Call centre
An inbound call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product or service support or information inquiries from consumers.
Outbound call centres are usually operated for sales purposes such as telemarketing, for solicitation of charitable or political donations, debt collection, market research, emergency notifications, and urgent/critical needs blood banks.
The origins of call centers date back to the 1960s with the UK-based Birmingham Press and Mail, which installed Private Automated Business Exchanges (PABX) to have rows of agents handling customer contacts.
[9][10] During the late 1970s, call center technology expanded to include telephone sales, airline reservations, and banking systems.
A contact centre is a coordinated system of people, processes, technologies, and strategies that provides access to information, resources, and expertise, through appropriate channels of communication, enabling interactions that create value for the customer and organization.
New implementations of more complex systems require highly skilled operational and management staff that can use multichannel online and offline tools to improve customer interactions.
The virtual queue provides callers with an alternative to waiting on hold when no agents are available to handle inbound call demand.
[24] Virtual call centres became increasingly used after the COVID-19 pandemic restricted businesses from operating with large groups of people working in close proximity.
Companies that regularly utilise outsourced contact centre services include British Sky Broadcasting and Orange[25] in the telecommunications industry, Adidas in the sports and leisure sector,[26] Audi in car manufacturing[27] and charities such as the RSPCA.
The healthcare industry has and continues to use outbound call centre programmes for years to help manage billing, collections, and patient communication.
These healthcare call centres are designed to help streamline communications, enhance patient retention and satisfaction, reduce expenses and improve operational efficiencies.
Many large hospitality companies such as the Hilton Hotels Corporation and Marriott International make use of call centres to manage reservations.
Statistical analysis of call centre data has suggested arrivals are governed by an inhomogeneous Poisson process and jobs have a log-normal service time distribution.
[33] Call centres have received criticism for low rates of pay and restrictive working practices for employees, which have been deemed as a dehumanising environment.
[34][35][36] Other research illustrates how call centre workers develop ways to counter or resist this environment by integrating local cultural sensibilities or embracing a vision of a new life.
[41] These concerns are due to a business process that exhibits levels of variability because the experience a customer gets and results a company achieves on a given call are dependent upon the quality of the agent.
[54] Appointment setting is a specialized function within call centres, where dedicated agents focus on facilitating and scheduling meetings between clients and businesses or sales representatives.
[55] Lead generation is a common operation for call centers, encompassing strategies and activities aimed at identifying potential customers or clients for businesses or sales representatives.
