maintaining a high morale level. Does the candidate appear relaxed and approachable? Do they make remarks that make you smile and laugh? We all enjoy being around people who a genuinely fun to be around.
ABLE TO SELL IDEAS. Call centers are constantly changing which means agents must be sold on the benefits of the changes. Selling ideas, actually selling anything, comes down to showing "What’s in it for them?” We buy into ideas that benefit us in some way (i.e. makes our job easier, reduces stress, removes a tedious routine, increases efficiency, etc...). For example, if you are faced with agents not following the established dress code regarding proper footwear you can sell the idea as wearing sandals and flip-flops is a health and safety issue. The agents will understand why this is and comply, because there's a "What’s in it for them?" in not badly damaging their toes. Give the candidate a hypothetical scenario, or better yet one your call center actually experienced, where the agents had to learn a new process, technology or there was a change in policy and ask how they would have sell this change to the agents.
UNDERSTANDS MANAGEMENT IS NOT ABOUT HAVING CONTROL. Most call center managers have the misconception that their primary role is to "put out fires". If a call center manager is spending their day putting out fires that is a sure sign they are not giving enough, if any, authority to their supervisors and agents to make decisions. Does requiring authorization to pick up overnight delivery costs warrant putting the customer on hold, thus increasing the call handle time, the agent's time in locating a supervisor or the call center manager's time and then the supervisor or call center manager's time? In past call center managerial roles how must authority did the candidate's agents have? Is the candidate comfortable in giving agents a high level of decision making? A good call center manager makes sure their supervisors and agents have the tools and training to do their job and to make decisions which are in the customer's and company's best interest and then... here's the key... allows (READ: trust) them to make those decisions. By the way management is about guiding people towards a sought after result(s).
A VISIONARY. THE BIG PICTURE... a good call center manager is always looking at the big picture, which why they do not want to be spending their days putting out fires. Having a vision of what the call center will look like in a year's time, 3-years time, 5-years time, etc... and guiding the call center to where they see it being is critical to not being left behind while the competition increases its call center experience by taking advantage of the latest technology and motivational psychology. Outsourcing, web-enabling, marketing, the Do Not Call registry, advances in telephony technology, tele-working, etc...have literally forced call centers today to operate differently that just 5 years ago. Give the candidate an overview of your company's business model and competition and then ask how they see the next level of the call center looking? This is where the 25% comes in. Are they on top of the last call center technology? Do they see where they can integrate CRM software and workforce management to enhance to caller's experience? How about feeding back results, data, customer feedback to various department heads throughout the company so business processes, product lines, ordering, etc... can be adjusted to accommodate the ever changing consumer demands? Today we expect to be able to order a pizza by simply giving our telephone number. The agent repeats back our address and has our order history. Not long ago this was not the case. Major pizza chains now offer the ability to order online. Within the next 3 years I predict the majority of pizza will be ordered online. How will this change the way pizza chain call centers interact with their customers?
OUTSIDE THE BOX THINKER. This is by far the most important attribute for a call centre manager to have. The amount of creativity that can be used to manage a call centre is endless. I am a big proponent of incentives to reward certain behaviors and key performance indicators (KPIs) and therefore spend a good portion of my time creating, implementing and maintaining incentives. The return I get is well worth it and I find the more creative, but not complex, the incentive is the better the results. Up selling in a creative way, such a creating value packages, will yield much better results than simply trying to tack on a product or service to an order. Being creative in how technology is used to create call center efficiencies, increase revenue (even uncover new sources) or manage the productivity of agents is what differentiates a good call center manager from one which is mediocre at best. Managing a call center is an art in itsel

GOOD CALL CENTRE SERVICE HELPS REDUCE DEFECTIONS

GOOD CALL CENTRE SERVICE HELPS REDUCE DEFECTIONS :For some industries, reducing customer defections by just 5% can double profits according to the Harvard Business Review...
ExM ViewsCast is a global, automated feedback system that provides you with a cost effective approach for accurately and instantly gathering call center customer feedback. ExM ViewsCast can even be used to survey call centre employees to assess their levels of satisfaction. Linking the Customer and Employee experience together will provide you with the information you need to maximize your center's performance.
ExM ViewsCast combined with the thought leadership and advanced analytics provided by our team of ExM experts will provide you with powerful insights into your customer and employee experiences to help your organization develop best practices, target training opportunities, and identify call center operational improvement initiatives.
To collect customer feedback, at the initial point of contact with the call center, customers are invited to participate in a short survey. At the conclusion of their call, customers are transferred to the ExM ViewsCast system where they answer a short survey (usually 2-3 minutes) about their call centre experience. They can also leave a verbatim Voice of the Customer comment. ExM ViewsCast is also used to capture customer feedback from other channels such as online and chat customer contact. Employee feedback is gathered by having employees either call into a toll-free number to complete a short survey or log on to a secure website to fill in a web survey about their satisfaction. The results are available real-time online as well. Verbatim comments can be transcribed to maintain confidentiality.
With ExM ViewsCast, you can access the results in real-time using ViewsSummary, the ExM ViewsCast web reporting tool providing you with invaluable feedback helping you to drive your business forward (custom web deliverables also available). The information captured can be analyzed at various levels (agent, team, call centre).
ExM ViewsCast also provides a solution to allow you to compare your call centre's performance against a global benchmark of call centres in your region, industry and globally. As an ExM ViewsCast call centre client, you will have the opportunity to participate in our ExM ViewsCast Global ScoreCard - Synovate's very own global call centre benchmark initiative. See how your centre compares to others in your industry, across industries and by region. It provides you with the information needed to pinpoint the most crucial drivers of service excellence and understand the link between delighting customers and call center operational metrics

BPO(MUMBAI) CALL CENTRES BANKS AND BUISNESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING

DoT rule to lower bandwidth costs

Call centres, banks and business process outsourcing (BPO) units could soon find their bandwidth costs head south.
That is the likely fallout of a decision taken today by the department of telecommunications (DoT) to permit the re-sale of international private leased circuits (IPLC) or international wholesale bandwidth.
“The government has permitted resale of IPLC and introduced a category called the ‘resale of IPLC’ service licence with effect from September 24,” the DoT said.
The resellers will buy the wholesale bandwidth from licensed international long-distance (ILD) operators such as Reliance Communications, Tata Communications (formerly VSNL) or Bharti and sell it to end-consumers such as BPOs, banks, and exporters.
“The move will enable data carriage at competitive costs. While it will benefit those using IPLC for data carriage, major ILD operators such as Tata Communications, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications will face more competition in terms of offering better rates,” an industry watcher said.
The increase in the number of players is also expected to improve the quality of services, he said.
The BPO sector accounts for almost 70 per cent of IPLC bandwidth in India, industry experts said.
The government has allowed open competition in the resale of IPLC without any ceiling on the number of resellers.
However, operators will have to be Indian companies with a net worth as well as paid-up capital of at least Rs 2.5 crore. The FDI cap for IPLC resellers is fixed at 74 per cent – in keeping with the current level in the telecom sector.
The resellers will be allowed to provide end-to-end IPLC of any capacity between India and the country of destination. They will be permitted to enter into agreements for leased line with access providers, national long distance and ILD service providers.

TURKEY CALL CENTRE DAYS 2009

In 2009 İstanbul Call Center Awards Ceremony which will take place within this 2 days conference, we will experience together again the excitement of awarding individuals and organizations contributed to the development of the sector.
Being the most important reference source of the call center sector, Türkiye Call Center Catalogue, the first and only catalogue in the sector,will be handed out to participants during the expo as every year.
Call Center Days Continues to Bring Together Call Center Sector Employees and Managers in Different Organizations…
Call Center Days, along with the conference, expo and awards ceremony,harbors also the events more colorful than each other.
Comprising the visits every year to the most important call centers in different countries of the world, the second stop of “TReCCM - Turkey Executive Call Center Meetings” will take place during 4-9 May, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. We believe this important meeting, harboring visits to a well-known bank and telecom call centers, will open new horizons for senior executives of the sector.
III. Traditional Call Center Festival which will be performed on June 28 with the participation of hundreds of call center employees, II. Call Center My Photographs Contest, and The Most Talented Call Center Contest which we are prepared to present for the first time this year are our other events that we will be organizing for you to take part.
The “Turkey Executive Call Center Meetings Days”, which will serve as a meeting ground for international investors who want to be in Turkish market, will be held for the first time on September 3-4, 2009.
The point which Call Center Days, the most important meeting point of the call center sector, has reached today sheds light over the targets we determined for the coming years. We will be happy to host you in these meetings, the most important call center event of the year

CALL CENTRE EXPO AND CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT EXPO

Call Centre Expo & Customer Management Expo – An enormous success!
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The co-locating exhibitions Call Centre Expo and Customer Management Expo had yet another fantastic year increasing attendance by 10% over the two days.

Melissa Roberts, the exhibition Event Manager, is thrilled with the event’s success, ‘What a great two days – the event is an extremely positive reflection on contact centre and customer management industry professionals who attend the event to discover best practice, new products and strategies, as well as learn how to overcome the business challenges they are facing.’ She continues, ‘We have smashed the show targets, have high quality partnerships with the industry’s leading suppliers and are well positioned for 2009.’

Attracting visitors from customer service, operations, contact centres, HR, marketing, sales and IT and with an increased level of attendee seniority on 2007 at 74%, the visitor demographics demonstrate that it is the decision makers from key organisations who were on the stands talking to suppliers.

Andrew Aldred, Marketing Services Manager at Charter UK commented, ‘We have had many quality conversations on the stand with senior level visitors and it is looking good in terms of lead generation.’ Joanne Hatherley from Ultra Communications backed up this view, ‘The quality of visitors has been far higher this year and we have spoken to people who are here to solve real challenges by sourcing and purchasing the right products.’

So despite the current economic climate, the contact centre and customer management industry seems to be thriving and intent on achieving the best results possible and continued good customer service in today’s market. The event’s exhibitors were also keen to ensure they had a stand in 2009 with 93% rebooking for next year onsite.

Tony Brown from Harding & Yorke, commented, ‘This event is a worthwhile investment. I believe the mix of products and services on offer here is right and will be back in 2009’ and Genesys Telecommunications’ Marketing Manager, Lucille Jackson, agreed, ‘This show represents the industry well and always attracts great visitors. It has been another successful event for us and we have gained promising leads. It’s one of our key events within the marketing calendar and we have booked a stand for 2009.’

The free education programme at the event proved to be popular with over 830 visitors attending at least one of the six keynote sessions. Plus, the three Solutions Theatres - Call Centre Technology (sponsored by ntl:Telewest), Customer Management Technology (sponsored by Living-e), and Call Centre & Customer Management Services (sponsored by Siemens) – had visitors who weren’t lucky enough to get a seat standing at the back of the theatre to see the latest technology and product demonstrations over the two days.

The high level CCF Conference running alongside the two events was also a massive draw for many of the attendees with over 370 delegates creating their own bespoke itinerary of quality educational content and big brand case studies from the 36 sessions and masterclasses.

Next year’s event will take place on 15th – 16th September 2009 in Hall 9 at the NEC, Birmingham.

Further comments on the 2008 event:

‘This is our third year at Call Centre Expo and once again we’ve had a great show. A high calibre of visitor and constant stand traffic has enabled us to show off ciboodle to the crème de la crème of the call centre industry.’
Rachel Tait, Regional Marketing Communications Manager, ciboodle (exhibitor)

‘This is the best show that we take part in terms of the quality of leads that come in and we have arranged many meetings with potential clients already. We decided to launch our new brand at the show as we believe this is the perfect platform and have seen people queuing up at the stand to talk to us.’
Sean Wilkinson, Managing Director, Corporate Rewards (exhibitor)

‘This event caters for all you could need to run a call or contact centre. There is a good range of products and services and is a place to source the right suppliers’
CEO, Tympana Ltd, Jamaica (visitor)

‘This is the third year I have attended, the event keeps me up to date with the latest services, ideas and offerings as well as providing the ideal place for arranging meetings. The keynote sessions I have attended were entertaining and uncovered new ways of thinking.’
Director, Customerex Ltd (visitor)

DELIVER CUSTOMER SERVICE LIKE NOBODY ELSE

Deliver customer service like nobody else
Your customers come to you because of your business DNA and the service you offer. So it stands to reason that if you provide an even better customer experience, you can increase the loyalty of your existing customers and attract new ones.
With all of the different ways to communicate, your customers want to be able to choose how they interact with you. That means adapting your call centre accordingly – new technology, new designs, new processes and strategies.

SHOULD I USE CALL CENTRE

As with most decisions every business owner faces, considering use of a call centre is best made with in-depth and frank analysis of what your business really is about, where it is at, where you want it to get to and if and how a call centre can help it get there.
Start by considering if your business has a big need for product service support, IT or help desk support or telephone/Internet sales support, which are the most common functions of a call centre. If the answer is yes, then consider the extent of your resources dedicated to that function and whether or not it is the core competency of your business or a distraction, says Gordon McKenna, president of TeleQuest Global, a U.S.-based call centre consultancy, and past president of the American Teleservices Association.
If the dedication of such resources is a distraction, then a call centre could make a lot of sense.
"What impact are these functions having on the organization right now?" says Beverly Lundh, programs chair, B.C. Contact Centre Association. "Key motivations for outsourcing call centre activity are typically cost management in an area that has become a factor in business growth or increasing service requirements. If there's a disproportionate amount of time going in to general inquiries, for example, and it is impacting your ability to grow the business in other ways, then that's a perfect
opportunity to outsource that activity to a call centre."
If your small business is currently shrugging off the doom-and-gloom economic news because it is well positioned to grow, it might also be an opportune moment to call up a call centre company, especially if you are facing added labour and technology requirements in any of the functions.

IMPORTANCE OF ASIAN CONTACT CENTRE INDUSTRY BENCHMARKING REPORTS

The report provides you with information about the size and scope of the contact center industry in Asia and the eight countries studied
Learn about industry benchmarks of performance in areas including: Operations, Human Resources, Technology, Finances, Sales and Revenue generation, Outsourcing and more
Use the information contained in this report to gauge your center's performance in relation to the rest of the industry
Find out the difference between the Outsource sector and the Captive contact center markets

OUTBOUND CALL CENTRE PERFORMANCE: IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH CALL BLENDING

Outbound call centres hold an important place in the present business scenario. Though some call centres work only on an inbound operation, most work on both. These are usually the bigger call centres that have separate groups of trained agents specialising in inbound and outbound calls.
However, smaller call centres can’t afford to have entirely different sets of agents specialising in incoming and outgoing calls; they usually rotate their agents from time to time between inbound and outbound operations. For these call centres, the biggest question that bugs management is how to manage a balance between inbound and outbound operations, so that there are enough agents to handle calls when the call volume rises and the productivity doesn’t fall down when the call volume falls.
Here, call blending plays its role. Simply defined, call blending means using outbound agents to receive inbound calls, or using inbound agents to make outbound calls. For example, if the agents receiving calls remain idle for a particular amount of time, they can be used for outbound operations. Similarly, in a process handling collections, receiving calls is as important as placing calls, so the agents can be used for both. Thus, by integrating inbound and outbound services, call blending allows any call centre to maximise its agent’s skills as well as time.

CALL CENTRE TECHNOLOGY IS SUBJECT TO IMPROVEMENTS AND INNOVATIONS

Call centre technology is subject to improvements and innovations. Some of these technologies include speech recognition and speech synthesis software to allow computers to handle first level of customer support, text mining and natural language processing to allow better customer handling, agent training by automatic mining of best practices from past interactions, and many other technologies to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction.[2] Automatic lead selection or lead stearing is also intended to improve efficiencies[3], both for inbound and outbound campaigns, whereby inbound calls are intended to quickly land with the appropriate agent to handle the task, whilst minimising wait times and long lists of irrelevant options for people calling in, as well as for outbound calls, where lead selection allows management to designate what type of leads go to which agent based on factors including skill, socio-economic factors and past performance and percentage likelihood of closing a sale per lead. The concept of the Universal Queue standardises the processing of communications across multiple technologies such as fax, phone, and email.

ORCCA IS DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE CONTACT CENTRE PROFESSION

OTTAWA REGIONAL CONTACT CENTRE ASSOCIATION
The Ottawa Regional Contact Centre Association or ORCCA is dedicated to the advancement of the contact centre profession throughout the Ottawa Region. ORCCA hosts regular meetings, workshops and other special events that enable the sharing of ideas, the enhancement of industry skills, and the opportunity to learn from experts about new developments and trends.

INDIAN CALL CENTRES INDUSTRY

INDIAN CALL CENTRES INDUSTRY

Call Centers are required for large companies to sell their products to the customers, proposing a product or service as well as for the after-sale enquiries made by the customers. Call centers in India are at its peak today. Customized solution through customer interactive programs in the success mantra of numerous corporate firms nowadays. For the strategic business development - that requires acquired skills for customer queries, solutions etc., Indian call-centers are at par with the current marketing demands. Call centers not only handle the task of interacting with customers but also provide a wider base for official tasks of inventories, bill handling, web-solutions and various other business requirement proceedings.Call centers in India are prospering upon the upscale rise amongst the entrepreneurs who are trying to allure their customers through inbound and outbound calling facility. This concept raving in US have enabled many offshore call centers establishments, majorly is India. The quality of English is at par with the international standards. Indians are technically literate and comfortable with new technologies arising in the industry. Indian call centers work round the clock and provide 24-hour support for the customers of these US based clients. From the concept of being just a voice based medium of customer support, today call centers are referred to as 'Contact Centers' which are capable of handling customer queries over phone or the online medium. Qualified professional talent with fluency in English and a neutral accent with the ability to shift to different accents have made India, a preferred destination for offshore clients. Call center industry in India is projected at $142 billion by the year 2008 as per NASSCOM. With its built-in potency, India is advertised as the hot destination for 'offshore outsourcing hub'. The booming Indian call center industry is the benchmark of the changing global trend. Reducing cost for business proceeding is the prime focus of the corporate houses. They realized that shifting their call-center operations to India would heavily cut down their costs. Business settlement laws were reviewed and it was easier for alien firms to settle in the Indian soils. The country produces technically sound work force with high standards of English. The call center industry estimated to grow into $301 billion industry by 2010 is a sheer pleasure for the aspiring workforce in India. Call centers in India has also effectively developed a niche in the areas of data verification, data capture, tele research, service follow-ups and renewing subscriptions, which becomes the core outbound activities of a call center. Unless there is talented enough manpower to handle such queries, no business organization will make a move. Thus India have taken a leap step in call center industry, which in recent have been the home more developed nations like Australia, New Zealand, and European nation.

CALL CENTRES ARE BECOMING ONE OF THE VITAL ASPECTS OF ANY BUISNESS

CALL CENTRES ARE BECOMING ONE OF THE VITAL ASPECTS OF ANY BUISNESS
In the age of technology, call Centres are becoming one of the vital aspects of any business. Companies primarily use call Centres to take orders and to solve technical problems. Because of the enormous increase in usage to call Centres companies are now outsourcing this aspect of their businesses to save money.In the past people usually bought most of their products such as televisions, dishwashers, and refrigerators at stores. If they had problems with the equipment they would usually contact the store to see what they needed to do to fix it. You would never order a big ticket item like this without at least going to see it. When people have trouble with their computer they do not want to have to go to the store they bought it multiple times just to get past the start screen. Also, most stores don't have the particular expertise on each model that you would find in the company that built it. This has led to companies setting up call Centres where people can call in and receive tips or instruction on how to use their machines. The people that work the call Centres know all the basic problems and mistakes that are frequently made.Companies will often take the retail stores out of the supply chain and use call Centres as a way to sell their products. This means that the consumer can buy the product over the phone instead of going to a store. This allows the consumer to get the item at a lower price then they would in the store and the company has much better inventory control.To keep up with the higher demand for call Centres in their businesses companies are now outsourcing for call Centres. This means that they hire a company that specializes in call Centres to do everything they need. There are many reasons for this.Companies often are not built to have a call Centre staff. Due to the nature of taking calls, there could be many that come in at one time, or the phone might not ring for an hour. It can be difficult for a company to try to gauge how much staff they need to supply for this. Outsourcing this also allows the company to not have to train people to take calls.The call Centre that the company hires takes care of all the training. They will have a full staff to just take calls and the company will pay them a flat rate or by commission for sales calls. Since the call Centre company has different clients and a full staff it is much cheaper than paying an hourly rate to your own staff.

The CALL Centre

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 catalog 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