Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Basics of a Call Centre
Call Centre
Call centres combine the use of highly effective and empowered company representatives with a service framework that relies heavily on state-of-the-art communications and in formation technologies. A call centre is sometimes defined as a telephone based shared service centre for specific customer activities and are used for number of customer related functions like marketing, selling, information dispensing, advice, technical support etc.
Thus, a call centre is a service centre which has adequate telecom facilities, trained consultants, access to wide database, Internet and other on-line in for mation support infrastructure to provide in for mation and support to customers. It operates to provide round the clock and year round service i.e.24 x 365 service
The use of call centre is undergoing enormous growth due to importance attached by companies to customer care, telemarketing for product offerings, telebanking, concept of direct response television and home shopping, market liberalisation of utilities, growth of direct marketing etc.
In addition, telemarketing is growing and in for mation lines are forming part of many product service offerings. Telephone banking has led to call centre growth in the financial services sector, while in retail the increase in direct response television and home shopping have driven call centre growth. Market liberalisation of utilities has also been a key driver of call centre growth. Finally, the growth of direct marketing has also contributed to the popularity of call centres as a means of reacing targeted customer bases.
Call Centres provide large and small international enterprises with the unique ability to establish a presence in for eign markets without the expense and complexity of owning and managing their own infrastructure. A call centre with good metrics and good data capture abilities represents a credible marketplace intelligence system. A call centre can be seen as a window to the marketplace and is also a window to the client organisation allowing call centre operators to see weakness in client organisations which could represent business opportunities in future. Call centre originally conceived as a separate and individual distribution channel of customer care system has been transformed into integrated customer management system. With the enabling of integration of call centre and Internet technology, call centres of future will handle telephone, fax, web, internet and interactive TV enquiries on 24x7 basis. These combined Internet Call Centres or ‘Customer Contact Centres' will shape the future of call centre design.
What does a Call Centre do for an Organisation?
It allows a wider customer base to do business with.
It offers an economical means of reaching diverse and widely distributed customer group.
It fine tunes offerings to specific customer groups.
It allows customers easy access to experts
.
It facilitates business round the clock and in any geography.
It allows a company to avoid the overheads of brick and mort
ar branches.
Types of Call Centres
Call Centres could either be ‘captive In-house' or using an ‘Outsourced bureau'. Captive Call Centres are typically used for various vertical segments like Insurance, Investments and Securities, Retail Banking, Other Financials, Telecommunications, Technology, Utilities, Manufacturing, Travel and Tourism, Transport, Entertainment, Healthcare, Government, Education etc. Outsourcing Bureaus have experience in running call centres, allow corporations to ‘Hit the Ground running', help in dealing with a complex labour market, better capability to handle volatility, tend to use the latest technology, lowers the company's operating expenses, offers a way of cost control and limits the client's financial risks, are responsive to their clients needs and allow the client to focus on their core competencies. Many companies find that outsourced bureau operators offer them the flexibility required in the following manner:
Set-up outsourcing . This involves use of a bureau in the early stages of the call centre life cycle. Having used a bureau for set-up, some companies later bring the process in-house, while others continue to outsource on a longer term basis.
Transitional Outsourcing .
This involves use of a bureau during the period when internal infrastructure is being revamped or re-engineered.
Overflow outsourcing . A bureau is often an attractive option for a company when the demand on the company's own call centre is too high for its current capacity. The use of a bureau operator in such circumstances ensures that the company does not have to ramp up during peak demand periods. Companies may also use bureaus for ‘out of hour' demand. In this case, the ability of a call centre operator to mix time zones offer a competitive advantage.
One-off . For applications such as direct response advertising which requires a call centre on a one-off, short-term basis, bureau offers the best option. Many companies prefer to outsource the handling of direct marketing campaigns rather than invest in new technologies, especially for limited period campaigns. Examples of such requirements would be marketing campaigns, special issues such as recalls, or anything which generates spikes and large call volumes. Other examples could be where a company was testing a new business initiative, new product or a new marketplace.
Long term outsourcing . This may entail the entire outsourcing of the operations.
Outsourced call centre may further be classified based on:
The delivery channel or mode of customer-call centre interaction e.g. Voice, E-Mail, Chat, Web Call Back, Web Call through, Web Collaboration, WAP, Touch Screen etc.
Components / features constituting the call centre e.g. Customer Relationship Managements (CRM), Workforce Management, Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), Integrated Call Management etc.
Location of its target customer.
Potential Customers Potential Customer industries for call centres are essentially those industries which require customer interface and transactions success is based entirely on in for mation availability. These industries include:
Airlines
Banks / Insurance / Financial Services boutiques to provide services to the customers / callers
Telecom services
Companies providing customized and high value services
IT products companies
Tourism & Hotels
Other services industries
Market Size According to a survey, there are more than 100,000 call centres worldwide and this is expected to grow to 300,000 by 2002 employing approximately 18 million people. By year 2003 a sum of US$60 billion is expected to be spent on call centre services, mainly driven by e-commerce. As per a survey conducted by Nasscom, Customer Interaction Services including Call Centres in India employed about 10,000 people as on 30 July 2000 generating an annual revenue of Rs. 450 crore. It is estimated that during 2008, this segment will create employment for 2,70,000 people generating revenues of Rs.20,000 crore. Industry Structure The potential market of immediate relevance to service providers in India is USA. During 1997, and continuing into 1998, USA, as an industry as well as trend setter in shifts in technologies and practices, has experienced significant changes that have been making substantial difference to conventional business logic and vendor-customer relationship. Advancing technology has fueled growth among several product segments; but resistance has been seen coming from the user sector — which is impeding more remarkable growth. This essentially is driven by increasingly felt need of customers to critically work out the cost benefit analysis, opportunity costs and other more viable options available. Most of the recent trends in this industry pertain to the technology behind the call routing and distribution function. Some of these trends will continue, and include the following:
Shift from proprietary to open architectural plat for ms is rapidly gaining acceptance as is exemplified by vendors' frequent introductions of PC-based routing and call management software.
A shift toward the "complete package" or "turnkey" solution is boosted by this trend to open plat for ms which allows for easier integration with existing systems. The growth in turnkey solutions is also driven by a high level of customer demand.
In addition to the formal call center setup, demand for this industry-standards based, open architecture is seen by those types of call centers operating in more "non-traditional" environments. For example: SOHO, virtual call centers, telecommuting, etc.
Price decline for products perceived as commodities (due to level of technology and knowledge sharing).
Besides the above developments, call centre technologies are making a rapid shift from mere stringing together of boxes and wires to, more intelligent and manageable solution. For example, select companies in India have already developed extremely competitive and technologically advanced call centre solutions based entirely on PC technologies and platforms, and IP technologies. This helps to reduce the cost of the system and reduces changeover or upgradation costs for the new technologies as a major portion of technology is derived from software. These are highly automated call centers. Influences upon the call center market structure have approached from various directions to such a degree as to create flux. These persuasions are steering the market through a shake-out phase, culminating in a leaner and more competitive market within the United States. This would also mean vendors as well as customers looking to reduce their costs and outsourcing their requirements /contracts to such call center service providers who can help to add and continually enhance competitive advantage.
Criteria for location of call centres The choice of location of a call centre by overseas MNC's is based on a number of factors and include:
Laws and Regulations.
Telecommunication Infrastructure, Technology & Tariffs - India is perceived as technologically savy but with keen desire to emerge as a country with sound telecommunication infrastructure. Therefore, technology is an important deciding factor in location decision. Similarly, tariff is another significant factor. There are also issues of connectivity (to PSTN etc.) that need to be addressed by the government quickly.
Work force - Companies look to countries that can provide them with work force that is proficient in English (and possibly other languages); cost effective with disciplined work culture.
Real Estate, Availability and cost of office space.
Economic Incentives - These may take the form of grants or tax exemptions, repatriation of profits, corporate tax on profits generated by call centres, tax treaties etc.
Feel-good factor- Companies look for countries where the people are positive, service minded and friendly.
Call Centre Technology Suppliers Some of the suppliers of Call Centre technology are as follows.
This is just an indicative list:
Hardware : Aspect, Clarify, Brightware, Cisco (webline)Convergys, Corepoint, Dialogic, e-Gain, eShare, Genesysd, Kana (including Silknet), Lucent, Nortel, Quintus, Rockwell, ServiceSoft, Siemens etc.
Software : AnswerSoft, Brooktrout, Edify, eFusion, Genesys Labs, Geotel, IBM/Lotus, Intecom, KnowledgeX, Microsoft, Multilink, Nabnasset, Netcentric, Netphone, NetSpeak, Oracle, Paresc, Scopus, Sitel Corporation, SpanLink, Sun, Teloquent, Vantive, Venturian, Voicetek, Webline etc.
Setting up a Call Centre
Establishment of a call centre needs efficient integration and management of telecom and IT infrastructure. The main elements constituting a call centre are telecommunication links (IPLC, typically E1 Link), call centre infrastructure (hardware in the for m of LAN, Agent PCs, Headsets) and the requisite software (CRM). The decision process should typically include the following sequence:
Define Business requirement
Define Decision Criteria
Research options and deduce
Evaluate options against decision criteria and business requirements
Pursue vendors of technology along chosen path viz. Technology Vendors for In-house call centres, Service Bureaus for outsourcing entirely, and ASPs for outsourcing technology.
Decision criteria. Some key criteria to consider and define for your environment are listed below:
Operations . What operational environment you want to use for call support? What media functions, applications, and hours of coverage are required?
Technology . What infrastructure is needed to meet business goals? Are you in the process of procuring technology solutions like CRM, CTI that web integration may be part of or need to integrate with?
Resource . Consider Call Centre staff and management, technology, HR training etc.
Workload . Volumes and variability of volumes. How are they likely to grow?
Culture . Some companies need control of technology, staff or both in order to deliver the level and type of service and support they desireCost .
What are the investment priorities? Consider the cost of technology, resources and ongoing maintenance and support.
Core Competencies . Are call centres core competency for your company, or will they be? Consider technology implementation, integration, development and management
Systems Selection . In the race to gain a competitive edge in this market, it is easy to be seduced by an advancing technology. In doing so, many companies lose sight of the ultimate
business goal: to become more competitive, productive and efficient in providing the most effective customer service. It is important to look carefully at the call centre's real technology needs, vendor selection, and the possibility of increasing the efficiency of a technology project by rethinking the organisation be forehand. The technological systems choices while setting up call centres include:
Entry options ranging from traditional voice, e-mail, internet for ms, web triggered calls, fax and video
Desktop tools including knowledge based systems (AI), electronic documentation, new contact management applications and CTI and screen based telephony;
Resource locations ranging from home agents to centralised or decentralised centres;
Service options ranging from self-help or assisted services via Internet, voice response units, fax back systems, and electronic technical support forums. Introducing the right technology will benefit every component of a call centre including training, staffing, scripting, customer relations, tracking and reporting etc.
Proven Success Factors Operation of a Call Centre revolves around serving an existing and potential customer base. This need translates into providing satisfying and well in formed responses to a customer query, or in case of a potential customer, meeting his expectations with regard to quality and quantity of service.
The difference in services can be made through a number of factors. Some of them are discussed as below:
Process Integration : The call center service flow should be closely integrated with the process of customer for whom this service is being rendered. This translates into easy access to and presentation of updated information.
Customer Satisfaction : Defined as Direct-to-Quality (DTQ), this is akin to ability to satisfying the customer's (caller's) query the first time.
Responses Time : Waiting period and responses time for a query should be minimised. The only way is by benchmarking against some of the best call center operations in the world.
Quality : Vendors should aim to achieve quality certification such as ISO 9000 or other certification applicable to this industry. This includes full COPC-2000 Certification (COPC - Customer Outsourcing Performance Center). This distinction means that the facility has met the requirements of all 32 areas described in the COPC-2000 Standard. It thus helps to validate call center's quality and continuous improvement initiatives.
Professional Service : The quality of service rendered by an outsourced call centers should be equal to or exceed service levels already achieved by the client's in-house call center.
Employees : Call Center staff should be trained on the client's business, the role of the call centre, nature of potential callers, and service expectations of the client.
Accent and Fluency : Call Centre staff need to be constantly trained to help improve accent and diction capabilities, especially for region being served.
Cost / Profit Analysis
A call centre facility with seating capacity of 100 persons is estimated to cost between Rs.4 to 4.5 crore including premises, leased circuits, hardware and software. Call Centres in India In the last couple of years, India has emerged as one of the preferred countries for setting up of call centres. Many companies including GE, iDLX, Bechtel, British Airways, Dell Computers, Bharti Telecom have already chosen India as the base for their new global call centres. These are choices made for solid, practical reasons which guarantee them competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Many banks - ICICI, HDFC, Standard Chartered, Citicorp, American Express to name a few- telecom service providers and infotech companies - Lotus, Hewlett Packard, 3Com etc. have deployed call centres for better customer support and care.
Guidelines from Department of Telecommunications
In India , Call Centre operators have to get a no objection certificate from Deputy Director General (Customer Relations) at Department of Communications, Government of India, New Delhi. This NOC is granted with the aim of granting a special permission to use voice circuits over international gateways with the dedicated and stated purpose of serving overseas customers, and accompanied by an undertaking that it will not be connected to a PSTN within India. The Government of India has released a set of Terms / Conditions for Call Centre operators in India . The new policy initiatives are aimed at liberalising Call Centre operations in India. Some of the salient points of the policy are as under: The Call Centres are being permitted on nonexclusive basis against the requests received from IT Service providers. These call centres can either be international or domestic in nature.
However, no interconnectivity of the international and domestic call centres is permitted. But, interconnection of two domestic call centres of the same company is permissible, subject to prior approval of the DoT.
The International Call Centres will be permitted on IPLCs (International Private Leased Circuits) only and will cater to calls from foreign end PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Netweork). However, no PSTN connectivity will be permitted at the Indian end. At Indian end, even linking to any private or public network is not permitted for IPLC, even if it is of the same organisation.
The domestic call centre can have PSTN connectivity at one end or both ends or at multipoints in a more complex configuration, with only incoming and with outgoing disabled at all places, wherever PSTN termination is provided.
No other interconnectivity, except as permitted above, with any public or private network, shall be permitted to the call centre set up.
Nasscom welcomes the above initiative announced by DoT. This is expected to give boost to proliferation of call centres in India. However, there is a strong need to permit PSTN connectivity at the Indian end, to international call centres as well as for software companies in India (who provide software support from India ). This is important not only for large establishments of international call centres ( a great source of export revenue and employment) but also to encourage software companies to enable their employees to per form as teleworkers. Nasscom is presently working with concerned authorities to resolve this issue.
It is also desired that domestic and international Call Centres be permitted interconnectivity. Actually, there should be no distinction between them. Marketing Call Centre services are provided to clients customers on the basis of a long term contract (running upto 2-4 years or more). Therefore, it is advisable to approach clients directly. This may be effected through establishing a branch office / subsidiary in USA or any other export market. It is also advisable to appoint a local person as a senior / head executive of the office as it helps to increase comfort level of the target customer(s). Further, in order to attract initial customers, it may be worthwhile to operate on Build-Own - Operate- Transfer basis. Companies may also bear in mind that it is easier to sell services by having a functional ‘proof of concept'. In other words, a functional call centre, preferably operating closer to service levels expected by the customer. Such concerns may be common as call centres represent interaction in real time and companies would not appreciate any faux pas in such interactions. However, companies may also consider establishing and managing facilities for a large call centre services company or even enter into a joint venture agreement. This would help ensure profitability as well as growth. The call centre is also a viable business proposition as it is considered to be a good launch pad for other service areas in various segments of the value chain and thus providing end-to-end platform for virtual value chain. Nasscom plans to lead a Call Centre delegation every six month to Europe and USA. This is expected to bring in a lot of business to India. Summary Call Centres have clearly emerged as one of the most favoured of all IT enabled services. On one hand, this is due to the success and prominence acieved by call centres already operating in India. On the other hand, global call centre industry has proven to be amongst the most stable revenue growth centres amongst all related services. The enthusiasm of global corporations as well as domestic entrepreneurs are validated by some of the inherent advantages enjoyed by India. Further encouragement through proactive encouragement by Government of India to promote this industry augurs well for India emerging as the prefered choice for setting up call centres in India .
Call centres combine the use of highly effective and empowered company representatives with a service framework that relies heavily on state-of-the-art communications and in formation technologies. A call centre is sometimes defined as a telephone based shared service centre for specific customer activities and are used for number of customer related functions like marketing, selling, information dispensing, advice, technical support etc.
Thus, a call centre is a service centre which has adequate telecom facilities, trained consultants, access to wide database, Internet and other on-line in for mation support infrastructure to provide in for mation and support to customers. It operates to provide round the clock and year round service i.e.24 x 365 service
The use of call centre is undergoing enormous growth due to importance attached by companies to customer care, telemarketing for product offerings, telebanking, concept of direct response television and home shopping, market liberalisation of utilities, growth of direct marketing etc.
In addition, telemarketing is growing and in for mation lines are forming part of many product service offerings. Telephone banking has led to call centre growth in the financial services sector, while in retail the increase in direct response television and home shopping have driven call centre growth. Market liberalisation of utilities has also been a key driver of call centre growth. Finally, the growth of direct marketing has also contributed to the popularity of call centres as a means of reacing targeted customer bases.
Call Centres provide large and small international enterprises with the unique ability to establish a presence in for eign markets without the expense and complexity of owning and managing their own infrastructure. A call centre with good metrics and good data capture abilities represents a credible marketplace intelligence system. A call centre can be seen as a window to the marketplace and is also a window to the client organisation allowing call centre operators to see weakness in client organisations which could represent business opportunities in future. Call centre originally conceived as a separate and individual distribution channel of customer care system has been transformed into integrated customer management system. With the enabling of integration of call centre and Internet technology, call centres of future will handle telephone, fax, web, internet and interactive TV enquiries on 24x7 basis. These combined Internet Call Centres or ‘Customer Contact Centres' will shape the future of call centre design.
What does a Call Centre do for an Organisation?
It allows a wider customer base to do business with.
It offers an economical means of reaching diverse and widely distributed customer group.
It fine tunes offerings to specific customer groups.
It allows customers easy access to experts
.
It facilitates business round the clock and in any geography.
It allows a company to avoid the overheads of brick and mort
ar branches.
Types of Call Centres
Call Centres could either be ‘captive In-house' or using an ‘Outsourced bureau'. Captive Call Centres are typically used for various vertical segments like Insurance, Investments and Securities, Retail Banking, Other Financials, Telecommunications, Technology, Utilities, Manufacturing, Travel and Tourism, Transport, Entertainment, Healthcare, Government, Education etc. Outsourcing Bureaus have experience in running call centres, allow corporations to ‘Hit the Ground running', help in dealing with a complex labour market, better capability to handle volatility, tend to use the latest technology, lowers the company's operating expenses, offers a way of cost control and limits the client's financial risks, are responsive to their clients needs and allow the client to focus on their core competencies. Many companies find that outsourced bureau operators offer them the flexibility required in the following manner:
Set-up outsourcing . This involves use of a bureau in the early stages of the call centre life cycle. Having used a bureau for set-up, some companies later bring the process in-house, while others continue to outsource on a longer term basis.
Transitional Outsourcing .
This involves use of a bureau during the period when internal infrastructure is being revamped or re-engineered.
Overflow outsourcing . A bureau is often an attractive option for a company when the demand on the company's own call centre is too high for its current capacity. The use of a bureau operator in such circumstances ensures that the company does not have to ramp up during peak demand periods. Companies may also use bureaus for ‘out of hour' demand. In this case, the ability of a call centre operator to mix time zones offer a competitive advantage.
One-off . For applications such as direct response advertising which requires a call centre on a one-off, short-term basis, bureau offers the best option. Many companies prefer to outsource the handling of direct marketing campaigns rather than invest in new technologies, especially for limited period campaigns. Examples of such requirements would be marketing campaigns, special issues such as recalls, or anything which generates spikes and large call volumes. Other examples could be where a company was testing a new business initiative, new product or a new marketplace.
Long term outsourcing . This may entail the entire outsourcing of the operations.
Outsourced call centre may further be classified based on:
The delivery channel or mode of customer-call centre interaction e.g. Voice, E-Mail, Chat, Web Call Back, Web Call through, Web Collaboration, WAP, Touch Screen etc.
Components / features constituting the call centre e.g. Customer Relationship Managements (CRM), Workforce Management, Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), Integrated Call Management etc.
Location of its target customer.
Potential Customers Potential Customer industries for call centres are essentially those industries which require customer interface and transactions success is based entirely on in for mation availability. These industries include:
Airlines
Banks / Insurance / Financial Services boutiques to provide services to the customers / callers
Telecom services
Companies providing customized and high value services
IT products companies
Tourism & Hotels
Other services industries
Market Size According to a survey, there are more than 100,000 call centres worldwide and this is expected to grow to 300,000 by 2002 employing approximately 18 million people. By year 2003 a sum of US$60 billion is expected to be spent on call centre services, mainly driven by e-commerce. As per a survey conducted by Nasscom, Customer Interaction Services including Call Centres in India employed about 10,000 people as on 30 July 2000 generating an annual revenue of Rs. 450 crore. It is estimated that during 2008, this segment will create employment for 2,70,000 people generating revenues of Rs.20,000 crore. Industry Structure The potential market of immediate relevance to service providers in India is USA. During 1997, and continuing into 1998, USA, as an industry as well as trend setter in shifts in technologies and practices, has experienced significant changes that have been making substantial difference to conventional business logic and vendor-customer relationship. Advancing technology has fueled growth among several product segments; but resistance has been seen coming from the user sector — which is impeding more remarkable growth. This essentially is driven by increasingly felt need of customers to critically work out the cost benefit analysis, opportunity costs and other more viable options available. Most of the recent trends in this industry pertain to the technology behind the call routing and distribution function. Some of these trends will continue, and include the following:
Shift from proprietary to open architectural plat for ms is rapidly gaining acceptance as is exemplified by vendors' frequent introductions of PC-based routing and call management software.
A shift toward the "complete package" or "turnkey" solution is boosted by this trend to open plat for ms which allows for easier integration with existing systems. The growth in turnkey solutions is also driven by a high level of customer demand.
In addition to the formal call center setup, demand for this industry-standards based, open architecture is seen by those types of call centers operating in more "non-traditional" environments. For example: SOHO, virtual call centers, telecommuting, etc.
Price decline for products perceived as commodities (due to level of technology and knowledge sharing).
Besides the above developments, call centre technologies are making a rapid shift from mere stringing together of boxes and wires to, more intelligent and manageable solution. For example, select companies in India have already developed extremely competitive and technologically advanced call centre solutions based entirely on PC technologies and platforms, and IP technologies. This helps to reduce the cost of the system and reduces changeover or upgradation costs for the new technologies as a major portion of technology is derived from software. These are highly automated call centers. Influences upon the call center market structure have approached from various directions to such a degree as to create flux. These persuasions are steering the market through a shake-out phase, culminating in a leaner and more competitive market within the United States. This would also mean vendors as well as customers looking to reduce their costs and outsourcing their requirements /contracts to such call center service providers who can help to add and continually enhance competitive advantage.
Criteria for location of call centres The choice of location of a call centre by overseas MNC's is based on a number of factors and include:
Laws and Regulations.
Telecommunication Infrastructure, Technology & Tariffs - India is perceived as technologically savy but with keen desire to emerge as a country with sound telecommunication infrastructure. Therefore, technology is an important deciding factor in location decision. Similarly, tariff is another significant factor. There are also issues of connectivity (to PSTN etc.) that need to be addressed by the government quickly.
Work force - Companies look to countries that can provide them with work force that is proficient in English (and possibly other languages); cost effective with disciplined work culture.
Real Estate, Availability and cost of office space.
Economic Incentives - These may take the form of grants or tax exemptions, repatriation of profits, corporate tax on profits generated by call centres, tax treaties etc.
Feel-good factor- Companies look for countries where the people are positive, service minded and friendly.
Call Centre Technology Suppliers Some of the suppliers of Call Centre technology are as follows.
This is just an indicative list:
Hardware : Aspect, Clarify, Brightware, Cisco (webline)Convergys, Corepoint, Dialogic, e-Gain, eShare, Genesysd, Kana (including Silknet), Lucent, Nortel, Quintus, Rockwell, ServiceSoft, Siemens etc.
Software : AnswerSoft, Brooktrout, Edify, eFusion, Genesys Labs, Geotel, IBM/Lotus, Intecom, KnowledgeX, Microsoft, Multilink, Nabnasset, Netcentric, Netphone, NetSpeak, Oracle, Paresc, Scopus, Sitel Corporation, SpanLink, Sun, Teloquent, Vantive, Venturian, Voicetek, Webline etc.
Setting up a Call Centre
Establishment of a call centre needs efficient integration and management of telecom and IT infrastructure. The main elements constituting a call centre are telecommunication links (IPLC, typically E1 Link), call centre infrastructure (hardware in the for m of LAN, Agent PCs, Headsets) and the requisite software (CRM). The decision process should typically include the following sequence:
Define Business requirement
Define Decision Criteria
Research options and deduce
Evaluate options against decision criteria and business requirements
Pursue vendors of technology along chosen path viz. Technology Vendors for In-house call centres, Service Bureaus for outsourcing entirely, and ASPs for outsourcing technology.
Decision criteria. Some key criteria to consider and define for your environment are listed below:
Operations . What operational environment you want to use for call support? What media functions, applications, and hours of coverage are required?
Technology . What infrastructure is needed to meet business goals? Are you in the process of procuring technology solutions like CRM, CTI that web integration may be part of or need to integrate with?
Resource . Consider Call Centre staff and management, technology, HR training etc.
Workload . Volumes and variability of volumes. How are they likely to grow?
Culture . Some companies need control of technology, staff or both in order to deliver the level and type of service and support they desireCost .
What are the investment priorities? Consider the cost of technology, resources and ongoing maintenance and support.
Core Competencies . Are call centres core competency for your company, or will they be? Consider technology implementation, integration, development and management
Systems Selection . In the race to gain a competitive edge in this market, it is easy to be seduced by an advancing technology. In doing so, many companies lose sight of the ultimate
business goal: to become more competitive, productive and efficient in providing the most effective customer service. It is important to look carefully at the call centre's real technology needs, vendor selection, and the possibility of increasing the efficiency of a technology project by rethinking the organisation be forehand. The technological systems choices while setting up call centres include:
Entry options ranging from traditional voice, e-mail, internet for ms, web triggered calls, fax and video
Desktop tools including knowledge based systems (AI), electronic documentation, new contact management applications and CTI and screen based telephony;
Resource locations ranging from home agents to centralised or decentralised centres;
Service options ranging from self-help or assisted services via Internet, voice response units, fax back systems, and electronic technical support forums. Introducing the right technology will benefit every component of a call centre including training, staffing, scripting, customer relations, tracking and reporting etc.
Proven Success Factors Operation of a Call Centre revolves around serving an existing and potential customer base. This need translates into providing satisfying and well in formed responses to a customer query, or in case of a potential customer, meeting his expectations with regard to quality and quantity of service.
The difference in services can be made through a number of factors. Some of them are discussed as below:
Process Integration : The call center service flow should be closely integrated with the process of customer for whom this service is being rendered. This translates into easy access to and presentation of updated information.
Customer Satisfaction : Defined as Direct-to-Quality (DTQ), this is akin to ability to satisfying the customer's (caller's) query the first time.
Responses Time : Waiting period and responses time for a query should be minimised. The only way is by benchmarking against some of the best call center operations in the world.
Quality : Vendors should aim to achieve quality certification such as ISO 9000 or other certification applicable to this industry. This includes full COPC-2000 Certification (COPC - Customer Outsourcing Performance Center). This distinction means that the facility has met the requirements of all 32 areas described in the COPC-2000 Standard. It thus helps to validate call center's quality and continuous improvement initiatives.
Professional Service : The quality of service rendered by an outsourced call centers should be equal to or exceed service levels already achieved by the client's in-house call center.
Employees : Call Center staff should be trained on the client's business, the role of the call centre, nature of potential callers, and service expectations of the client.
Accent and Fluency : Call Centre staff need to be constantly trained to help improve accent and diction capabilities, especially for region being served.
Cost / Profit Analysis
A call centre facility with seating capacity of 100 persons is estimated to cost between Rs.4 to 4.5 crore including premises, leased circuits, hardware and software. Call Centres in India In the last couple of years, India has emerged as one of the preferred countries for setting up of call centres. Many companies including GE, iDLX, Bechtel, British Airways, Dell Computers, Bharti Telecom have already chosen India as the base for their new global call centres. These are choices made for solid, practical reasons which guarantee them competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Many banks - ICICI, HDFC, Standard Chartered, Citicorp, American Express to name a few- telecom service providers and infotech companies - Lotus, Hewlett Packard, 3Com etc. have deployed call centres for better customer support and care.
Guidelines from Department of Telecommunications
In India , Call Centre operators have to get a no objection certificate from Deputy Director General (Customer Relations) at Department of Communications, Government of India, New Delhi. This NOC is granted with the aim of granting a special permission to use voice circuits over international gateways with the dedicated and stated purpose of serving overseas customers, and accompanied by an undertaking that it will not be connected to a PSTN within India. The Government of India has released a set of Terms / Conditions for Call Centre operators in India . The new policy initiatives are aimed at liberalising Call Centre operations in India. Some of the salient points of the policy are as under: The Call Centres are being permitted on nonexclusive basis against the requests received from IT Service providers. These call centres can either be international or domestic in nature.
However, no interconnectivity of the international and domestic call centres is permitted. But, interconnection of two domestic call centres of the same company is permissible, subject to prior approval of the DoT.
The International Call Centres will be permitted on IPLCs (International Private Leased Circuits) only and will cater to calls from foreign end PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Netweork). However, no PSTN connectivity will be permitted at the Indian end. At Indian end, even linking to any private or public network is not permitted for IPLC, even if it is of the same organisation.
The domestic call centre can have PSTN connectivity at one end or both ends or at multipoints in a more complex configuration, with only incoming and with outgoing disabled at all places, wherever PSTN termination is provided.
No other interconnectivity, except as permitted above, with any public or private network, shall be permitted to the call centre set up.
Nasscom welcomes the above initiative announced by DoT. This is expected to give boost to proliferation of call centres in India. However, there is a strong need to permit PSTN connectivity at the Indian end, to international call centres as well as for software companies in India (who provide software support from India ). This is important not only for large establishments of international call centres ( a great source of export revenue and employment) but also to encourage software companies to enable their employees to per form as teleworkers. Nasscom is presently working with concerned authorities to resolve this issue.
It is also desired that domestic and international Call Centres be permitted interconnectivity. Actually, there should be no distinction between them. Marketing Call Centre services are provided to clients customers on the basis of a long term contract (running upto 2-4 years or more). Therefore, it is advisable to approach clients directly. This may be effected through establishing a branch office / subsidiary in USA or any other export market. It is also advisable to appoint a local person as a senior / head executive of the office as it helps to increase comfort level of the target customer(s). Further, in order to attract initial customers, it may be worthwhile to operate on Build-Own - Operate- Transfer basis. Companies may also bear in mind that it is easier to sell services by having a functional ‘proof of concept'. In other words, a functional call centre, preferably operating closer to service levels expected by the customer. Such concerns may be common as call centres represent interaction in real time and companies would not appreciate any faux pas in such interactions. However, companies may also consider establishing and managing facilities for a large call centre services company or even enter into a joint venture agreement. This would help ensure profitability as well as growth. The call centre is also a viable business proposition as it is considered to be a good launch pad for other service areas in various segments of the value chain and thus providing end-to-end platform for virtual value chain. Nasscom plans to lead a Call Centre delegation every six month to Europe and USA. This is expected to bring in a lot of business to India. Summary Call Centres have clearly emerged as one of the most favoured of all IT enabled services. On one hand, this is due to the success and prominence acieved by call centres already operating in India. On the other hand, global call centre industry has proven to be amongst the most stable revenue growth centres amongst all related services. The enthusiasm of global corporations as well as domestic entrepreneurs are validated by some of the inherent advantages enjoyed by India. Further encouragement through proactive encouragement by Government of India to promote this industry augurs well for India emerging as the prefered choice for setting up call centres in India .
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Offshore Outsourcing Tips
Offshore Outsourcing Tips
Offshore Outsourcing unless managed efficiently will not yield reliable results. The following are some tips for successful offshore outsourcing.
1. Government regulations - Foreign governments has their own rules for labor regulation, taxes and economic development. Failing to comply with these rules can result in stiff penalties and lengthy delays. Make sure your supplier understands the rules and will keep you in compliance, and make sure your service agreement spells out your suppliers responsibilities.
2. Time zone constraints - The time differences between locations in the U.S. and Europe, Africa and Asia can range from seven to 14 hours. Your offshore resources may be going home when your workday is starting. To avoid unnecessary delays, your service agreement must spell out times of availability, including contingencies for matters that require immediate attention.
3. Control - A perceived lack of control is the single largest detractor in outsourcing decisions. Outsourcing often leads to improved control and performance because you can clearly spell out your expectations in the service agreement and include penalties if they are not met. Much of the anxiety around control issues can be addressed with well-defined business metrics, periodic performance inspections, clear escalation processes and sound communication practices.
4. Political stability - Political instability is one of the biggest unknowns in dealing with offshore suppliers. Civil insurrection or war can shut down your offshore operation indefinitely. An effective way to mitigate this risk is to work with a U.S.-based company with access to offshore operations in several countries. In times of crisis, it can be the suppliers responsibility to minimize disruption by shifting the work to another location.
5. Industry knowledge - Offshore suppliers generally have good technical skills, but they often lack relevant business-related experience and may not understand the business practices of your specific region. Choose a supplier who can incorporate industry-specific business knowledge, effective business models and experience specific to the regions in which you operate.
6. Project management - When your company choose to partner directly with an offshore supplier, choose someone who has already learned the lessons of working with offshore resources and can assign certified project management professionals to work with your firm. Most of the project management problems occur in the early stages, but these problems can throw an entire project behind schedule.
7. Business continuity - Business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning are fundamental to the well-being of any organization. Make sure your offshore supplier has a disaster recovery plan that will support your minimum service levels. The best approach is to plan carefully and make sure you have strong infrastructure support that can easily redistribute workloads to alternative locations, minimizing the chance of an interruption to your business.
8. Infrastructure - Your relationship with your offshore supplier is only as good as the communication and network infrastructure that separates your two countries. Your suppliers local infrastructure may be too primitive or unreliable for you to count on 24x7 connectivity. Make sure to factor in the cost of setting up a separate infrastructure that meets your organizations needs, or at least make sure you build in redundancies to your network.
9. Cost savings - The primary reason for companies to outsource is their quest for lower cost. However, lower hourly labor rates do not necessarily translate into lower costs. Factors like suppliers transition processes, productivity rates, service delivery capabilities and quality commitment can impact the overall project cost and the value gained from the offshore engagement.
10. Publicity - Even if shifting work offshore makes good business sense, it can create public relations issues for your company. Your decision to outsource will be watched closely by the employees and the media. Negative publicity could alienate your customers. Choosing an outsourcing supplier with both on-shore and offshore operations can minimize the potential for negative press.
Top 10 Risks of Offshore Outsourcing
Offshore outsourcing is on a steady growth path, growing about 20%-25% per annum, with little evidence of slowing. Though enterprises experience initial resistance, most technical issues are readily resolved and geopolitical risk is deemed insignificant after careful evaluation. Even the current political fervor about jobs being moved offshore via outsourcing is not impacting the demand or strategy of IT organizations.
No matter which country you choose as your outsourcing destination, be sure to analyse its statistics in depth, as choosing the right outsourcing destination and partner can go a long way in ensuring that you reap huge benefits.
Outsourcing is not bereft of risks. The risks in outsourcing need to be successfully addressed to ensure your companys productivity. The top 10 risks of offshore outsourcing are as follows:
1. Cost-Reduction Expectations
2. Data Security/Protection
3. Process Discipline (CMM)
4. Loss of Business Knowledge
5. Vendor Failure to Deliver
6. Scope Creep
7. Government Oversight/Regulation
8. Culture
9. Turnover of Key Personnel
10. Knowledge Transfer
Offshore Outsourcing unless managed efficiently will not yield reliable results. The following are some tips for successful offshore outsourcing.
1. Government regulations - Foreign governments has their own rules for labor regulation, taxes and economic development. Failing to comply with these rules can result in stiff penalties and lengthy delays. Make sure your supplier understands the rules and will keep you in compliance, and make sure your service agreement spells out your suppliers responsibilities.
2. Time zone constraints - The time differences between locations in the U.S. and Europe, Africa and Asia can range from seven to 14 hours. Your offshore resources may be going home when your workday is starting. To avoid unnecessary delays, your service agreement must spell out times of availability, including contingencies for matters that require immediate attention.
3. Control - A perceived lack of control is the single largest detractor in outsourcing decisions. Outsourcing often leads to improved control and performance because you can clearly spell out your expectations in the service agreement and include penalties if they are not met. Much of the anxiety around control issues can be addressed with well-defined business metrics, periodic performance inspections, clear escalation processes and sound communication practices.
4. Political stability - Political instability is one of the biggest unknowns in dealing with offshore suppliers. Civil insurrection or war can shut down your offshore operation indefinitely. An effective way to mitigate this risk is to work with a U.S.-based company with access to offshore operations in several countries. In times of crisis, it can be the suppliers responsibility to minimize disruption by shifting the work to another location.
5. Industry knowledge - Offshore suppliers generally have good technical skills, but they often lack relevant business-related experience and may not understand the business practices of your specific region. Choose a supplier who can incorporate industry-specific business knowledge, effective business models and experience specific to the regions in which you operate.
6. Project management - When your company choose to partner directly with an offshore supplier, choose someone who has already learned the lessons of working with offshore resources and can assign certified project management professionals to work with your firm. Most of the project management problems occur in the early stages, but these problems can throw an entire project behind schedule.
7. Business continuity - Business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning are fundamental to the well-being of any organization. Make sure your offshore supplier has a disaster recovery plan that will support your minimum service levels. The best approach is to plan carefully and make sure you have strong infrastructure support that can easily redistribute workloads to alternative locations, minimizing the chance of an interruption to your business.
8. Infrastructure - Your relationship with your offshore supplier is only as good as the communication and network infrastructure that separates your two countries. Your suppliers local infrastructure may be too primitive or unreliable for you to count on 24x7 connectivity. Make sure to factor in the cost of setting up a separate infrastructure that meets your organizations needs, or at least make sure you build in redundancies to your network.
9. Cost savings - The primary reason for companies to outsource is their quest for lower cost. However, lower hourly labor rates do not necessarily translate into lower costs. Factors like suppliers transition processes, productivity rates, service delivery capabilities and quality commitment can impact the overall project cost and the value gained from the offshore engagement.
10. Publicity - Even if shifting work offshore makes good business sense, it can create public relations issues for your company. Your decision to outsource will be watched closely by the employees and the media. Negative publicity could alienate your customers. Choosing an outsourcing supplier with both on-shore and offshore operations can minimize the potential for negative press.
Top 10 Risks of Offshore Outsourcing
Offshore outsourcing is on a steady growth path, growing about 20%-25% per annum, with little evidence of slowing. Though enterprises experience initial resistance, most technical issues are readily resolved and geopolitical risk is deemed insignificant after careful evaluation. Even the current political fervor about jobs being moved offshore via outsourcing is not impacting the demand or strategy of IT organizations.
No matter which country you choose as your outsourcing destination, be sure to analyse its statistics in depth, as choosing the right outsourcing destination and partner can go a long way in ensuring that you reap huge benefits.
Outsourcing is not bereft of risks. The risks in outsourcing need to be successfully addressed to ensure your companys productivity. The top 10 risks of offshore outsourcing are as follows:
1. Cost-Reduction Expectations
2. Data Security/Protection
3. Process Discipline (CMM)
4. Loss of Business Knowledge
5. Vendor Failure to Deliver
6. Scope Creep
7. Government Oversight/Regulation
8. Culture
9. Turnover of Key Personnel
10. Knowledge Transfer
Kinds of Sourcing
Business Proces Outsourcing:
1.Business process outsourcing means examining the processes that compose the business and its functional units, and then working with focused service providers to both re-engineer and outsource these at the same time.
2.BPO involves the full transfer of responsibility for functions such as transaction processing, policy servicing, claims management, HR, finance, and compliance to the outsourcing company.
3.The outsourcing provider then administers these functions on their own systems to agreed service standards and at a guaranteed cost. Some of the BPO contracts call for performance-based payouts, tying vendor payments to business performance or overall cost savings.
Business Process Offshoring:
1.Business process offshoring is the transfer of business tasks (medical transcription) or business processes (call centers) to a low-cost country like India or the Philippines.
2.The interaction is conducted over telecom networks and the Internet. Offshoring typically include tasks like transaction or accounts processing, credit card processing, call centers, translation, and transcription. Most of this work can be sent without the need for in-person interaction.
3.The offshoring of support functions is still relatively new. The offshoring wave began with IT/software services in the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s with the Y2K hysteria. With the global economic slowdown, offshoring has vaulted to the forefront as an effective cost-cutting technique that takes advantage of labor price differentials and favorable skill/performance ratios
Business Transformation Outsourcing :
1.Business transformation outsourcing (BTO) is a natural extension of the more tactical BPO model and involves the transfer of responsibility for all back-office functions, as well as a comprehensive business change management process to an external vendor.
2.The objective is to maximize the long-term benefits of the BPO operations, resulting in a comprehensive business transformation (or overhaul). Transformation outsourcing is not a tactical issue but a forward-looking strategic tool for change. The logic: big gains in performance only come about through business transformation.
Multisourcing:
1.Multisourcing is the management and distribution of different business processes among multiple BPO vendors. For instance, HR processes are outsourced to one best-of-breed vendor. Logistics are outsourced to another.
2. IT development and maintenance to another vendor. Risk mitigation is a primary driver behind multisourcing. One aspect of multisourcing is to use multiple suppliers to eliminate lock-in and achieve so-called best-of-breed advantages. This is especially true for U.S. and European firms, which often like to spread offshore development to a variety of vendors and locations
Multisourcing also covers the different delivery models. These include:
Onshoring - outsourcing to another company within the United States
Nearshoring - outsourcing to Mexico or Canada
Offshoring - outsourcing to another country such as Ireland or India
Shared Services (or Insourcing)Shared services, a form of "internal outsourcing," enables corporations to achieve economies of scale by creating a separate internal entity within the company to perform specific services, such as payroll, accounts payable, travel and expense processing. A typical shared services initiative takes advantage of enterprise applications and other technological developments, enabling the company to achieve further improvements to quality in processes, such as finance, accounting, procurement, IT, and human resources. At the core of shared services is the idea that new technologies offer businesses the opportunity to 1) make better use of scarce skills, 2) provide information and services more efficiently, and 3) reduce the cost of administration
1.Business process outsourcing means examining the processes that compose the business and its functional units, and then working with focused service providers to both re-engineer and outsource these at the same time.
2.BPO involves the full transfer of responsibility for functions such as transaction processing, policy servicing, claims management, HR, finance, and compliance to the outsourcing company.
3.The outsourcing provider then administers these functions on their own systems to agreed service standards and at a guaranteed cost. Some of the BPO contracts call for performance-based payouts, tying vendor payments to business performance or overall cost savings.
Business Process Offshoring:
1.Business process offshoring is the transfer of business tasks (medical transcription) or business processes (call centers) to a low-cost country like India or the Philippines.
2.The interaction is conducted over telecom networks and the Internet. Offshoring typically include tasks like transaction or accounts processing, credit card processing, call centers, translation, and transcription. Most of this work can be sent without the need for in-person interaction.
3.The offshoring of support functions is still relatively new. The offshoring wave began with IT/software services in the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s with the Y2K hysteria. With the global economic slowdown, offshoring has vaulted to the forefront as an effective cost-cutting technique that takes advantage of labor price differentials and favorable skill/performance ratios
Business Transformation Outsourcing :
1.Business transformation outsourcing (BTO) is a natural extension of the more tactical BPO model and involves the transfer of responsibility for all back-office functions, as well as a comprehensive business change management process to an external vendor.
2.The objective is to maximize the long-term benefits of the BPO operations, resulting in a comprehensive business transformation (or overhaul). Transformation outsourcing is not a tactical issue but a forward-looking strategic tool for change. The logic: big gains in performance only come about through business transformation.
Multisourcing:
1.Multisourcing is the management and distribution of different business processes among multiple BPO vendors. For instance, HR processes are outsourced to one best-of-breed vendor. Logistics are outsourced to another.
2. IT development and maintenance to another vendor. Risk mitigation is a primary driver behind multisourcing. One aspect of multisourcing is to use multiple suppliers to eliminate lock-in and achieve so-called best-of-breed advantages. This is especially true for U.S. and European firms, which often like to spread offshore development to a variety of vendors and locations
Multisourcing also covers the different delivery models. These include:
Onshoring - outsourcing to another company within the United States
Nearshoring - outsourcing to Mexico or Canada
Offshoring - outsourcing to another country such as Ireland or India
Shared Services (or Insourcing)Shared services, a form of "internal outsourcing," enables corporations to achieve economies of scale by creating a separate internal entity within the company to perform specific services, such as payroll, accounts payable, travel and expense processing. A typical shared services initiative takes advantage of enterprise applications and other technological developments, enabling the company to achieve further improvements to quality in processes, such as finance, accounting, procurement, IT, and human resources. At the core of shared services is the idea that new technologies offer businesses the opportunity to 1) make better use of scarce skills, 2) provide information and services more efficiently, and 3) reduce the cost of administration
Types of Call Centres
Call centers connect your enterprise, its goodwill and operations, to your prospects and customers and, if you wish, even influencers of consumer behavior. Any high-volume consumer industry can benefit by outsourcing call center functions.
These might include, for example:
health care
automotive
retailing
services to the household, such as oil and gas deliveries, electrical utilities and telecom providers
consumer electronics
wireless communications
financial services, including banking and brokerage
insurance
travel and hospitality
media
· Customer Service and Support. This type of service can be as simple as advising your customer about the information he needs from your data base, such as account balance, unpaid amounts, deadlines and credit balances. Or customer service can involve a complex decision tree involving a script that you prepare to determine your customer's needs, complete an application or request for change of information, and execute your customer's orders.
Technical Support / Warranty: In helping your customers solve problems relating to your products or services, you want to be able to resolve all problems in the first call. Achieving high first-call resolution rates with lower per-call handle times can make a significant cost difference. To some degree, you remain responsible for success because of the way in which you plan the interaction based on manuals, scripts and decision trees. Technical support (or "telephone help desk") can provide invaluable in retaining customer loyalty and avoiding costly product returns or service cancellations.
· Sales, Bookings (travel reservations) and Customer Retention: Your telesales department needs to convert inquiries into sales, and to retain customers upon expiration of subscriptions or upon other termination events in your customer relationship. Telesales are useful both at the beginning and the end of your customer relationship life cycle. As a tool for proactive outreach, customer retention programs can help sustain your bottom line.
· Marketing Surveys and Research: Outbound calling can identify potential customers, identify an existing customer's interest in possible new products or services from your company and conduct inquiries about consumer preferences as to pricing and features of existing and new products. This can help your market positioning, promotional campaigns, product design, pricing and sales approaches. Outbound calling can also be used to clean up duplicates or stale information in your "old" data bases, validate existing information, for "data base scrubbing."
Outsourcing is the transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process.
The customer receives a service that performs a distinct business function that fits into the customer's overall business operations.
There are two principal types: "traditional" outsourcing and "greenfield" outsourcing.
In "traditional" outsourcing
Employees of an enterprise cease to perform the same jobs to the enterprise. Rather, tasks are identified that need to be performed, and the employees are normally hired by the service provider. For example, an information technology outsourcing may include a transfer of responsibility for management of data centers and networks (LAN, WAN, and telecommunications). In the field of facilities management, individuals acting as property managers might become employees of a facilities management company.
In "greenfield" outsourcing
The enterprise changes its business processes without any hiring of personnel by the service provider. For example, the enterprise might hire a startup company to provide a new service, such as wireless remote computing, that was not previously managed internally.
Business Process Outsourcing (or BPO)
is the procurement of particular services that involve ongoing outsourcing of specific business processes. In certain industries, design, manufacturing, inspection, and logistics may be outsourced. More recently, BPO has come to include internal, "back-office" functions such as internal audit, finance, billing, accounting and other operations support. BPO "front office" functions may include customer relationship management, with sales, call centers and fulfillment services.
"Business process" means a sequence of defined steps necessary to achieve a business objective. Business objectives can include any business operation, including product design, marketing, sales, finance, accounting, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, customer relationship management and other special business relationships.
Typically, there are two types of outsourced services:They each can be broken into the following areas
1) Technology Process.
Technology Services
Electronic Commerce ("eCommerce")
Infrastructure ("Networks")
Software ("Applications")
Telecommunications
Website Development & Hosting
2) Business Process.
Business Process Outsourcing
Customer Contact (Customer Relations Management)
Equipment
Finance / Accounting
Human Resources
Logistics
Procurement / Supply Chain Management
Security
These might include, for example:
health care
automotive
retailing
services to the household, such as oil and gas deliveries, electrical utilities and telecom providers
consumer electronics
wireless communications
financial services, including banking and brokerage
insurance
travel and hospitality
media
· Customer Service and Support. This type of service can be as simple as advising your customer about the information he needs from your data base, such as account balance, unpaid amounts, deadlines and credit balances. Or customer service can involve a complex decision tree involving a script that you prepare to determine your customer's needs, complete an application or request for change of information, and execute your customer's orders.
Technical Support / Warranty: In helping your customers solve problems relating to your products or services, you want to be able to resolve all problems in the first call. Achieving high first-call resolution rates with lower per-call handle times can make a significant cost difference. To some degree, you remain responsible for success because of the way in which you plan the interaction based on manuals, scripts and decision trees. Technical support (or "telephone help desk") can provide invaluable in retaining customer loyalty and avoiding costly product returns or service cancellations.
· Sales, Bookings (travel reservations) and Customer Retention: Your telesales department needs to convert inquiries into sales, and to retain customers upon expiration of subscriptions or upon other termination events in your customer relationship. Telesales are useful both at the beginning and the end of your customer relationship life cycle. As a tool for proactive outreach, customer retention programs can help sustain your bottom line.
· Marketing Surveys and Research: Outbound calling can identify potential customers, identify an existing customer's interest in possible new products or services from your company and conduct inquiries about consumer preferences as to pricing and features of existing and new products. This can help your market positioning, promotional campaigns, product design, pricing and sales approaches. Outbound calling can also be used to clean up duplicates or stale information in your "old" data bases, validate existing information, for "data base scrubbing."
Outsourcing is the transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process.
The customer receives a service that performs a distinct business function that fits into the customer's overall business operations.
There are two principal types: "traditional" outsourcing and "greenfield" outsourcing.
In "traditional" outsourcing
Employees of an enterprise cease to perform the same jobs to the enterprise. Rather, tasks are identified that need to be performed, and the employees are normally hired by the service provider. For example, an information technology outsourcing may include a transfer of responsibility for management of data centers and networks (LAN, WAN, and telecommunications). In the field of facilities management, individuals acting as property managers might become employees of a facilities management company.
In "greenfield" outsourcing
The enterprise changes its business processes without any hiring of personnel by the service provider. For example, the enterprise might hire a startup company to provide a new service, such as wireless remote computing, that was not previously managed internally.
Business Process Outsourcing (or BPO)
is the procurement of particular services that involve ongoing outsourcing of specific business processes. In certain industries, design, manufacturing, inspection, and logistics may be outsourced. More recently, BPO has come to include internal, "back-office" functions such as internal audit, finance, billing, accounting and other operations support. BPO "front office" functions may include customer relationship management, with sales, call centers and fulfillment services.
"Business process" means a sequence of defined steps necessary to achieve a business objective. Business objectives can include any business operation, including product design, marketing, sales, finance, accounting, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, customer relationship management and other special business relationships.
Typically, there are two types of outsourced services:They each can be broken into the following areas
1) Technology Process.
Technology Services
Electronic Commerce ("eCommerce")
Infrastructure ("Networks")
Software ("Applications")
Telecommunications
Website Development & Hosting
2) Business Process.
Business Process Outsourcing
Customer Contact (Customer Relations Management)
Equipment
Finance / Accounting
Human Resources
Logistics
Procurement / Supply Chain Management
Security
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