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