Virtual Call Center To Solve Outsourcing Issues
May 4, 2007
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The trend of outsourcing inbound and outbound contact centers the past few years have become a billion dollar industry, the main issue here however are the growing acceptance by companies to move their outsourced contact center offshore. The large numbers of Filipino English speaking personnel, Indian technical expertise, and very low cost Chinese labor have proven to be a worthwhile management decision for a lot of industries.
There is no need to discuss the advantages of outsourcing contact centers when even the government itself has begun outsourcing a lot of their public service lines to outsourcing companies. The main discussion right now is how to manage the cost of the outsourcing business on the technology side in the meantime maintain the level of quality control level on the personnel side.
Outsourcing companies normally have technologies geared toward achieving this goal. The price for telecommunication hardware and equipment has been the main financial concern of most contact centers especially the outsourced ones.
There are also issues of connectivity, IPL reliability, and proximity to skilled workers. Positioning contact centers to highly skilled areas reduce the impact of having cheap labor by having additional costs on office maintenance and salary competitiveness.
If such a technology where a contact center queue can be routed to anywhere in the world at anytime even to a mobile phone, will it solve issues. To some it will. If such a technology exists and in spite of having agents work remotely from a contact center itself, will it resolve such issues? Maybe it does. If the technology still allows you to manage your agent’s skill routings, live queue management, live quality control monitoring and call recording? Will that reduce the loss of quality control? Probably. If the extra budget due to the reduction of sophisticated hardware and brick and mortar office are spent on US quality voice and not VoIP IPLs? Will that make the phone quality better? Most likely.
In the end, the virtual contact center technology has created as much questions as it has answered. It has solved a lot of problems yet created new ones. But aren’t these factors the same issues when outsourcing is still an infant? Aren’t these the same concerns when a company decides to go virtual? History has proven that it may not be for everyone, but if it’s for you. The impact to your business is enormous.
The technology is already here. It is ready, It can do inbound and outbound from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. Monitor and manage real time anywhere in the world. The real question is. Would your business model benefit from having such technology on your side?
I guess it would.
Carlo Caparras is currently a marketing consultant for several ISP’s, webhosting, web development, web-services, outsourcing, colocation, and telecommunication companies including toll free express (http://www.tollfreeexpress.com)
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Technorati Tags: outsourcing contact centers, contact center, outsourcing
Call Center Interview Questions And How To Tackle Them
May 4, 2007
If a company has a large number of customers, but doesn't have the capability to handle calls from those customers, they might contract a call center. These firms help with airline reservations, directory assistance, computer technical help, and other important customer service functions. They are generally staffed with both technically trained and non-technical employees, depending on the job needed. Many students apply for call center jobs because the schedules are flexible in most cases.
All call centers screen their employees, just as any other job would. If you're applying for a job at a call center and are nervous about the interview, you might be wondering what kind of questions you'll be asked. Following are the top 5 call center questions, and the best way to be prepared for them.
- "Tell us about you previous experience working for a call center. Describe how you helped the customers."
This question might arise in the middle of the interview, or at any other point during the process. It's important to review and consider your past work history before interviewing with the call center. Be prepared to describe highlights of any past call center work you've done, and describe any times when you've worked successfully with others. Call centers like to look for people they would consider team players. Be sure not to make up any exploits at previous jobs. It's important to always tell the truth in a job interview.
- "Are you proficient with different kinds of software? What kind of computer experience do you have?"
Internet telephony is common in most call centers. This kind of technology is less expensive than using a land line. Call centers also maintain computer databases of customers, and are concerned with your ability to rapidly learn to navigate and use such software. Log files must generally be created after each call, and most employees must also know such basic office software as MS Word, Excel, etc.
- Question number three isn't a spoken question, but rather the interest of your interviewer in how you conduct yourself. They will be judging you on your communication skills and grammar to see how you might interact with a customer on the phone. Remember to speak clearly and concisely. Choose your words carefully.
- "What does a call center mean to you?"
This seemingly harmless question is a way for your prospective employer to gauge how serious you are, and what your commitment to the job will be. This standard question should be replied to earnestly, and it's important not to give the impression that you are planning to leave as soon as a better opportunity comes along. Interviewers are usually looking for employees that will stay with the company for a long time and make a career out of their job.
- "What do you consider to be the important of teamwork?"
Employers tend to prefer people who like to work in a team. Loners have a lower chance of being hired. Be sure to let your interviewers know that you can work in a team without becoming stressed or hostile. Management books about the value of teamwork can help you find the words you need to express the value of teamwork in the workplace.
These top 5 call center interview questions are among those you might expect to hear when you're applying for a job. Technical jobs will have more questions on the technical subject, while non-technical jobs might focus more on teamwork and interpersonal interaction. Whichever job you're applying for, be sure to be prepared to answer these questions and be on the ball.
Tomaz loves and researches modern technology information and gadgets. For more information about call center interview questions visit his Techno Whiz blog.
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Captive Offshoring Centers Are Imploding
May 3, 2007
As a result of the lack of management support, spiraling costs, skyrocketing attrition, and a lack of integration, more than 60% of the captive centers in India alone are struggling.
I originally found this commentary on Research Central and they provide the greatest level of coverage. So I decided to provide you a direct link to their site to read their information titled, Captive Offshoring Centers Are Imploding.
Here is a snippet of what you find at Research Central…
A just-released report from Forrester Research explodes one approach to outsourcing - the offshore captive center, where companies set up their own, wholly-owned facility for software development, IT support, back-office data processing, call center operations, or business process outsourcing.
