Today, any young entrepreneur who is getting into call centre business should understand that, he is entering into a commodity- like business.
Anyone who claims to offer innovative ideas regarding starting a call centre business is clearly not in the loop of the industry. One should accept the fact that, call centre business is not based on innovation but rather on strategies.
Given this, there are some people who go ahead with the proposition of call centre business. To start a call centre business you need to arrange for a certain amount of capital. After having finalized that you want to get into call centre business, it is imperative that you need the infrastructure in place. Then plan out for a core team to propel your business and around ten trained call centre agents to start the pilot process.
If any call centre firm has to make a mark in the call centre business, the focus should be on high-end quality. Any call centre business will excel if there are experienced people in the company. Accent neutralization and training in various situations is must. The message should be very clear in terms of handling a call. This is an intense business and there is no getting back after the call has been messed up.
The next is to register under STPI so as to get maximum benefit of duty free imports for all kinds of computer hardware. In addition to this, the other important requirements are carpet area, equipment, communication and manpower. The carpet area can range from 55-155 sq feet per agent and this depends on number of seats. It also depends on the number of services rendered by the centre.
You can estimate the total carpet area by planning the space for facilities, amenities and support areas. The communication or connectivity depends on the volume of traffic and services rendered by the call centre firm.
For example a 200- seat call centre will usually invest in a 2 Mbps international private leased circuit for inbound services. This will comprise of two half circuits in India and the other two in US or UK through an international carrier.
The manpower employed in call centre falls under two broad headings. These are operations or agent and management or support staff. The ratio between the two depends on variety of parameters based on organization, services deployed and the client requirement.
Next comes the technological needs, in terms of technical resources the following things are needed like a voice witch/EPABX, modems, routers, multiplexers ( for data and voice transport), RISC/CISC servers, headsets, desktops, IVR( Interactive Voice Response), E1/T1 circuits for connectivity, CTI( Computer Telephony Integration) and ACD( Automatic Call Distributor) are needed.
One can look up to spending $10,000 per agent for setting up a call centre that includes all types of expenses. The cost of maintenance for a seat would be around $4000-$5000 per year. The industry experts say that most of the operation costs will be two- third of their billings.
One thing which has been highlighted before is the consistent delivery of value services and no BPO firm should be generalist but should have an expertise in certain vertical. In terms of getting clients, the company should have a core team who have gone through a learning process in a call centre and the essential team of HR, Finance, Trainers and Operations in place.
Speaking in terms of return on investment, if a call centre business is managed efficiently, the entrepreneur can reap profits within two or three years in business. One more important aspect of this business is the attrition level of BPO industry. One should have proper recruitment plan in mind and should try to stick to it.
Showing posts with label virtual call center. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virtual call center. Show all posts
Know The Basics Of Starting A Call Center
What is a call center?
A call center is centralized office where large volumes of requests are received and transmitted by telephone. A call center is a place set by a company to administer incoming product support or to answer the queries of the customers. It is a physical place where customers and telephone calls are handled by a BPO service provider usually with the help of computer automation. Typically, a call center has the capability of handling considerable volumes of calls, screen calls, forward them to qualified agent who can handle calls and log them.
Types of call center:
Call center are of two types, these are outbound call center and inbound call center
The other types of call center are web enabled call center, CRM (customer relationship management) call center, telemarketing call center and phone call center
What are the key responsibilities of outbound call center personnel?
- Make outgoing calls to prospective customers to promote product and services
- Update relevant information in the database as and when required
- The agent is expected to stick to the highest standard of quality and compliance.
- Be friendly and courteous to the customers.
- Make sales to the required target.
What are the key responsibilities of inbound call center personnel?
- Handle inbound calls relating to customer queries on a product or service.
- To offer customized services that are designed to meet the requirements of the business.
- To integrate customer care services.
- To understand the business, product and services
- Help in maximizing the efforts of direct marketing.
How does a call center function?
A typical call center functions in the following way, a caller dials a toll free number that is connected to a customer support center. When the call reaches a call center, a trained call center agent answers the call and has access to wide database of information. The dedicated telecommunication links connects the remote call center to the parent organization through voice links and online database access. Therefore even if the caller may be calling a local US number but the calls will be diverted to an offshore BPO service provider.
What are the application areas of call center?
- Sales support
- Technical queries
- Database development
- Complaint handling
- Relationship and accounts management
- Lead generation and follow up
- Telemarketing
- Credit and billing
- Market research
How to start a call center?
Starting a call center is a complex, time consuming and expensive business. The steps to start a call center may vary depending on whether you want to start an in-house or outsourcing call center. Similarly the equipment and manpower requirement is also different for an inbound and outbound call center. Both large and medium sized companies are realizing the benefits of call center. Starting a call center of your can be a lucrative business. Here are some points to consider while starting a call center.
- Study the call center industry and select a location.
- Examine the four basic types of call center.
- Determine the process, permit and licenses required in order to comply with the rules and regulation of your area.
- Compare the prices of equipment such as Internet and telephone.
- Define the company’s strategy and methods that you will apply to measure the productivity, quality, customers and employee satisfaction.
- Create a business plan and outline the business goals, financial needs, staffing plan and logistics
- Choose a business mentor. There are experts who offer business advice to entrepreneurs, their advice can be beneficial.
Most of the in-house call center function as part of the business and provides services for that business. While an outsourcing call center is the one that provides BPO services to other companies. By knowing the basics of call center industry one can successfully venture into call center business. The next important goal is to follow the plan, improve it, expand it and fine-tune it.
Is Time to Fire Your Call Center?
Over the last decade call centers have become the anonymous faces of business. And though the call center business has grown by leaps and bounds the problem remains- the ANONYMOUS FACE. Inspite of personalization of call center scripts customers can instantly make out that the customer service representative from the company is actually from a call center.
Call Center Services have grown tremendously in the last decade. The reason is that companies are saving on the bottom line by cutting costs and outsourcing this work by opting for these services. The CCS faces a lot of challenges which surrounds customer experience. If you try find respond of customers of CCS, only one-third of them register positive responses! The agents have to shoulder responsibility not only to sell the products of the company but also establish brand equity for it through various channels. Some of the common problem of these services is high employee attrition, absenteeism, inconsistent answering performance and poor call quality. An often carefree attitude within a call center directly affects the overall performance of the call center.
A few of the service complaints of CCS are failure to resolve customer problems in one call, accumulation of clutter in reaching the appropriate representatives or to qualified supervisor if the problems not solved within five minutes of calling, failure to create credit among the customers especially in outsourced customer care centers. First of all, do not treat your CCS as cost cutting centers. Do not cut on training and quality control measures. In your haste to cut the cost you will lose on quality services to your customers and lose reputation and ultimately revenues. Improving the functioning of your call center must include these- efficient deployment and use of labor, effective leveraging of technology, capacity management, and demand management.
Coming to the internal functioning of CCS, there should be absolutely no lack of communication among the agents and customers. Only communicating through e-mails is not enough. It is easier and cost effective nowadays to be in touch trough the internet. Provide your account manager with as many voice interactions with the customer. Language and cultural difference of the customers is another problem in CCS. This problem needs certain contact points between the customer and service providers make way for smooth execution of any project. The offshore CCS has more problems with the accent of the customers. In this case it is advisable to go on a Live Chat. If any target is missed by the service providers, the party that will decide on the payment withholding needs to be defined frankly. This will assure that the service providers will never make frequent errors and will be extra careful.
The CCS should take extra care to keep its customers updated on a weekly basis. They should always feel they have got track of their project. It ensures less errors and hassles at the time of project delivery. Call centers generally lack leverage to invest in innovative technologies and strategies. Using knowledge base applications helps in managing the information load and keeps the agents up-to-date on the latest marketing based promotions. There are many communication applications such as Voice of the Customer (VOC) which helps to make the workforce more effective and reduce cost.
Greater effort should be make to encourage customer feedback through prompted questions and unstructured feedback which is then mined using speech analysis. You must absolutely make sure that your agents do not type when they are talking to the customer or take multiple calls and talk to more than one customer at a time. This will ensure that the agent is actually listening to the customer and 100% attention is given to the customer. Ongoing alignment is necessary because expectations are a moving target. Innovations, competitors' moves, and economic and social trends are some of the forces that cause continual morphing of customers' expectations. CCS is a consumer-centric business; this should kept in mind all the time.
All Call Centers should make themselves well equipped for call floods. At such times it happens that the calls are routed to inexperienced agents and results in consumer dissatisfaction or even frustration. Be pro-active and invent solutions for any imaginable situation at your center; make a strategy and develop a call routing strategy and test them in advance to cope with the actual problems when they arise.
There are many technical solutions available such as extension of voice of the customer program. You may also establish a call handling service, which would report about out of the service phone lines before the customer does! Make sure your agents can flag problems (such as slow pop-up windows or poor voice quality) during a call. If the quality has already deteriorated, it is no use rectifying the technical lapse later. You should also pay attention to forbid any fraud perpetuated by the agents which might involve false representation of data. There should be constant detecting of problems of the IVR systems.
The agents too need to have some fun and relaxation sessions. The call center management and employees should stay current all call center news and trends. Subscribe magazines or create a library shelving books and reports for the employees whereby they can increase their knowledge and skills. All this help in planning a customer service program that works for both their employees and customers. You will be able to address the customer needs all the time and making them happy even though they may not satisfied with the product or service. You may also subscribe to newsletters and whitepapers for the knowledge growth of the members of your Call Centre.
Call Center Services have grown tremendously in the last decade. The reason is that companies are saving on the bottom line by cutting costs and outsourcing this work by opting for these services. The CCS faces a lot of challenges which surrounds customer experience. If you try find respond of customers of CCS, only one-third of them register positive responses! The agents have to shoulder responsibility not only to sell the products of the company but also establish brand equity for it through various channels. Some of the common problem of these services is high employee attrition, absenteeism, inconsistent answering performance and poor call quality. An often carefree attitude within a call center directly affects the overall performance of the call center.
A few of the service complaints of CCS are failure to resolve customer problems in one call, accumulation of clutter in reaching the appropriate representatives or to qualified supervisor if the problems not solved within five minutes of calling, failure to create credit among the customers especially in outsourced customer care centers. First of all, do not treat your CCS as cost cutting centers. Do not cut on training and quality control measures. In your haste to cut the cost you will lose on quality services to your customers and lose reputation and ultimately revenues. Improving the functioning of your call center must include these- efficient deployment and use of labor, effective leveraging of technology, capacity management, and demand management.
Coming to the internal functioning of CCS, there should be absolutely no lack of communication among the agents and customers. Only communicating through e-mails is not enough. It is easier and cost effective nowadays to be in touch trough the internet. Provide your account manager with as many voice interactions with the customer. Language and cultural difference of the customers is another problem in CCS. This problem needs certain contact points between the customer and service providers make way for smooth execution of any project. The offshore CCS has more problems with the accent of the customers. In this case it is advisable to go on a Live Chat. If any target is missed by the service providers, the party that will decide on the payment withholding needs to be defined frankly. This will assure that the service providers will never make frequent errors and will be extra careful.
The CCS should take extra care to keep its customers updated on a weekly basis. They should always feel they have got track of their project. It ensures less errors and hassles at the time of project delivery. Call centers generally lack leverage to invest in innovative technologies and strategies. Using knowledge base applications helps in managing the information load and keeps the agents up-to-date on the latest marketing based promotions. There are many communication applications such as Voice of the Customer (VOC) which helps to make the workforce more effective and reduce cost.
Greater effort should be make to encourage customer feedback through prompted questions and unstructured feedback which is then mined using speech analysis. You must absolutely make sure that your agents do not type when they are talking to the customer or take multiple calls and talk to more than one customer at a time. This will ensure that the agent is actually listening to the customer and 100% attention is given to the customer. Ongoing alignment is necessary because expectations are a moving target. Innovations, competitors' moves, and economic and social trends are some of the forces that cause continual morphing of customers' expectations. CCS is a consumer-centric business; this should kept in mind all the time.
All Call Centers should make themselves well equipped for call floods. At such times it happens that the calls are routed to inexperienced agents and results in consumer dissatisfaction or even frustration. Be pro-active and invent solutions for any imaginable situation at your center; make a strategy and develop a call routing strategy and test them in advance to cope with the actual problems when they arise.
There are many technical solutions available such as extension of voice of the customer program. You may also establish a call handling service, which would report about out of the service phone lines before the customer does! Make sure your agents can flag problems (such as slow pop-up windows or poor voice quality) during a call. If the quality has already deteriorated, it is no use rectifying the technical lapse later. You should also pay attention to forbid any fraud perpetuated by the agents which might involve false representation of data. There should be constant detecting of problems of the IVR systems.
The agents too need to have some fun and relaxation sessions. The call center management and employees should stay current all call center news and trends. Subscribe magazines or create a library shelving books and reports for the employees whereby they can increase their knowledge and skills. All this help in planning a customer service program that works for both their employees and customers. You will be able to address the customer needs all the time and making them happy even though they may not satisfied with the product or service. You may also subscribe to newsletters and whitepapers for the knowledge growth of the members of your Call Centre.
T Mobile UK outsource in INdia
T-Mobile UK has inked a five year outsourcing deal with the Indian firm Infosys BPO for its finance operations. Infosys will support T-Mobile’s core processes in its finance directorate, covering customer finance, commercial finance and accounting (F&A) and procurement operations. The move will leave T-Mobile to concentrate on financial issues that are “strategically important or which deliver competitive advantage”.
T-Mobile is under a burden of cost cutting as the parent company, Deutsche Telekom, posted a goodwill writedown of €1.8b
n for the UK operation in Q1, after which there have speculations that T-Mobile is looking to offload its UK business.
T-Mobile UK has inked a five year outsourcing deal with the Indian firm Infosys BPO for its finance operations. Infosys will support T-Mobile’s core processes in its finance directorate, covering customer finance, commercial finance and accounting (F&A) and procurement operations. The move will leave T-Mobile to concentrate on financial issues that are “strategically important or which deliver competitive advantage”.
T-Mobile is under a burden of cost cutting as the parent company, Deutsche Telekom, posted a goodwill writedown of €1.8bn for the UK operation in Q1, after which there have speculations that T-Mobile is looking to offload its UK business.
T-Mobile is under a burden of cost cutting as the parent company, Deutsche Telekom, posted a goodwill writedown of €1.8bn for the UK operation in Q1, after which there have speculations that T-Mobile is looking to offload its UK business.
Telus opens fourth call centre in Manila
There are not many bright spots in the Philippine economy these days. Exports are tanking. Remittances are tumbling; and some of the country’s legion of so-called overseas workers are returning home from the hardest-hit of world markets. Amidst this, one B.C. company, Telus, is deepening its reach into the Philippines’ BPO or business processing outsourcing industry, which is expected to post stellar growth of 20 to 30 per cent in 2009. This month, Telus International opened its fourth call centre in Manila, one that currently employs 900 workers, but will ramp up to include at least 3,000, possibly by the end of the year. To fill these new positions, Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said the company would “absolutely” look to hiring from a growing pool of returning workers to the Philippines.
“Because of its history as a U.S. colony, the Philippines is a great place to run these kinds of businesses,” Hall said. “People there have very good educational levels, speak English well and have an affinity to North American culture, as well as lots of family.”
In recent months, a slew of other mid-sized and large BPO centres like the one opened by Telus have announced their own expansion plans, according to Manila-based consultant Michael Hamlin. His clients, including Convergys, TeleTech, eTelecare, Sitel and StarTek, have been keeping him busy with one inauguration ceremony to another. “BPO really is the only bright spot,” he said in an interview. “Everyone I know is hiring.” A new survey published jointly by Hamlin’s company, Team Asia, and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines found that more than 80 per cent of respondents said they will increase their workforces this year and almost 50 per cent cited a growth of between 10 and 200 per cent. The BPAP is projecting 30-per-cent growth for the industry overall.
For an increasing number of clients, Hamlin said, the Philippines is one of many BPO centres in an international string. “For risk mitigation, they don’t just want a presence in India or just in Eastern Europe or North America,” he said. Indeed, while the bulk of Telus International’s employees are already in the Philippines, the company recently announced plans to open a 1,000-seat centre in Las Vegas and three others in Central America.
Speaking to reporters at the opening of the new facility in Manila, Telus International president Jeffrey Puritt emphasized that the expansion is focused on getting beyond basic call centre capabilities into more complex tasks such as network troubleshooting, risk analysis, human resources and finance. He said: “As the contact centre industry evolves, it’s more than just voice. The trend is definitely up the value chain.” However, how exactly to move up is a big issue for the industry, said Hamlin. “Finding people with supervisory and managerial skills is key,” he said. There definitely was a more sobering side to the survey’s results, which suggests that it will not just be a matter of plugging in casualties of the global economic slowdown, that is, would-be or returning overseas workers into the Philippine BPO industry. Almost 70 per cent of BPOs said that they hire only 10 per cent or fewer of the applicants that apply for work, indicating that a significant skills mismatch continues to exist, according to Hamlin. Survey respondents cited oral and written communication skills as the biggest gap, followed by analytical thinking and problem solving. In Vancouver, Maria Javier, a program manager at Multicultural Helping House, which is helping foreign workers from the Philippines cope with the economic downturn, added that while it might seem encouraging to hear that BPO facilities are faring well, most workers from the Philippines who lose their jobs here and face being forced to return will find little comfort in such news.
IntelePeer and Transera Team to Offer Virtual Contact Center Solutions
IntelePeer Inc., a provider in hosted rich media communications, announced a partnership that combines Transera’s Seratel(R) on-demand contact center software with IntelePeer’s global carrier-grade infrastructure and next-generation voice and rich media capabilities.
The partnership provides hosted SIP trunking connections to any agent location combined with Seratel’s advanced routing capabilities. As a result, Transera customers can rapidly deploy virtual contact centers staffed by agents located anywhere in the world who are connected by IntelePeer’s carrier-class global voice peering network and SuperRegistryTM infrastructure. By routing all calls through this infrastructure, Transera ensures seamless worldwide connections to any traditional landline, mobile or VoIP soft phone while dramatically reducing telecommunications expenses.
Multi-channel contact center environments can simplify the integration and deployment of additional channels and contact methods such as social networking and Web-based click-to-call via the IntelePeer AppworXTM Open Communications Platform. The AppworX platform allows customers to accelerate implementations and minimizes the time needed to bring the virtual call center into production to generate value.
The entire virtual contact center solution, provided through the Software as a Service model, eliminates up-front capital costs and deployment delays. The combined solution provides a wide range of advanced features, including:
- True end-to-end on-demand, virtual call center – supporting multiple locations, agent types and voice technologies
- SIP trunking for toll-free and local direct inward dialing (DID) services, as well as outbound U.S. and international termination
- Web-based click-to-call and click-to-conference
- VoiceBlast and SMSBlast integration
- Enhanced traffic routing
- Automated VoIP soft phone registration, supporting call routing to remote agents for work-at-home and disaster recovery situations
"The global recession is forcing businesses to find ways to reduce their capital and operating expenses without sacrificing performance or service," said Prem Uppaluru, Transera’s CEO and president. IntelePeer’s global peering grid, which carried more than 7 billion voice minutes last year, ensures our customers can depend on reliable, high-quality voice connections for each customer call, while reducing their telecommunications operating expenses -- a critical advantage in these challenging economic times."
"At IntelePeer, we make it easy and cost-effective for innovative companies such as Transera to offer groundbreaking new services like the Seratel virtual contact center solution. With hosted capabilities delivered from the cloud, complex integration with premise-based equipment is completely eliminated and services are instantly deployed to any location," said Haydar Haba, IntelePeer founder and chief visionary officer. "The IntelePeer AppworX platform provides a powerful foundation to seamlessly deploy high-value services like Transera’s that help contact centers dramatically improve the way they connect with their customers."
About Intelepeer:
IntelePeer, a provider in hosted on-demand rich media communications, enables carriers, businesses and software vendors to easily deliver voice and multimedia capabilities to any phone or network-connected device – without incurring up-front capital costs. Through our innovative, communications-as-a-service platform, IntelePeer AppworX™, our SuperRegistry™ and our extensive Voice Peering Network, we provide our customers with the platform to offer high-quality interactive voice, video,
The partnership provides hosted SIP trunking connections to any agent location combined with Seratel’s advanced routing capabilities. As a result, Transera customers can rapidly deploy virtual contact centers staffed by agents located anywhere in the world who are connected by IntelePeer’s carrier-class global voice peering network and SuperRegistryTM infrastructure. By routing all calls through this infrastructure, Transera ensures seamless worldwide connections to any traditional landline, mobile or VoIP soft phone while dramatically reducing telecommunications expenses.
Multi-channel contact center environments can simplify the integration and deployment of additional channels and contact methods such as social networking and Web-based click-to-call via the IntelePeer AppworXTM Open Communications Platform. The AppworX platform allows customers to accelerate implementations and minimizes the time needed to bring the virtual call center into production to generate value.
The entire virtual contact center solution, provided through the Software as a Service model, eliminates up-front capital costs and deployment delays. The combined solution provides a wide range of advanced features, including:
- True end-to-end on-demand, virtual call center – supporting multiple locations, agent types and voice technologies
- SIP trunking for toll-free and local direct inward dialing (DID) services, as well as outbound U.S. and international termination
- Web-based click-to-call and click-to-conference
- VoiceBlast and SMSBlast integration
- Enhanced traffic routing
- Automated VoIP soft phone registration, supporting call routing to remote agents for work-at-home and disaster recovery situations
"The global recession is forcing businesses to find ways to reduce their capital and operating expenses without sacrificing performance or service," said Prem Uppaluru, Transera’s CEO and president. IntelePeer’s global peering grid, which carried more than 7 billion voice minutes last year, ensures our customers can depend on reliable, high-quality voice connections for each customer call, while reducing their telecommunications operating expenses -- a critical advantage in these challenging economic times."
"At IntelePeer, we make it easy and cost-effective for innovative companies such as Transera to offer groundbreaking new services like the Seratel virtual contact center solution. With hosted capabilities delivered from the cloud, complex integration with premise-based equipment is completely eliminated and services are instantly deployed to any location," said Haydar Haba, IntelePeer founder and chief visionary officer. "The IntelePeer AppworX platform provides a powerful foundation to seamlessly deploy high-value services like Transera’s that help contact centers dramatically improve the way they connect with their customers."
About Intelepeer:
IntelePeer, a provider in hosted on-demand rich media communications, enables carriers, businesses and software vendors to easily deliver voice and multimedia capabilities to any phone or network-connected device – without incurring up-front capital costs. Through our innovative, communications-as-a-service platform, IntelePeer AppworX™, our SuperRegistry™ and our extensive Voice Peering Network, we provide our customers with the platform to offer high-quality interactive voice, video,
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