Call center: what is it? Organization of a call center from scratch: from developing a business plan to choosing a work scheme.

An organization called the call center plays a huge role in advising the public. This is a very popular area of \u200b\u200bactivity today. The main thing is to know all the features and nuances that can only relate to such an association. It is not that simple. After all, call centers have many destinations. What should I pay attention to first of all?

Description

A call center is a place where employees work "on the phones." More precisely, this is the place for processing calls. Here, people inform customers (including potential) through voice communication channels and process incoming calls.

At the moment, call centers have become very widespread. Without them, it is difficult to imagine most companies. This organization can be a separate company or just a small "branch" of any corporation.

In order not to get confused, we can conclude: in call centers they work with voice communication. The process performs a variety of functions. There are also contact centers. In addition to calls, they work with Internet resources (e-mail, social networks, forms of return and regular mail.

Services

What can be obtained from this organization? What is her purpose? The answer is not as simple as it seems. After all, the services of the call center are diverse. It is difficult to single out only one area of \u200b\u200bactivity. This is simply wrong.

Previously, the call center was intended to provide advice. But over time, the range of services has expanded. Now we can distinguish among the main activities of such organizations the following items:

• advising clients (current and potential);
• questioning;
• coordination of companies with customers;
• informing about promotions / services of various organizations;
• sales;
• conducting promotions;
• performing the function of the "hot line";
• technical customer support.

The so-called telemarketing began to be in great demand. This is the implementation of telephone sales, that is, the offer of services to current or potential customers. Usually, in this case, the organization that represents this or that product contacts the call center. It is promoted by the described association. Most often, large corporations have units that act as call centers. It is very comfortable.

What are they

What else should you pay attention to? Call Center is a multifunctional center for processing voice information. The main directions of his activities are already known. But now you need to understand what call centers are. They can be completely different and use a variety of technologies to carry out their activities. You can highlight at the moment:

• corporate center;
• outsourcing association;
• home center.

Each item has its own distinctive features. They help determine which option to process voice data to choose. What do these organizations include? What features do they have?

Outsourcing

An outsourcing call center is a place for processing voice information of an individual corporation. Operator training takes place here, after which services are offered to various companies. In fact, such a center is an intermediary between the seller (corporation) and the organization.

Usually it consists of a large number of subordinates, aimed at mass service. If the company simultaneously requires the work of 20 operators or more, it is advisable to contact an outsourced call center. It is convenient and efficient. In practice, such associations are very common, they are in great demand.

The call center number, if it is not an “offshoot” of the corporation, cannot be recognized. Operators are represented on behalf of the employer. Therefore, sometimes there are complaints that the organization receives dissatisfied messages about the importunity of companies.

Corporate

The next option for call centers is corporate. By them it is customary to understand the units that exist within a given organization. Most often, this model is used in small companies where the work of a large number of operators is not required.

Usually such a center is costly. The bulk of the money is allocated for the purchase of equipment, as well as for staff training. It is recommended to create corporate call centers when you need the work of several operators. In practice - up to 20 people. Otherwise, it is proposed to contact outsourcing centers for processing voice information.

At home

But that is not all. Recently, home call centers have begun to appear more and more often. It’s not so hard to guess what it is. Similar "organizations" are created exclusively at home.

A home call center is a separately trained operator who works at home. This option is suitable for small companies and individual entrepreneurs who do not have any subordinates. From the equipment you need only a computer and a headset with a microphone. Minimum cost, maximum efficiency.

A call center at home can also benefit large companies, although in practice this is rare. After all, it is difficult to control such an employee. Despite this, remote call centers are in demand. Most often, this type of work is used to hire employees for part-time work.

Communication equipment and facilities

Of course, call centers need to be provided with some equipment. In the case of the home option, everything is clear - you can only be content with a computer and a microphone with headphones. But what if there is an outsourcing or corporate association?

Similar. For work you need only the so-called workplace. Usually for an operator it consists of:

• personal computer;
• phone
• a microphone;
• headsets
• a desk with a chair.

This is quite enough to ensure the employee’s performance. Not always even telephones are at hand. Indeed, in this case, the call center can be called a contact center. Most often, these concepts are not distinguished.

Call center operators work in many ways. They have only one means of communication - a computer (or telephone). But here are programs designed to work with calls, more than enough. This can be a variety of utilities or familiar to all "messengers" with voice support. Skype became very popular. As soon as you install software designed for call centers on your computer, you can start calling customers.

About the work of the operator

What is it like to be employed in a place for processing voice information? How happy is this profession?

It all depends on which center you work in. There are no complaints about homework. Especially if you work for yourself. But in corporate and outsourcing associations, the picture is changing a bit.

In general, the position of "call center operator" receives good reviews. This is not a bad job, conditions are usually provided comfortable, office. But only the work of such subordinates is not easy, because every day you will have to constantly communicate with customers. If you offer any goods and services, most often you have to listen to the dissatisfaction of customers that they are worried about.

It turns out that you can work as a call center operator when you are ready to communicate a lot, and also if you have high stress resistance. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to master the profession.

The call center is a relatively new phenomenon for Russian reality, but it has already firmly entered the style of modern life. All the hotlines, technical support phones, taxi, fast food and restaurant order numbers, friendly calls with a reminder of discounts and promotions - this is all the work of the contact center.

The purpose of the structure

Call center (call center) - what does this concept mean? In fact, this is uninterrupted feedback with consumers or customers, also performing the functions of promotion (telemarketing), technical support, voting and polls.

The call center phone is:

• control center for incoming and outgoing calls;
• statistical processing of incoming and outgoing calls;
• processing messages received via phone, website, e-mail, instant messengers.

The activities of such organizations are primarily aimed at working with clients. There are centers engaged in internal corporate support for employees. Call center services of one company are often rented by another, which does not have such a unit.

Physically, the contact center is an office where employees - operators work on processing incoming and outgoing calls. As a rule, the workplace of each of them is a PC with open access to the Internet, special software for processing calls and messages, a telephone, and headphones.

Contact Center Features

Call center - what is it in terms of opportunities? What does the workflow look like?

1. Registration of all calls and outgoing calls.
2. Call routing.
3. Recording customer communication with the operator.
4. Storage of data about the consumer or user with their subsequent analysis.
5. Visual representation of the work of the entire unit and each employee in particular - charts, activity schedules, statistics.
6. Call queuing, auto messaging, call forwarding, standby activation.
7. Distribution of calls and messages within the working group depending on specialization.

Today, the call center phone numbers are indicated in their contact details by all companies whose work involves communicating with customers - banks and other credit organizations, providers, taxi services, Internet markets, insurance companies, etc.

As practice shows, the success of such corporations is influenced by a well-established relationship with the consumer of their products and services. The client always prefers those companies in which the call center number is always available, where they will quickly process his call, intelligibly advise, politely and clearly answer even the most tricky question.

Call Center Tasks

The key tasks that both the office and the call center at home set are:

1. Error-free and efficient processing of incoming and outgoing information.
2. Efficiency of work, quick response to any changes.
3. The relevance of both the principles of work and software.
4. Training and professional development of staff.
5. Productive work with the client base: creation, updating, storage.
6. Work statistics.
7. Call routing based on their specifics.
8. Relationship with other structures of the organization.
9. Support for a high level of service, minimizing negative feedback about work.

Contact Center Types

A call center (what is generally understood, we have already made out) can be of two varieties:

1. Outsourcing. Contact center whose services are rented by a company. The staff is trained in a new profile. This type of work is effective when continuous activity of a large team of operators is required. Sometimes the services of call center specialists are rented by companies from time to time - when there is a need for feedback.
2. Corporate. The call center, which is the internal structure of the corporation, working with employees, customers and partners. Such a system is more costly: the selection of personnel and their training, the purchase of software and equipment, the rental and conversion of premises.

Organization of Activities

Call center - what is it based on the lines of activity? This is a working structure for processing either incoming or outgoing calls (there are also combined organizations).

A contact center specializing in incoming calls is engaged in:

• customer consultation;
• prompt assistance in solving any problems;
• processing orders.

The call center for outgoing calls sets the following tasks:

• telemarketing, sales;
• informing customers about new offers, promotions, changes;
• conducting surveys;
• collection activity.

The work consists of four components:

1. Ring Time - the period between how the call automatically spreads to a free agent and how he answers the call.
2. Talk Time - communication of the operator with the call center.
3. Hold Time - the time during which the customer’s call is on hold.
4. Wrap-Up Time - handling the appeal after communicating with the caller.

All these elements make up Average Handling Time - the average duration of contact processing that characterizes the performance of a call center.

Contact centers with a large team of specialists have a multi-level organization - at first, operators of initial, general specialization work with information. In case of difficulties or lack of competence, the call is forwarded to more highly qualified specialists.

Call center today and in the future

Many people answer the question: “Call center - what is it?”, Erroneously answer - dispatch service. But today it is a multi-channel structure that can work with clients at all levels: phone calls, e-mail, instant messengers, chats on websites, communication in the company's mobile applications.

In the future, its capabilities will only expand:

1. Integration with the functionality of more than 26 billion communication and other devices (for example, the refrigerator’s auto-response with a “request” to replace a broken part).
2. Cloud deployment work.
3. Reprofiling from voice communication to chat (60% of users prefer the second).
4. Communication with customers on social networks (Xbox, Nike have already successfully tested this communication).

Leading call centers

List of the largest outsourcing (providing their services for rent) contact centers in Russia:

1. Telecontact.
2. Teleperfomance
3. Telecom Express.
4. Comus Contact.
5. Beeper.
6. New Contact.
7. "Grand".
8. Infotell.
9. "Audiotel".
10. Comforel.

Call Center Operator - Employee Requirements

According to statistics, the vast majority of operators are girls. Men are only one fifth of the total number of specialists. 75% of call center employees are not older than 30 years. The share of operators with higher, secondary education and university students is approximately the same. Only 8% are fluent in a foreign language.

This profession does not require special education - it is enough to take a short course (from several days to 2-3 months) of training and internship, which is usually organized by the employer company itself. In principle, at many colleges and universities, telephone operator courses are open as an additional specialization.

Requirements for the future employee:

Some employers additionally include completed higher education, knowledge of the English language, high typing speed on the keyboard, and work experience of six months.

The call center (reviews of applicants confirm this) offer one of the most relevant and sought-after professions. This profession is popular among young people. The contact center operator mainly works in these areas:

• help services, hotlines;
• technical support;
• telemarketing department in provider companies: Internet, mobile communications, satellite television;
• trade, sociological, consulting organizations.

Call Center Operator

The call center operator performs the following functions:

1. Reception and processing of incoming calls, letters, messages.
2. Consultation of clients who apply within their competence, if necessary, redistribution of calls to specialized specialists.
3. Reception and processing of incoming orders.
4. Telemarketing - presentation of the company's goods and services, surveys.
5. Maintaining a customer base and related documentation.
6. Work with claims.
7. Analysis of the work done, compilation of statistics.

The salary of the call center operator depends on many factors: the region where he works, experience, scale of the employer company. In many centers, the workload of an employee and the effectiveness of his work affect the salary — bonuses for successful product promotion are added to a fixed salary, or an extra charge is made for each processed call.

The average salary of the operator in the capitals is about 20-25 thousand rubles, in the regions - 10-15 thousand. The salary of beginners ranges from 12 to 20 thousand in Moscow and St. Petersburg to 7-10 in other cities.

Today, by the way, the so-called call centers at home are often organized. The essence of their work and the main tasks remain the same. But operators can answer calls and chat messages without leaving their own apartments. This support service is created mainly by small companies and online stores.

The activity of the call center is already becoming a familiar and integral part of our life, and its integration with the surrounding consumer reality will only expand. Like the type of activity itself, the specialty “call center operator” is also becoming widespread and in demand.

Despite the growing popularity of instant messengers and social networks, most people, namely 79%, prefer to communicate with support services by phone. Such data are cited by the manufacturer of software for call centers Spoken Communications (2016). At the same time, 69% plan to continue to do so in the coming years.

By creating a call center, you not only provide customers with an improved service, but also unload specialized employees: managers, marketers, service specialists to fulfill their direct duties. What do the call center employees do:

• advise on products;
• register for services;
• solve conflict situations;
• conduct market research;
• call potential customers and expand their customer base;
• provide technical support.

However, organizing a call center from scratch is a serious waste that aspiring entrepreneurs do not always have. Today, many use outsourcing companies.  But how to understand which is more profitable  for you? We offer to study comparison table  before making a decision.

Despite the fact that an outsourced call center saves the company from many problems and routine tasks, it is not suitable for every business. For example, if you have a narrow specialization, then the operators of a third-party call center will not be able to provide quality service to your customers. To do this, they will have to be trained in the same way as operators for their own call center. Does it make sense to hire a third-party company in this case? Unlikely.

If you still decide to organize your own department, we will tell you how to do it.

Creating a call center from scratch: attention to employees

Before you open a call center from scratch, you need to think through many questions. And the first one is.

Find and train

Even if you hire experienced operators, you will need to train them. Irina Velichko, consultant in the field of construction and management of contact centers and Natalya Izmailova, head of the contact center "Ukrsibbank", in an article for callcenterguru.ru recommend that the training of new employees be divided into three stages:

1. Introductory course in technology.  Even before you open a call center, give operators enough time to master the hardware and software so that during real conversations there are no technical problems. Introduce them to business processes. It’s better not to do it in words: visit with them various departments of the company, introduce them to employees.

2. Study work instructions.  Provide an algorithm: what issues are authorized by the operators to decide on their own and to whom in what situation they can transfer the call - to technical specialists, sales department, managers. Provide staff with sample conversation scripts.

3. Thematic courses “Ethics of telephone conversations”, “Work in stressful situations”, “Telephone sales”. This can be either online training for one employee or group training with an invited coach.

At first, it will be more effective to personally oversee the operator - an experienced sales manager can do this. He observes how the operator works with the call and then works on the errors.

Who to look for as an operator?

Set real plans

When you open a call center from scratch, first monitor the statistics on calls and only then put plans to employees - otherwise they may not come true. For example, in an Alfa-Bank call center, one operator processes 150-170 calls per shift, but in your business everything may be different, and the employee will not be able to physically make so many calls, since communication with each interlocutor will require more time. Assess staff capabilities soberly.

Motivate

A great way to increase motivation is to explain to operators how their work affects sales. But usually this is also supported by the payment of bonuses for the fulfillment and overfulfillment of the plan in terms of the number of calls, appointments, and high ratings from customers.

How to facilitate the work of employees: a couple of life hacks

• Advise clients to use self-service systems: help information on the website or voice menu. This will reduce the number of calls with easy questions and leave more time for employees to make calls where operator assistance is really needed.
• Find out the peak load times. More often this morning and evening, and in the afternoon there is a decline. If operators make scheduled calls to customers, schedule them for more free hours. And for busy hours, hire extra staff for part-time jobs.

How to organize a call center: technical issues

In order for the efforts and costs of operator training and education to give a result, you need to create the team all the conditions for comfortable work - correctly organize the space, purchase modern equipment and install convenient software.

How to make a call center office

Allocate a spacious, bright room for employees and either leave it in the form of open space, or zone it into small compartments with the help of low partitions. It is possible to determine the size of the office on the basis of SanPiN - at least 4.5 square meters of space should be per employee. The minimum furniture is a table and chair for each employee.

Call center may include:

• An operator line for processing - including statistical - incoming and outgoing telephone calls;
• Hardware-software center for managing incoming and outgoing calls;
• Contact center - a center for processing messages received via any communication channel (telephone, Internet, etc.)

The standard organizational structure of a call center is usually an office in which operators work to process incoming / outgoing calls. For each operator in the office, there is a computer connected to the Internet and a local network with the necessary software and a phone with headphones and a significantly expanded range of capabilities. In the vast majority of cases, such centers are used to communicate with existing or potential customers, but there are examples of internal corporate call centers. The need to create such usually arises in very large companies with a huge staff. Recently, the popularity of providing call-center services by one company that already has its own center and another as part of a one-time campaign or consumer survey has grown. As practice shows, in 70% of cases, the company renting such services acquires its own call center.

  Call centers in Russia

  Types of call centers

Call centers are of two types:

• Outsourcing call center (outsourcing call center);
• Corporate call center (inhouse call center);

  Outsourcing Call Center

An outsourcing call-center is such a scheme for organizing a center when its services are leased with comprehensive training of operators on the specifics of advising clients specifically on the range of goods or services required by a leasing company. In the course of analysis of the effectiveness of constructing feedback between the supplier and the customer, the economic feasibility of using just such a model was revealed when less than twenty operators needed to simultaneously receive calls. The second case is when the organization of mass communication does not occur on an ongoing basis, but once or occasionally.

  Corporate Call Center

Corporate call-center is an internal staffing unit of the company that performs the functions of working with customers or partners. The main costs when deploying your own call center are for the purchase of the hardware-software complex system (there are ready-made solutions with a wide number of options on the market), staff selection and training, rental and repair of the premises.

  Tasks of call centers

The main tasks of call centers include:

• The correctness of the reception and processing of incoming information;
• Responsiveness to changes in the call system;
• Creation, storage and modification of databases for customers who apply;
• Software and hardware updates;
• Continuous staff training;
• Keeping statistics;
• Call routing according to their specifics;
• Maximize the use of automatic interactive interaction system (IVR) to save time;
• Interaction with other departments of the company;
• Improving customer service;
• Reducing the number of “unserved” calls.

  Interactive Interaction System (IVR)

Interactive interaction system (IVR) is a software package aimed at streamlining the operator’s working time by providing the call center client with the opportunity to listen to an already recorded, predefined answer to the most frequently asked, typical questions. To do this, a context menu is created, on which the user can navigate using tone dialing on the telephone keypad. Usually this menu combines background information about the company and services. IVR accounts for up to 70% of all calls received at the call center.

  Work organization

Call centers have two priority areas of work: inbound and outbound communications. When processing incoming messages, the main goals are, as a rule, to provide customers with information or to obtain information about problems that a client has when using the company's services / goods. Outgoing calls or messages have the following objectives:

• Sales of something.
• Informing about innovations offered by the company to the target group.
• Conducting various surveys.
• Performing collection functions.

Often the call center has a branched or multi-level structure, where first-level operators provide a common set of information. When the topic of the appeal goes beyond the scope of their specialization, the client is redirected to that specialist who can solve his problem - to another department or to a higher level. The norm is to record the calls of the caller and the operator in order to identify new, more effective counseling strategies, track errors made by operators in their work and conduct overall monitoring.

  Call Center Features

• Call registration.
• Storage of customer information using analytical approaches to call history.
• Call routing.
• Record conversations.
• Graphic (graphs, charts, diagrams) display of the work of each operator, department, the whole center.
• Display on the operator’s monitor of information about an incoming call.
• Call forwarding, creating a call queue, turning on standby mode, automatically informing about the waiting time for a response.
• Distribution of calls within a group of operators depending on status.

Functionality of a modern contact center

The functionality of a modern contact center is not what the companies offered 10 years ago to customers. The current contact center will help consumers ask a question in online chat, write to representatives on a social network, call from a mobile application, and all this, for granted - is so convenient for them. The behavior and expectations of customers are changing, and this encourages organizations to radically rethink ways to interact in pursuit of customers.

Large Contact Center, 2013

Email, mobile applications, chats, Skype and video calls have turned call centers into multi-channel contact centers, which have become an important point of interaction with the client - they play a significant role in creating a positive experience.

A contact center 10 years ago is a cost item, but in 2015 it becomes an important asset that directly affects customer loyalty, the company's image. Depending on the size and industry of the company, it includes online communication, the ability to access from mobile applications and personal online dashboards.

To ensure high quality of service, in addition to contact center operators, specialists from other departments are involved for customer service. So, for example, a certain Israeli bank optimized the contact center: it “integrated” managers from the branches into it - when contacting, the bank’s client connects with the operator from the branch where it is serviced. The result is an imitation of a personal manager.

Contact Center Placement in Business Processes

The integration of any new communication channel should be planned based on the company's business, the possibilities for its development, and not only and not so much because the channel is “worth using”. Often, the integration of new channels of communication with customers in the overall communication strategy of the company is nothing more than visibility for management. A common example is the social networks that the marketing department deals with or, even worse, an external SMM agency.

In fact, the planning, work and evaluation of the effectiveness of the contact center should be implemented taking into account the organization’s commercial goals, existing business processes and customer service strategies. Without a doubt, it all depends on the specifics of sales and services in each case. Nevertheless, it is worth recognizing that social networks have long been not only marketing, but a channel of contacting the company. Not only with inquiries, but with complaints. These requests or complaints should ideally be handled by a contact center employee and stored in the customer’s history.

It is worthwhile to understand whether an autonomous function is being introduced or whether the service extends to new channels, fully integrating them into the overall system.

Multiple channels, platform and integration

Consumers are increasingly communicating with organizations via email, through websites, web chats, social networks, mobile applications, etc. More and more often, interaction with organizations occurs through several channels at once, when customers organically change the communication channel, passing through social networks to direct communication with the operator via web chat, depending on the type and detail of the required information. And each time the company must clearly determine what technologies, business processes and staff skills are necessary to ensure such interaction.

Promisingly thinking leaders have already begun (or made) a transition from the traditional infrastructure of the PBX or ACD to systems based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), which supports not only voice communication, but also the transmission of video images and files of a different format over IP networks. Many Western and leading Russian companies use universal platforms for interacting with consumers not only in contact centers, but also throughout the enterprise, communicating via all channels and at all points of interaction. Increasingly, they involve numerous divisions of the company, including marketing, sales, technical support and customer service departments, for which integration of the contact center infrastructure and the software and hardware complexes of the respective departments is carried out. Thus, the contact center should support the ability to integrate, scalability and advanced means of complex analysis, especially in the context of an increase in the volume and complexity of the data sets it processes and their relationship with other divisions of the company.

This means that at the time of the creation of the contact center, it is necessary to pay important attention to the platform - it must support the optimization of work resources and centralized routing of all calls and work tasks, preserving the history of interactions, helping organizations fulfill their goals in all areas, including self-service, agent service and communication with the client at the initiative of the organization.

Performance indicators

After choosing a solution for a contact center, the functionality of which will ensure the fulfillment of business tasks, it is worth deciding what to measure and what indicators should be.

It is necessary to correctly identify priority channels of interaction and key performance indicators. A number of organizations are abandoning the established methodology for quickly processing incoming calls. There they came to the understanding that it is impossible to build an effective contact center on the desire to process as many calls as possible and free the line as quickly as possible. Experience has shown that such a strategy does not help strengthen relationships with consumers and improve brand perception.

Leading organizations shifted their focus to goals such as successfully resolving a client’s problem, selling more expensive or additional goods and services, and the ability to encourage them to recommend the company to friends and relatives.

The Consumer Loyalty Index (NPS), which reflects the likelihood that a consumer will recommend a product or service to another person, has gained particular importance. Such recommendations are a powerful tool that can significantly increase customer satisfaction.

Having determined the measurement parameters, it is necessary to pay attention to the inclusion of not only statistics and analytics in them, but also an in-depth analysis of the quality of service and how it will affect the attitude of customers to the company in the long term.

How to sell more

To fully realize the potential of the modernized contact center, a universal, fully functional and affordable platform is required that can be deployed in the cloud, locally or as a hybrid solution. When evaluating suppliers and their solutions, you should pay attention to a number of important points and get answers to the following questions:

• does the system monitor the availability of key personnel and the availability of necessary skills, and does it analyze tasks carried out through various channels?
• the system provides personalization of services using routing based on business rules, customer data and context, can it change the rules independently if necessary?
• does the system support automatic access to analytical data in dynamic mode through dashboards?
• does the system provide an optimized and centralized distribution of the entire volume of interactions across all communication channels?
• is this platform easy to customize to meet unique industry requirements?
• how does it integrate with existing systems and applications, such as customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, inventory management, and other solutions that support request processing?
• does the system support optimization of human resources based on analytical data, integration with the infrastructure of the entire contact center, in order to ensure the transfer of appeals to personnel with the necessary skills at any time?

The organization of the contact center involves close integration of work processes with customer relationship management systems, resource planning and other applications that support the activities of the enterprise. Having the opportunity to receive any customer information in real time, the contact center staff can not only identify the subscriber, but quickly get a history of relationships with him.

Regardless of the interaction channel, whether it’s a company’s website, a social network or a regular phone, a contact center employee should have access to all information about customers, including the history of interaction with them and data on past purchases, information about the value for the company, potential future needs or eligibility criteria for special offers.

To obtain analytical information of this kind, a platform is required that is integrated with customer databases, CRM and other systems that support the company's business processes.

Attentive attitude to the needs of each particular client in interacting with him through all communication channels, fixing and timely use of this information will help to offer the client what he is interested in appropriately and unobtrusively.

How to create a new contact center model? It is necessary to get away from the routine, “thin” and often ineffective settings of various processes and comprehensively evaluate: which solutions will bring significant effect.

Then integration: setting up the interaction of the implemented systems for managing, routing, reporting and optimizing work resources with the call center through multiple channels (the usual understanding is the contact center) - this will be a modern and effective contact center for the new model. It will provide a high level of individual customer service and customer loyalty.

What is the average call processing time?

Here are a few trends that you should definitely be aware of so that your contact center is ready by 2020.

In 3 years, 26 billion diverse devices will be used by people every day. As technology advances, these devices will connect to the Internet and to each other to collect and share data. This phenomenon is called the Internet of things.

Consumers prefer to use mobile and personal devices to communicate with brands and companies. This allows them to interact with contact centers when, where and how they want. Therefore, you need to identify opportunities for integrating the Internet of things with your contact center. He will also greatly benefit from the collection, analysis and use of data from these devices to provide better customer service. Take for example household appliances: a smart refrigerator will be able to determine the part that needs to be replaced, and will be able to transfer data to the contact center. Thus, the manufacturer’s contact center will contact the customer and subsequently send a new part.

The days when a business has invested millions of dollars in large-scale technology adoption are long gone. That's why the cloud is quickly becoming a deployment of choice, especially because of its ability to scale and connect contact center employees, even with a distributed office.

Contact center buyers say they prefer the cloud, 16% of them say they will move their contact center there in the future. There is steady growth in cloud deployment in contact centers. And this is not surprising, because many contact center employees are becoming more and more decentralized. This makes it possible to interact with clients through any type of channel or device at any time of the day. The cloud is a safe and cost-effective way to easily integrate a contact center and quickly scale it to increase the number of employees and expand technology.

3. Chat will become very important

Only 29% of customers rely on calls when it comes to communicating with the company. Nevertheless, traditional voice interaction is still very important in many contact centers today. 60% of call center investments are focused on voice communication. Analysts say self-service interaction is gaining in popularity. Chat takes on an important role and is gradually becoming the main way for future interaction with customers.

Chat is not something new, it has gradually taken root since its inception in the late 90s. Now he is becoming more and more rapidly taking leading positions against the backdrop of a decline in the once popular channels. Email will gradually recede into the background on customer service issues. Consumers are eagerly awaiting email responses and are increasingly resorting to chatting, knowing they will be answered instantly. Today, consumers are so used to communicating through instant messengers with friends and acquaintances that they are happy to use them to communicate with companies.

4. Social media as a strategic channel

By 2020, social media will become a channel for communication throughout the organization, rather than individual units. Companies that realize this sooner will have a competitive advantage, creating a multi-channel, multi-purpose customer experience. Social media will foster a diverse client experience through different channels of interaction.

This power will be maximally paired with analytics - real-time research of unstructured data that companies can use to their advantage. Leaders who define the role of social media in communication between a client and a brand will have more opportunities to carry out transactions through social channels and will facilitate the journey of clients from social media to other traditional or digital channels. Global brands, such as Nike, Xbox and JetBlue, have received public recognition for professional communication with customers through social media. Using the power of channels like

Call processing center (Call Center), it’s also a call center (from the English “call” - “call”), it’s also a contact center, it is also a “customer service” for communicating with customers, often a technical support service, help desk, dispatch, and, in general, anything, any office accepting telephone calls from the general public. And also carrying out the reverse process - making calls to customers already existing and potential.

In general, in addition to theory, let us also pay attention to the practical aspects of interaction with this phenomenon.

The bottom line is in simple words

Suppose there is a large company, for example, a mobile operator. Since customers are constantly having problems, they need to deal with the avalanches of calls somehow. Therefore, a separate office with hardware and software is allocated and young telephonists are hired. It remains only to indicate the phone numbers on the official website and in advertising leaflets.

Now the client will be able to get through if he fumbles for forty minutes in a row: “Help! My cell modem stopped working! ”

“Expect! I am sending a call to the technical department! ”- the indifferent young lady will answer, pressing a button to play some silly melody. (For some reason, a blatant bad taste always sounds during the redirection. Probably in order to increase the nervous tension even more.)

In about twenty minutes an impatient technician will answer. He will advise the standard “Click the Start button, go to Settings ...” I won’t even wonder what kind of operating system the client has. He will require a person to sit at a computer and retell what is happening on the display, without worrying about the impossibility of transferring a desktop PC to the hallway to the telephone shelf. Indeed, this is not his problem ...

In general, having prettyly patted his nerves, the next morning the client purchases a modem from another operator, and the former gives someone from the enemies, as a terrible revenge for some past grievances.

True, the boycotted operator will for a long time remind himself of himself by making so-called marketing outgoing calls - dictating the texts of advertisements into the telephone receiver. And then, it is likely that the collected database with phone numbers will be sold to other advertisers.

In general, call centers are engaged in:

1. incoming calls (receiving orders, imitating technical support);
2. outgoing (remind you of the need to repay the loan, advertise services, arrange polls and annoy in every possible way);
3. by e-mail, fax, provision and receipt of all kinds of documents;
4. the employment of managers who look after other managers who are sensitively managing another layer of managers, and so on, right up to the direct management of personnel.

Varieties

According to the semantics of the concept, call centers are divided into the following entities:

1. office with unfriendly and quickly chattering young ladies-operators;
2. software and hardware that allows you to distribute and redirect calls within the local telephone exchange (in the sense of an automatic telephone exchange).

By type of organization, call centers are:

1. corporate (inhouse call center), that is, their own;
2. outsourcing call center when man-hours and production capacities of another office are involved;
3. on demand (call center on-demand), when only equipment is rented.

In addition to conventional telephone switching, wired VoIP telephony is often used, as well as ICQ and, of course, Skype. The last two tools are personalized and allow you to contact the right specialist directly, without waiting for the tired, jerking and angry young lady to redirect the call to the right department.

What kind of company without e-mail on business cards and in advertising? Indicate by all means. And then set up an answering machine with a standard response like "your message will be sent to a specialist" and "they will answer you soon." But people have long known that no one will really answer, therefore they prefer to repeat attempts to get through hour after hour.

How to live with it

In case of problems, for operational communication with their culprits, try to use ICQ, Skype or web chat on the official website of the organization, if you have access to the Internet. Calling a call center phone should only be done if there is no access to it.

For a long time tormented, tested patience, and even frankly dismissed? Write about it in a popular social network culturally and calmly, but in as much detail as possible. Warn others.

Typically, managers (not those who manage lower-level managers, but those in the marketing department) have electronic files for all customers who have the imprudence to give out their mobile phone numbers. “Client cards” are collected in case the database is sold to advertisers, in order to then bombard the population of SMS with “advantageous offers” and “pre-holiday promotions”.

So, it is advisable to call from stationary devices, even if the technician tearfully begs you to come to your computer. Mobile number is personal. And the point.

In general, if the office works very badly, then in the foreseeable future it is unlikely to provide better services. There are no such miracles. Therefore, it’s easier to turn to competitors than to waste your nerve cells on grueling communication with those who still will not help.

Summarize

So, call centers are designed:

1. for the processing of mass remote appeals of citizens through conventional telephone networks, mobile communications, VoIP and other means of mass communication;
2. to make calls and send SMS to these same citizens, in order to somehow diversify too quiet life with annoying factors;
3. for the sake of improving the image of the company, they say, look at what kind of support service we have, even in advertising on TV we will show it.

True, sometimes they work more or less in good faith, promptly and professionally. Especially if not so many management layers are built over simple workers and all the funds go to develop the service, and not to imitate prestige.

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