Call Center Blues for IT..

Call Center History

Call Centers begat from of all things humble .. the need to contact a growing volume of people for the purpose of doing business, furthering a cause, rallying support..etc.

The 1970's started the real movement to have a business which sole purpose was to exclusively contact people for other companies and organizations, though since the popularization of the telephone as much as 20 years earlier people were using the telephone to increase attention and support for their businesses and organizations.

The selling point was to create an office environment that was set up to handle thousands of phone calls a day locally, regionally, nationally, and eventually internationally. These business environment where quickly named call centers. Employing hundreds of people and promoting American Businesses.

Lines of tables and chairs side by side seating equipped with a telephone, call sheet, and pen and a goal to reach as many individuals as possible in a working shift.

The 1980's introduced such technologies as monitors which displayed information about or for the people being contacted their donation and investment history to assist the callers success.

Then came the automatic dialer, which could store hundreds of thousands of phone numbers to automatically sort, dial and redial all of the listings for a contacting goal. Thereby, increasing not only caller volume but call center value as an outsourcing must.

By the 1990's headsets were replacing traditional hand held receivers and the monitors displayed more information to include addresses, some history information on the contactee, and notations all of which were IT success stories that proved to meet relevant goals of increased business, revenue, and employment.

2005 - Call Centers are reigniting IT attention and focus more than the previous decade as more consumer interest is centered around privacy, security, and customer care. Not to mention increased demands to respond to the introduction of VOIP/Telephony, Database Management, Content Management Systems, eMail, and Internet connectivity which are all increasingly becoming an artery in business fluency.

American businesses seek efficiency, dependability, and reliability. America's Call Centers are being asked to respond with improved and revitalized responsive IT in order to handle the expansion and diversity.

Increasing volume gives more opportunity to larger revenues and increase profits this is still the best way to create and develop longevity and maintain stability.

What's your Call Center's Plan for the future? Will it thrive to keep up toward the conversion goals of 2010?

Some Articles I recently discovered regarding the Call Center Crisis:

"Global Call Centers: Yes, No, and the importance of face" by Erik Granered www.interculturalpress.com (provided by Support World Magazine )

This article simply and directly deals with the need to be more enlightened about international call center needs, cultural differences, language barriers, and how to reassure security. Realizing the increased demands in the age of globalized resource development and adaptability. Can your Call Center pass the basic fitness test?

"Wake -up Call" How to transform your call center from a budget drain into a source of competitive advantage - by Alice Dragoon

This article boldly investigates and identifies the dark side of call center management and provides some insightful solutions to redirect focus for the future by pointing out that :

"..>Call centers can be a valuable source of business intelligence
>The need to balance efficiency with service
>How companies can empower agents to meet customers needs
>Consider customer needs and requests as a method of improving your call center service applications .."

Tip: If you don't your competitors will!