Call Centers Uncovered
Love them or loath them, call centers are here to stay...
Call centers have been around for a while now - I guess there isn't many of us who hasn't used one.
Call centers prove attractive to companies because they allow them to
centralize their operations. A central office is usually created and
staffed by agents, called Call Center Agents or Customer Service
Representatives (CSR). The agents handle large call volumes, primarily
by telephone.
The focus of a call center is usually incoming calls, although in a
sales operation they would be outgoing calls, known as cold calling.
The Incoming calls are run through an automatic call distributor (ACD) or a PBX and ACD software .The ACD system routes the calls to the correct agent.
It's here that callers often get presented with several menu selections to choose from. In theory the caller gets guidedthrough the system, sorting them into the correct queue associated with agent.
In realty we know this is not always the case, with some calls being lost or abandoned!
Call center supervisors keep track of the agents workload using
workforce management software and large screens.
More and more call centers are being relocated offshore, generally to
parts of the world with lower labor costs. Recently there has been a
small reversal in this trend.
Moving forward, it's thought that call centers could become virtual,
making use of new technology such as ISDN and VoIP.
Call Center Terms
Automatic Call distribution (ACD)
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
