‘Work-From-Home’ Plan for Call Center Agents

MANILA, Philippines – Call center agents working the graveyard shift are no strangers to crime.

A police report last June revealed that authorities arrested two suspects who allegedly held up a call center agent and took her mobile phones while she was on her way to work at around 11 p.m.

While police were able to arrest the suspects, they were unable to retrieve the mobile phones of the victim.

Another report said that a call center agent was mauled while robbers carted her valuables in Bacolod.

Aware of the risks call center agents face when they leave their homes at odd hours, a software firm is pushing for them to simply work from home, giving them the much-needed safety that they need from theft and other crimes.

“Let’s face it: if I have a daughter who will work the graveyard shift who will have to commute alone…there’s too much risk. And I think their concern is valid. The thing is, there’s still this pool of agents that we do not know about who has the aptitude, the skills, the knowledge, to be contact center agents but we cannot tap them because of these concerns,” said Edgar Doctolero, Avaya’s Country Director.

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Get Happier Agents with a Virtual Call Center

To reduce costs and delver employees the benefits of working from home, a virtual call center could prove to be the best solution. It has been said that employees who work from home not only are happier but also save money expenses such as transportation and the upkeep of their car.

San Carlos, Calif.-based Contactual (News - Alert) offers a virtual call center solution that ties together all customer communication channels, such as phone, e-mail, Web chat and voicemail, and provides a variety of metrics and productivity tools.

Officials say dozens of Fortune 500 companies selected Contactual OnDemand virtual call center software over the traditional on-premise providers because of the benefits of a fully featured call center application.

“Contactual’s OnDemand virtual call center software is the most innovative and flexible offering among call center providers and allows organizations to quickly and easily reinvent their customer interaction experience for all of their customer contact methods or for a single method such as email response management,” company officials said.

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How Call Center Agents Can Save Money

MANILA – Although call center agents have relatively high-paying jobs, their lifestyle often eats away at their money.

Efren Ll. Cruz, a personal finance adviser, said that call center agents can spend all of their income in a short period of time, partly because they deal with high stress levels and fatigue from working late at night.

“They tend to spend, not regularly, but on expensive things. Like buying things from a 24/7 store which sells more expensive things. They ride cabs to work or going home,” he said at the 2009 Call Center Conference and Expo in Pasay City.

“Because they’re young, there’s a tendency to compete with each other, not just in the way they work but in the way they dress. I’ve heard stories like, in one call center, many of the ladies there have extended eyelashes. That will cost you,” Cruz added.

Call center agents also have unlimited Internet access, so some tend to buy expensive but low-quality things from the Internet.

He also explained that since call center employees leave work in the evenings, they have a tendency to feel like “it’s party time” and become a bit more loose with their activities, most of which lead to spending money.

Just like everyone else, call center agents always face the temptation to spend. However, Cruz said, there are ways to earn more from your high-paying job, simply by saving your money.

“You have to realize that it’s hard to save money. But don’t use that as an excuse not to save,” he said.

Here are some of Cruz’s practical tips on how you can boost your savings. These are based on his book “The Complete Pinoy Guide to Personal Finance.”

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Tip to Improve Call Center Management

One of the biggest call center management challenges (and headaches) is keeping accurate track of how agent time is being utilized. As most people already know, labor is the single biggest cost facing any call center – thus, in this gruelingly-bad economy, call center managers are under increasing pressure to maximize agent productivity and “do more with less.”

Call centers have always had time clocks – it’s the obvious way to ensure agents are showing up for their shifts on time, that they aren’t taking long lunches and that they aren’t leaving early. Even in the early days of call centers, agents were expected to “punch in” and “punch out,” sometimes using an old mechanical time-card clock such as might be found in a factory or warehouse.

But using a time clock to keep track of agents’ comings and goings is only half the battle. Just because an agent is clocked in doesn’t mean he or she is on the phone, serving customers. There are always those agents who are agonizingly slow to get to their desks – they have to get a cup of water, a coffee, go to the bathroom or chit-chat with colleagues as they go down the aisle toward their cube. Getting these agents on the phones sooner can be critical to improving customer service and, what’s more, to maximizing agent productivity.

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Can call center agents battle stress?

Like other employees, call center agents also have to deal with a variety of work “stressors.” For the average call center or customer service agent, stress simply comes with the job. It is a fact of life that cannot be avoided no matter how hard one may try.

The most common type of stress a customer service agent will experience is dealing with different kinds of customers on the phone. The person answering the call from a lot of people is a customer service representative who is acting on behalf of the company one is calling. The customer service agent is usually the one who gets the brunt customer calls. The difficult part is that they need to deal with some angry customers on a daily basis, all day long. Of course, there are cheerful, polite callers but having irate callers is a given in the call center industry.

Call enter agents also face different types of crises, work with new and complicated technology and constantly monitor each call. Because the call center environment is indeed a stressful environment, which management cannot do a great deal about, call center agents should be stress tolerant.

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Company hiring 150 workers for Reno call center

RENO, Nev.—The Hartford Financial Services Group plans to hire 150 full-time workers by spring for a Reno call center.

The Connecticut-based company says the workers will take service calls from members of AARP, the nation's largest organization for people 50 and older.

The Hartford and AARP have a business relationship that includes automobile insurance.

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Call centre woes may cost businesses dearly

SOME consumers in the Asia-Pacific will be voting with their feet in the coming year because they are dissatisfied with the level of service of their contact centre, according to a survey commissioned by contact centre solutions vendor Avaya.

In this annual survey conducted by Sydney-based research firm callcentres.net, around 38 per cent of respondents from five Asia-Pacific countries said that they plan to switch business to a competitor in the next 12 months because of poor contact centre service levels.

And 10 per cent of respondents replied that they have already switched in the past year over the same issue.

In this survey, respondents were asked to nominate a company that they had contacted by phone recently and then answer questions based on that experience. The five Asia-Pacific countries covered were Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore.

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Call centre customers irritated by over-familiar American-style chat

Call centre staff irritate customers because of the over-familiar, American-style chat that they are trained to use, according to a worldwide study.

Kristina Hultgren, of Oxford University's English Faculty, researched the language call centre agents are trained to use with customers and soon spotted why problems arise.

One area of the study examined why call centre staff are often accused of being over-familiar - repeatedly using customers' first names and trying to engage in inane small talk.

The reason for this, according to the study, is because they are asked, irrespective of the country they are in, to use American-style pleasantries with customers.

The communication style taught is based on "a North American style of familiarity, which may not be accepted in the countries to which it is exported", said Dr Hultgren, who examined call centres in Britain, Denmark, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

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Call Center Agents : On the Frontlines of War

Call center agents are service representatives hired by a client company to handle support and information for a specific product usually through phone calls, faxes or emails. Call centers may be described as a set of functions or actions that can be carried out in a number of ways using multiple delivery channels by merging information and telecommunications technology, Among the services they offer are toll free customer service, direct response, interactive voice response (IVR), 24 - hour help desk, appointment scheduling, upholstery shampooing taking services, emergency response, conference and registration, virtual receptionist, and infomercials which can be tailored to suit your company's specific needs. IVR systems are set up to handle the initial stage of customer contact, and is programmed with a set menu for predictable customer questions, which gives them prerecorded answers and tells them how to proceed. If their issue is not adequately addressed by the IVR, customer calls are routed to knowledgeable representatives who have speedy access to information.

Call center agents are soldiers in the front-lines of war. They are a channel between a company and its customers, giving the latter a forum in which their concerns may be addressed and complaints resolved. It is also a way for companies to improve the product or service that they offer because customers can tell you directly exactly what they want. These dedicated soldiers are ready to deploy anytime, anywhere. Call center operations continue like a well-oiled 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This means that your company can cross the boundaries of distance and time zones so you can do business with people worldwide. Because this vital service may be costly for companies to put up themselves, the service is frequently outsourced to a call center company. Outsourcing the service to a call center at a set price is a cost effective solution for any business, large or small. This leaves companies free to concentrate on delivering the product or service without having to worry about the large cost of putting up their own call center and hiring employees to man the phones upholstery cleaning richmond being assured that customer satisfaction is being closely monitored. Performance markers for call center agents may include call handling time, call queue length, hold times and customer satisfaction level. Agents who fail these markers are subject for calibration with company standards or retraining as their progress requires. As soldiers are aware that one mistake can cost them their life, all call center agents are aware that every customer contact is a unique opportunity to create more business and cement the loyalty of the customer, so efforts are made to improve and retain relations. Seasoned agents are like war veterans; they know all the tricks of their trade and are keen to impart their hard earned knowledge to new recruits to ensure the same level of service for every customer call. They know that providing great customer service is winning yet another battle for market supremacy.

Source : http://www.corsavoo.com/

What Makes a Good Call-Center Employee?

Empathy, adaptability and acting ability are just three critical traits.

With call-center attrition rates nearing 50 percent per year, identifying the attributes of a good agent is as important for retention as it is when hiring a new employee. Likewise, employees who are interested in call-center work would do well to match their temperament and skills to those who have already succeeded in the field. A worker who is reliable, genuinely interested in people and moderately tech-savvy could be ideal for the increasingly important role of call-center agent.

Lindsay Gibson, director of training at Alexandria, Va.-based VIPdesk.com Inc., prefers the term “brand ambassadors” over "call-center agents." Call-center agents who are familiar with the product or service that they represent can be most helpful to customers and will take a genuine interest in matching their product to customers’ needs. It pays for a call-center agent to be a bit of an actor, said Gibson. Every call is unique, and employees may need to be upbeat one minute and sympathetic or supportive the next. Flexibility counts.

Smashing the Stereotype
Call-center personnel are often thought of as young, inexperienced workers who lack college educations or students who are working temporarily while they complete school. However, a successful call center’s employees are often more mature and highly educated. According to one Canadian study conducted by the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Sauder School of Business, employees who work in self-directed or problem-solving teams tend to be more highly educated and specialized in a particular product or service area; in addition, these workers might have studied business practices or technology. Such employees tend to stay on the job longer, and they have higher job-satisfaction levels. Such employees also tend to learn new processes easily — plus, they have better communication skills and are able to collaborate with co-workers and management effectively.

Tim Gordon, senior vice president of service delivery at VIPdesk.com, finds it helpful to administer a personality-profile test that compares potential employees to those who have excelled. Qualities such as being proactively helpful rather than over-accommodating are highly desirable, according to Gordon. The abilities to listen and respond appropriately are also high on the list. And previous experience in customer-centric jobs is a definite plus.

Generally, the characteristics of a successful call-center agent are:

• Resourcefulness
• Prior call-center experience
• Hospitality training or background
• Bilingual skills
• The ability to listen
• A pleasant voice
• A self-starter mentality
• The ability to think and make decisions on the fly
• An outgoing personality
• A sense of responsibility
• Adaptability
• Discipline
  

A call-center-agent job requires an employee to uniquely combine reliability with flexibility and mix adherence to a schedule and procedure with adaptability in order to meet customers’ needs. Call-center employees are rewarded for metrics such as customer satisfaction, volume of calls taken and product knowledge, to name a few. A self-starter who wants to succeed and be rewarded for his or her performance will have the greatest success in a call-center environment.

Failure occurs when agents have negative attitudes or employee morale is poor. This usually results in the loss of long-term customers, a failure to acquire new customers, and damage to the service's or product's reputation. Individuals with bad attitudes generally do not last long at call centers.

However, responsible individuals who communicate a positive attitude and understand that they are on the front line of their company’s public image will do very well at a call center indeed.

Source : http://www.insidecrm.com/

Call center hiring 7,000 agents

US-BASED Convergys Corp. is hiring 7,000 call center agents over the next 12 to 18 months to support the expansion of its operations in the Philippines.

Andrea Ayers, president of customer management at Convergys, said yesterday the company would expand its Philippine operations by nearly 50 percent with the addition of five new integrated contact centers throughout the country.

‘‘We are constantly evaluating new locations and at this point, based on client demand, we find that the Philippines offers the most advantageous mix of available talent, infrastructure and government support,’’ Ayers said.

She said the expansion would increase the company’s capacity by 77 percent. This would also make the Philippines its second largest operation globally, second only to the United States in terms of number of employees.

After the expansion, Convergys will have a global workforce of 67,000, with about 20,000 in the Philippines.

The Philippines, she said, was the fastest growing operation, and this was where the company was putting up more capacity. It will have 14 contact centers in the country alone after the expansion.

Ayers said the country’s competitiveness lay in its people.

‘‘Filipinos have a high level of proficiency in the English language, strong technical skills and great customer service skills,’’ she said.

Three of the new sites will be in Metro Manila, the fourth in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and the fifth in Cebu City. These new facilities would bring in 3,995 new seats.

The Cebu facility will have a capacity of 450 seats and will require over 650 employees. Located in the Asiatown IT Park, the facility is set for completion in August.

The UP Science Park call center will have 575 seats and over 850 employees. It will be completed in November.

The Nuvali facility in Sta. Rosa will have 660 seats and would generate over 950 new jobs. It will be completed by the end of the year.

The one in San Lazaro will have 460 seats and generate over 650 new jobs. Located within Manila’s university belt, it will be completed in April next year.

The Glorietta 5 facility in Makati is the largest among the new centers, with 1,850 seats and generating over 1,850 new jobs. It is also set for completion April next year.

Negotiations are under way on these five new facilities, and when those are finalized and completed, Convergys will have nine contact centers in Metro Manila, three in Cebu City, one in Bacolod City, and another in Laguna.

The new contact centers will provide both general support and advanced technical-help desk services to a variety of Convergys clients through traditional voice calling, e-mail and Web chat as well as back-office applications and document processing.

The company is now doing back-office operations, but is still predominantly voice with 95 percent of its workforce still doing voice services.

“We are in a recession-proof business. We present a viable option for companies in the US to lower their costs,” said Ayers, adding their clients generated 15 to 30 percent savings on costs.

Convergys operates 85 contact centers in locations including the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and the Philippines. Convergys agents handle 1.7 million inbound calls every day for clients in a wide variety of industries.

Source : http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/

25 Surefire Ways to Train Call-Center Agents

Regardless of the hardware and software your call center has, you need to train your agents how to use it. Training is an inescapable fact of life in a call center, and teaching your agents to use hardware is an important part of that training.

Here are 25 ways to get the most from your technology-training investment:

1. Make sure your training aligns with your business goals. All of your call-center procedures and metrics should support your business goals, including the training your agents receive. Make sure your trainees understand these goals and how the technology they're learning applies to them.
   
   
2. Focus on the tasks, not the technology. A manual is not a textbook, and trying to present technology straight out of the manual is about the worst possible approach. A manual is about the software or hardware. Training is about the job to be done. Your training should focus on what you want the students to be able to accomplish. It should be based on how to use the technology, not all its bells and whistles.
   
   Even users’ manuals tend to be built around the structure of the system, which is one of the reasons they're so frustrating. Typically, the user isn't looking for information on, say, file structure. He or she is trying to accomplish something. It is at best time-consuming, and often frustrating trying to relate a category like file structure to the job the user is trying to do.
   
   
3. Give an overview. While you shouldn't try to train from the manual, your students need to understand more than how to do X, Y and Z. They need to see how the parts of the technology fit together and how that applies to their responsibilities. For instance, it's usually a good idea to show the trainees the workflow of the processes they'll be implementing, even the pieces that are far removed from the call center. It helps them get a grip on what they're doing and it allows them to make better decisions.
   
   
4. Make your training practical. Call-center training is about teaching agents to do specific tasks, not just pass a test. Your classroom should give your trainees as much practical experience as possible. Put them on the phones and computers with instructors or other students and have them actually use the procedures you're teaching them.
   
   
5. Focus on outcomes. When a customer calls, your business has a desired outcome. It may be increased sales, or it may be a customer satisfied that his or her problem has been resolved. Whatever that outcome is, it goes well beyond having the call-center agent run through a process or answer a series of questions. When you design a training program, keep that desired outcome in mind. Ask yourself how this module contributes to what you want.
   
   
6. Show trainees where to get answers. Even the most comprehensive training course can't cover every feature of your technology. Your trainees will have to learn some content outside of class, and your training should give them the tools to do that.
   
   This goes way beyond pointing out that the manual has an index. You need to give your staff an idea of where they can find information for specific categories. For example, if they have a question when they're on Screen X, tell them to look in Place Y. Likewise, you should tell them who can best answer their questions.
   
   It's also a good idea to warn them about resources they're better off not using. To take an extreme example, Linux comes with a set of documentation called man (for "manual") pages which are sometimes available to people running Linux software. In theory, you can use the man pages to find out what any command does and how it works. This is fine, except for the fact that you need to be a Linux maven to get much out of the man pages. Everyone else should seek answers elsewhere.
   
   
7. Don't give your trainees double messages. Don't tell you call-center staff that customer satisfaction is paramount and then score them on how quickly they can wind up a call. This is tricky because every call center has multiple goals and there's often a tension between them. You need to strike a balance and make sure your training reflects that balance.
   
   
8. Give agents a customer-centric focus. A call center exists to serve customers. Your training, even on technology, should help your agents focus on the customer as the most important component of the job.
   
   
9. Treat your students individually. This includes identifying learning or knowledge gaps and working to correct them. It also means evaluating both the students' abilities and their desire to improve.
   
   
10. Train interactively. Successful training is engaging training. One of the effective tools for engaging students is getting them to interact and participate. Ask questions, solicit suggestions and use other techniques to get the students involved in the process.
    
    
11. Create a rewards system. Make your students feel that their efforts are important, that they are noticed and that outstanding performance will be recognized by using rewards. Of course, that should follow onto the call-center floor, but the place to begin creating that culture is in your training.
    
    
12. Practice makes perfect. Your training should be built around practice. Remember, you're aiming for mastery, which doesn't come without repetition.
    
    
13. Mistakes are OK — in training. Your goal is for the students to be competent when they go on the floor, not when they first try the technology. An early focus on perfection inhibits learning. Let your students know that mistakes in class are fine – as long as they learn from them.
    
    
14. Watch for opportunities to improve the technology. Your trainees are guinea pigs as well as students. If your students consistently have problems with a particular operation or a procedure, try to figure out a way to improve it. For instance, can you modify the screen to group the information more effectively?
    
    
15. Make sure agents understand the underlying business. Give your students the big picture of where the technology fits in the enterprise as a whole.One common problem is that call-center agents will try to neglect the "unimportant" parts of their job. Of course, if the task is really insignificant, the agents shouldn't be doing it. Most of the time what seems to be unimportant to the worker is quite important to someone else.
    
    
16. Monitor progress and provide constant feedback. Call it feedback, call it coaching, but whatever you call it, it's important to teaching to mastery.
    
    
17. Mix it up to keep it interesting. Don't wait to start the practical training. Ideally, students should get directly involved in simple tasks like logging on or greeting customers within the first hour. Mixing short segments of lecture with short segments of practical experience keeps the students' interest and helps most of them learn faster.
    
    
18. Teach ergonomics. Work-related office injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome cost American businesses millions of dollars a year. Much of that can be avoided by teaching your agents proper techniques. That includes everything from how to adjust your office chair to how to use wrist supports.
    
    Use every opportunity, even technical training, to teach good ergonomic principles. This doesn't have to be elaborate. It can be as simple as making sure the students have good posture and keyboard habits – and that they adjust their chairs properly.
    
    And ergonomics isn't just a matter of avoiding injuries. A relaxed, comfortable agent is able to do a better job.
    
    
19. Teach relaxation. Similarly, take a minute to teach or reinforce relaxation techniques. Working in a call center, especially a customer-service center, is stressful. Your agents will be more productive and your customers will have a better experience if you train your agents in relaxation techniques.
    
    
20. Cross train when possible. Training agents on more than one job makes them more useful and helps keep them interested. It also helps their understanding of their primary job and the company.
    
    
21. Pay attention to exceptions. Exceptional circumstances will make or break your customers' response to your call center – and your company. In addition to the basic procedures, your training should cover what to do in unusual situations. It also helps to study the records of actual calls to identify the exceptions that turn up.
    
    
22. Provide cheat sheets. Boil down the most important procedures into something the agents can post at their workspace. Don't expect your agents to remember long lists of codes or other information. Write it out for them. Make the sheets short, snappy and to the point. Manuals are fine, but don't expect your agents to thumb through them on the phone to find out how to do something.
    
    
23. Make sure they've got copies of the manual. Cheat sheets aside, all your trainees should get a copy of the user's manual or the equivalent to keep by their side in the call center. They may never need it, but it's better for them to have it and not need it than need it and have to go hunting for it.
    
    
24. Issue highlighters and post-it notes. Trainees are probably going to want to mark things in the handouts and documentation. Encourage this. It helps them remember and find things later.
    
    
25. Training is forever. Don't stop training when the agent goes live on the floor. Training should include regular refresher sessions.
    

Source : http://www.insidecrm.com/

Call center firm hiring over 5,000 RP agents

New York-based business process outsourcing company Sutherland Global Services plans to double its workforce in the Philippines to over 10,000 within the year to support its foray into other markets in the region.

Craig Bauwens, country manager and vice president for service delivery, told reporters his company would hire more than 5,000 agents within the year to beef up its current workforce of 5,500.

“We intend to further expand our footprint here. The Philippines accounts for 15 percent of Sutherland’s overall business,” said Bauwens.

He said the company would hire 5,000 new agents from various cities to support plans to open new facilities in the cities of Davao, Tarlac and Iloilo.

The company is also doubling this year’s capital expenditures in line with the expansion plans. Bauwens said Sutherland invests an average of $3,500 per seat.

The official said 80 percent of the company’s market was the United States and Canada and the balance shared by Australia and Europe.

“Despite reports that a number of BPO companies in the Philippines are closing down due to the US recession, we believe the slowdown is actually helping our business,” Bauwens said.

Sutherland has BPO offices in Pampanga, Makati, Naga and Davao.

The company specializes in integrated BPO solutions across customer lifecycle and back-office lifecycle management services. It employs over 21,000 professionals offering “RightSourced” services from its 21 delivery centers in India, US, Philippines, Canada and Mexico.

Bauwens said Sutherland, once it had established a footprint in the country, would position its Philippine-based offices to attract new markets such as Southeast Asia and nearby countries.

“By integrating highly trained people with state-of-the-art technology and proven business methodologies, Sutherland in the countries will be competing head-on with other BPO giants,” Bauwens said. Elaine Ruzul S. Ramos.

Source : http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/

Your Call Center is Web-Enabled, But What About Your Agents?

Your call center is not just about handling phone calls. Today, customers demand the option to mix and match alternate communication channels based on type of contact, situation, and personal preference.

Many companies are making investments to “Web-enable” their call centers, in terms of implementing the latest in technology, but very often they forget to enable the most critical part of the operation – the front-line staff.

As multimedia contact volume grows, your front-line agents must be prepared to handle transactions in whatever media choice the customer selects. But more than just technology will be needed to transform your telephone agents into “net reps” or “cyber agents.” As your contact mix changes, and technology is implemented, it’s critical that you also implement a comprehensive hiring, training, and performance measurement plan to ensure your staff is equipped to meet and exceed your customers’ expectations.

As you migrate your call center operation to respond to Internet contacts, you must find or create the ideal agent to support these Web interactions. And you’ll need to provide an environment that fosters their professional growth as well as one that responds to the evolving needs of your customers.

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Call centers cashing in on U.S. connection

Dominicans hope cultural and familial ties to the United States bring the island a bigger share of the call center industry.

Popular American dance music is playing, phones are ringing and sounds of ''thank you for holding'' fill the call center at an office park in the outskirts of this bustling city.

''Did you unplug everything from the radio?'' the Dominican customer service agent asked her American client, with just the ever-slightest touch of an accent. As the Dominican Republic taps into its returning immigrant population to become the Caribbean's leader in the call center industry, few would notice her inflection. And that's the idea.

The Dominican Republic has embarked on an aggressive campaign to ditch its tropical tourism image in favor of one that's a bit more technological. The country is banking on both its proximity and family ties to the United States to snatch up growing call center commerce as more and more industries seek business operations closer to home -- and more Americans are frustrated with customer service operators with accents from Asia.

The government in Santo Domingo is offering incentives, sending thousands of young people to English immersion school and clearing out failed textile factories to make room for one of the biggest trends in telecommunications: the Caribbean. The number of agents in the Caribbean increased fivefold in six years.

The Dominican Republic is not alone. Call centers -- even one for AOL -- have spread in St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and Dominica, with an economic impact of at least $2.5 billion in the Caribbean alone, analysts say. Other countries in Latin America that have become magnets for call centers are Costa Rica and Panama.

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Call center operated by the visually challenged in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Mumbai boasts of a business process outsourcing unit that is predominantly run by the visually challenged.

The call centre named "Drishti', which translated from Hindi to English means 'Vision', is the only call centre in India that has put in its faith in the visually impaired.

Officials claim that in just eight operating months, the number of employees has almost tripled, and for all those working happily at the call centre, being sightless is no barrier to earning a decent livelihood.

"This is my first job and I really like it. I thought it would be tough working in call centers but it took me eight days during the training. Initially I faced some problems but now it's fine," said Mangesh Indulkar, a visually impaired employee.

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Call Center Agents Must Improve Sales Techniques

Filipino call center agents must improve their sales techniques to compete more strongly with outsourcing giant India, according to an industry observer.

India’s “classic” outsourcing model derives its strength from outbound sales, said Catriona Wallace, managing director for Callcentres.net.

The Sydney-based online publishing firm recently came out with industry forecasts for the Asia Pacific region. Its study covered nearly 2,500 companies with call center operations across Singapore, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Wallace, however, acknowledged that the Philippines’ strength lies in customer support, which makes up the bulk of the contact center industry in the country.

Results of the said study showed that call centers are now in a period of transition from providing traditional services and support to revenue-generation.

Among Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines is leading the way in this transition from the initial model of call centers as cost center.

The study shows that 65 percent of contact centers recognize the opportunity to “up-sell” or “cross-sell” during a typical call, meaning more opportunities to generate revenue

According to the study, about 70 percent of contact centers in the Philippines are already measured as profit centers. In contrast, only about 32 percent of contact centers in Singapore are profit centers.

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Call center attrition rates lower but HR still a challenge

Filipino call center agents are staying in their jobs longer but the industry still needs to improve attrition rates, according to a study by Callcentres.net.

The study covered nearly 2,500 companies with call center operations across Singapore, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. In the Philippines, 87 companies were covered by the study.

According to the report, agent attrition rate in the country has gone down from 18 percent to 15 percent in the last year.

"We are seeing some improvement with agent tenure in the Philippines increasing steadily, with the average time an agent remains working in a center now around 22 months, up from 18 months," said Catriona Wallace, managing director of Callcentres.net.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Callcentres.net is involved in online publishing focused on the contact center sector.

On the average, full-time agents in the Philippines stay in a call center for around 22 months while part-time agents stay for about 10 months. Team leaders, meanwhile, stay for more than three years while managers stay longer as much as six years, according to the study.

The study also projected the industry to increase by 23 percent in capacity, or around 129,000 seats this year. The average number of seats per organization is also forecasted to increase from around 670 last year to 800 this year.

Wallace, however, said the local call center industry must continue to address its HR challenges, including attrition.

“HR remains a critical challenge….where is the industry recruiting and where it will find the right skills," she said during a press briefing.

Overall, the study showed that call centers in Asia are in a period of transition from the traditional model of providing customer support to becoming "profit centers," or focused on sales and revenue generation.

The study was sponsored by vendors Genesys and Autonomy, which sell industry-specific software solutions for contact centers.

Source : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

How to alert call center agents when high-value customers call

How can we alert our call center agents when calls come in from high-value customers? We'd like to make agents aware that these calls are a priority. Are screenpops or something similar the best method for this?

There are several ways to alert call center agents when high-value customers call in. We can make a high-value customer's name come up a different color on the screen or we can have something that comes up on the screen that assigns high, medium or low value to a customer. One of the best and most immediate things I've ever seen is when the usual background color of the screen itself actually changes for a high-value customer. For example, American Airlines has it set up that the blue background that is normally on the screen changes to a red background when the agent is looking at a "million-miler" or a "platinum flyer." That way it is immediately obvious to the call center agent and she can't miss it. After all, that's really what we're after here, something that is easy to see, doesn't get in the way and doesn't require looking at a particular thing.
I'd like to applaud the person who asked this question because we think it's important and a good idea to make call center agents aware that these calls are a priority. It's important for agents to understand that it is not just about having a good transaction or even making a profit on the transaction. Agents should instead think about the value of the relationship with the customer and make sure that the relationship takes the highest priority in the call.

Source : http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/

Call center firm takes good care of its own

Call center agents are a unique breed.

Because they primarily service callers from the United States, they work the graveyard shift because of the time difference between the two countries. They have to deal with a lot of stress because of the many irate clients. Also, they are given very little room for error when fielding calls.

This kind of work lifestyle brings with it its own set of potential health hazards, which prompted call center company Sitel Philippines to devise the “Our Health, Our Wealth” healthcare program.

The program initially covered the 1,600 employees working at Sitel’s two Baguio City units, but was later extended to include employees at three other Sitel sites in Pasig City, Eastwood, and Pioneer.

Under the program, the call center agents get to attend lectures on how to deal with their unique problems, such as catching sleep during shifting schedule, maintaining a healthy heart, using ear devices properly, and avoiding unhealthy habits such as smoking and taking drugs.

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