Call Centre Services And Technology

By Adrianna Notton

The last decade or so has seen the massive spread of contact and call centre services as an industry by itself. What began as an outsourcing of some support and CRM functions has now turned into a massive global machine that chews up everything from lead generation to claims processing, debt collection and tech support. In fact, most of these providers now also offer back office support like transcription and data entry.

As far as the company or client is concerned, it is easy to understand why they would be so interested in this. As per a Forrester study, a 3000-seat center where every agent makes 50 calls/day is capable of racking up over a million customized impressions weekly and 54.6 annual personalized connections. This kind of sustained global footprint is simply not possible using any other marketing channel.

The worldwide reach becomes possible because of the technology used. Toll-free numbers hooked up to PBX systems route incoming calls to the contact center. It can then be transferred on to individual agents using networking systems, the internet and software. If a virtual center based on a SaaS platform is being used, then agents can even be work at home operators. Similarly, outbound calls are made all over the world using cloud hosted centers or with VoIP technology and a T1 line.

The bottom-line is that the location of the customer and the center does not matter. A customer could be talking to an agent down the street or across the oceans, and both would the same for the company. This globalization of support, CRM and BPO has turned these centers into a one-stop solution for companies looking to offload everything except their core business activities.

So now call centre services cannot be categorized simply as a hub for receiving inbound calls and making outbound ones. There are layers above and below these services. For example, a company processing loan modification claims for a bank or lender may be fielding calls from customers enquiring about their status or looking for information about how to fill up the application and what documents need to be attached.

Call centers for credit card organizations make outbound calls for debt collection and lead generation. They receive inbound calls made by customers seeking help or information. But they may also have to answer emails, do live web chats and provide tech support for online banking. There is a lot of back office work including order processing.

When it comes to health care, call centre services get even more critical. Trained and qualified operators are required to refer callers to physicians and schedule appointments, explain HMO enrollment programs and so on. Then there will be post-discharge calls to be made for follow-ups and satisfaction surveys. The bulk of the back office work in this case is related to medical transcription.

Page after page can be filled with such customized needs for each industry. But the takeaway here is that call centre services are no longer limited to a bunch of people making inbound and outbound calls. They are part of a trend where companies outsource everything from lead generation to customer support and back-office work, and all the company has to do is integrate the data sent back with their CRM system.

About the Author: Providing solutions for

Call Centres in Toronto

, email response, and web integration, we are North America’s largest inbound

Inbound Call Center

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Source:

isnare.com

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