what are the advantages of call centre?
476347
A call centre is made up of people that are trained to handle specific products. Unfortunately, the companies go where the costs are lower. That is one reason the centre is operated in India, Argentina, even Canada and not in the USA.
1054632
There are many, one would be low-cost provider. As with all such "advantages" as your competitors play "catch-up" they become commodities or entry-level requirements. \n\nTechnology leads are a good one, look at how all the mobile phoe operators are trying to get into premium services and move from box shifting (the actual phone)
60126
You could be a reseller for an answering service.  Every business needs live operators to answer their calls when they can't, so it is VERY easy to find customers!  Many companies have referral programs to get you some quick cash, or you can manage your own customers and bill them yourself at whatever price you can get... I recommend http://www.phonewire.com
18784
Lots of phones have build in caller i.d. now-a-days.  I'd say yes, that most offices have that service.  HOWEVER, lots of chains and other businesses aren't allowed to use it for callback purposes.  Daycares, government offices and womens shelters, for example!
172194
An inbound call center takes calls from the public to the organisation. An inbound call center might operate as a customer inquiry centre or accept travel reservations.\n\nAn outbound call centre calls the public. Examples of an outbound call center would be telemarketing or debt collection.
557018
Yes, do some research on customers waiting times before a call centre rep picks up the phone.Use queueing theory to arrive at optimal recommendations.
873400
Benefits, hours, schedule, etc. \n\nThose are easy! :-)
15736
i work as an agent at a call center... call centers handle different customer service based accounts... it ranges from booking of appointments for different companies, directory assistance, tele verification, credit cards, to billing disputes... it's either inbound or outbound... \n\nworking at a call center can be VERY stressful... you deal with different people all the time... some accounts are no-brainers, but boredom and monotomy could get to you... it can be very rewarding though... you get good compensation, and you get to improve your people skills...
958332
Action Plan for Starting a Call Center\n\nAs the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail.  Here is a basic, yet sound and reasonable action plan that will fit all types of call centers and situations:\n\nExamine your motives: Why are you doing this?  Is it for the right reason?  Do you have practical expectations.\n\nResearch the industry:  Join call center associations; read industry literature; but be careful about advice you find on the Internet.  Some Internet information about is out-of-date and some is just plain wrong.  Make sure that any Internet information is provided by a reputable person who is currently involved in the industry.\n\nMake a working business plan:  Having a simple, yet effective business plan is essential in keeping you on track and focused.  Your business plan should include objectives, a cost analysis, a profitability proforma (if you will be a profit center), equipment, telephone and Internet needs, planning for funding, obtaining the requisite licenses, permits, and insurances, and a time table.\n\nEvaluation and select equipment:  This is a critical step.  Call center equipment and software can be expensive.  The features available on the equipment and software you buy will dictate the types of services you can offer and how efficient and effective you will be.\n\nDetermine your launch date:  This is the date that you will “go live” and begin processing calls.  By then you will need your equipment installed, the phone lines in and working, your staff hired and trained, and most importantly work to do.\n\nBuy and install equipment: Once you buy the equipment and software, your vendor will install it and provide some training.  They will also be able to tell you when you need to place your order with them to have the system installed and staff trained for your launch date.\n\nOrder phone and Internet service:  Many vendors can order your phone service for you.  At the very least, they will tell you what to order.  Most call center equipment requires special phone service, which all too many phone company reps do not fully understand, so don’t try to do order phone service (except for one standard business line) on your own.\n\nHire and train staff: Hire and train more staff than you project you will need for your launch.  Why?  For two reasons.  First, not all of the people you hire will be retained.  Despite your best screening and hiring efforts, some will quit before they finish training, while others will quickly conclude that it is not the job for them, and still others will find a better job.  The other reason is that when you go live there will undoubtedly be unanticipated problems, which extra staff can help resolve.  Also, expect your staff to be tentative and a bit slow during those initial days of operation.  Therefore, extra staff will be a blessing.\n\nBegin operation:  Now that everything is in place, you can begin processing calls!\n\nAt this point you will have successfully launched a call center, congratulations!  The next goal is to grow it, fine-tune it, improve it, and expand it. \n\nLog onto this website for all the information you need...
656045
BPO means Business Processes Outsourcing. It can involve outsourcing(getting work done by third party) of any activity of a business like accounting, customer service, payroll preparation, data mining and so on. \nA Call centre is a place where trained people take customer service calls/enquiries for a particular company. Now a call centre work can be done by the company itself (called captive call centre) or it can be outsourced from a specialised firm (then it is called BPO).\n\nSo, essentially Call Center is a type of BPO service.\nSecondly, in a call center job you have to answer customer calls, whereas in a BPO job you could be doing call center work or any other process also maybe just desk job like data processing.
232044
Call Centers are being downsized and outsourced to foreign countries where the wages are lower. Also IVR's (Interactive Voice Response) systems are eliminating a lot of jobs by automating much of the data handling and distribution to the customer. The IVR is the system that you hear when you call a company and the phone system says "Press 1 for Department X" . . .etc."
974080
Hi :)\n\nI worked in a call center for a cell phone company for a few years. While the company was great to work for, it was very difficult to deal with rude customers. Patience is the key! When you interview for a job in a call center, come across as patient, kind and very understanding. \n\nMaybe do a search for "working in a call center" to get a few pointers as to how to land the job you are looking for. Basically what would be required is excellent telephone skills, and compassion. So, if you are called about a job you have applied for, be very professional but upbeat when the potential employer calls you! Your voice will speak volumes about your abilities (even if you have never worked in a call center) \n\nMany call centers require little or no experience and most of them have their own training, so you don't need to know much other than basic computer and telephone skills.\n\nI sure hope this helped and good luck to you!!
853460
Sky Broadband are brilliant but one catch you must have Sky! Cheap and reliable!\n\nTiscali were good, fast, unlimited and cheap and good with call package, only downside is if something goes wrong they are in India and have poor English skills.  Some call centres in India are good, but they are poor. They told me to stick in wire the Post Box!!!\n\nTesco are quite good but I'm biased I work for them.  AVOID BT, NTL.  BT are expensive and poor.
436623
BPO - Business process outsourcing is the contracting of a specific business task, such as payroll, to a third-party service provider.\n\n\nA call center is a physical place where customer and other telephone calls are handled by an organization, usually with some amount of computer automation. Typically, a call center has the ability to handle a considerable volume of calls at the same time, to screen calls and forward them to someone qualified to handle them, and to log calls. Call centers are used by mail-order catalog organizations, telemarketing companies, computer product help desks, and any large organization that uses the telephone to sell or service products and services.
907441
I worked at an inbound call center supporting Quicken software for a few months.  I hated the job but the pay was decent (about $14 an hour), and they had this cabinet full of snacks and candy the employees could buy on the honor system for next to nothing.  I think conventional wisdom kind of deems the call center jobs as pretty undesirable so, failing the obvious solution of offering a competitive wage, promoting a laid back, fun environment with flexibility in scheduling might be a good way to go.
477723
Yes Man, Asterisk is one such program, it is widely used for call center applications and most Importantly it is free http://www.asterisk.org/
142015
I think quite a bit about it.  I use it here in the house to provide 6 handsets and three lines out.(2 VOIP 1 landline).  I run it all via an asterisk server.  In the year or so that I have been doing this, I have had a few problems but nothing that was hard to fix. Besides, I like to be able to set what hours people can call me or if they can call me (based on caller id)