Call centers are part of the dynamic business process outsourcing industry that caters to the needs of some companies for a dedicated unit that will receive and make calls, do sales, and perform marketing functions. A company can acquire valuable information from its customers by hiring a call center to deliver front line customer services. These centers are usually operated by companies to provide customer support or product information to consumers.
Call centers are mainly responsible for taking inbound and outbound calls. Telemarketing sales are also part of the services rendered by these providers for their clients. Call centers also handle desk queries and catalog orders. In addition to these tasks, they also identify customer care needs, anticipate customer behavior, and execute necessary functions while customers are still on the line. Teams of live operators, account representatives, and program managers are the backbone of the call center operation.
Online customers and callers contact inbound call centers to purchase things like airline tickets, get technical assistance with their gadgets, or get answers about utility bills, and many other reasons that company representatives are needed. Many companies hire inbound call centers for active customer service that could be utilized for cross-selling and up-selling. Cross-selling is a term that describes the sale of more products or service to customers. Up-selling on the other hand, is a marketing approach whereby attempts to have consumers purchase more expensive items, upgrades, and other add ons to make more profitable sales.
In outbound call centers, marketing representatives from companies initiate calls to customers. These representatives might call to inform customers that the orders are available or to follow up on problems that the customers need help with. The success of outbound call centers depend on their experience, technical solutions, assurance programs, and commitment to customer service excellence. These call centers ensure results from direct marketing efforts.
The services of web-enabled call centers are based on the Internet. This kind of call center service is now considered necessity to survive and thrive in a tough business environment. The main purpose of these call centers is to help improve people's ability to contact the company that provided them with a service or product. Good customer service is key to developing customer loyalty. At the same time, companies can keep track of the changing customer tastes and preferences.
Establishing call centers can improve communication between clients and the companies, thereby improving customer satisfaction. Because many businesses rely on the purchases of services or products, increased in customer satisfaction can lead to improved business profits. In addition, having a call center may increase the quantity and types of customers. Because that many call center representatives are multilingual, they will be able to assist new and existing foreign clients. Call center services aid people in many of the world to enhance their business and customer communication. These services give high returns for a relevantly low investment. Because of the professional and friendly staffs working hard for a company, profits and productivity will increase by leaps and bounds.
A survey recently conducted by Columbia University indicated that after India, the Philippines have been the ?second largest recipient of outsourcing, capturing almost 30 percent of the market.? While another study done by an independent group in 2004 stated that the Philippines ranked sixth in the offshore location attractiveness index and the fourth choice location in Asia after India, China and Malaysia.
All these indicators suggest that the call center industry is the fastest-growing business in the Philippines accounting for thousands of new employment generated which, in turn, considerably helping the economy and thus being named as one of the sunshine industries in the country. In fact, call centers in the country are not concentrated only in the business and financial districts but are also present in the provinces. And because of the high demand for manpower, representatives from Cyber City Teleservices Ltd, the largest call center in the country, is looking to as far as Zamboanga City to recruit call center agents to fill up the many available positions the company offers. Although it should be noted that these foreign companies are resulting to outsourcing mainly to cut costs and boost shareholder returns.
There are currently more than 50 call centers in the country and judging from the worldwide trend of outsourcing, many more are projected to set up operations here in the near future. The Philippines can very well capitalize on this opportunity because of the Filipinos? English-proficiency advantage against its Asian neighbors.
Outsourcing in General
Outsourcing is the execution of an entire business function by a third party service provider. It involves the transfer of a significant amount of management control to a supplier and it always involves a considerable degree of two-way information exchange, coordination and trust. Plainly, outsourcing is the most popular practice of local and foreign companies who want to reduce costs while still providing excellent customer service. It must be noted that outsourcing is different from offshore outsourcing and offshoring. Outsourcing potentially enables businesses to reduce costs and concentrate on core competencies while transferring noncore business processes, thereby providing more effective goods and services elsewhere.
Business functions that are usually outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities and real estate management and accounting. Several companies also outsource customer support and call center functions, manufacturing and engineering.
Outsourcing has been around for decades. In recent years, it has been estimated to be a $6 trillion global industry. But with the growth of this industry, critics have raised several issues, among them the loss of confidentiality, poor quality of service and most significantly, the loss of employment for those people whose job falls under the outsourcing category. This is because overhead costs of customer service are less where outsourcing has been used.
In current years, outsourcing has sparked debates from those in favor and to those opposed. Critics point to poor quality of service and technical support, and more importantly, they argue that outsourcing threatens the livelihood of domestic workers. Advocates, on the other hand, counter that companies who utilize outsourcing use the savings for investment and larger domestic payrolls. Evidently, outsourcing has its pros and cons, and ultimately it is up to the companies to consider which is best suited for their companies.
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Aseya has sinced written about articles on various topics from Health, Advertising Guide and Cure Anxiety. is an award winning call center that provides live 24x7 and 365 days call center outsourcing services for companies of all sizes and industries.. Aseya's top article generates over 201000 views. to your Favourites.
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