San Pedro Manpower Development Institute

Intro to Call Center

CALL CENTER HISTORY Timeline 1873 Seeking for answers and help started through answering each other neighbors problem. 1876 Telephone was invented by Alexander Graham-Bell 1877 First telephone was installed in Des Moines at Equitable Life Insurance, 2nd phone installed next day at Terrace Hill. 1878 Victor Unthe was the first one to be hired to staff phone in Equitable Life Insurance 1904-1905 International Call Center was established during the outbreak of Russo-Japanese War. 1918 Increasing Call Center Volume leads to creation of switchboards 1944 First hold music was recorded by Andrews sisters 1969- Call Center jobs has become popular Shots of NASA Control Center increases headset popularity. 1973 - Automatic Call Distributor developed by US firm Rockwell (the Rockwell Galaxy) to allow Continental Airlines to run a telephone booking system. ACD systems allow calls to be filtered and assigned to the best possible agents available at the time. An algorithm determines which agent receives which call. Private Automated Business Exchanges (PABX) began to be used to handle large numbers of customer contacts. In the 1990s the call centre industry continued to grow, spurred on by the rise of the internet. From 1995 onwards internet-based dot com companies attracted vast amounts of investment from venture capitalists excited by the potential for rapid growth offered by the online economy. As websites became the central point of contact and sales for an increasing number of companies, call centers were essential in dealing with customer service and technical support. Unfortunately it didnt last, and by 2001 the dot com crash saw many internet-based companies go bust. The call centre was still on the rise. By 2003 the industry consisted of 5,320 call centre operations employing 800,000 people in the UK. 500,000 of these people were working in agent positions. The industry had grown by 250% since 1995, and was still growing. The early 2000s saw a trend for large companies to transfer customer service departments overseas. Cheaper labor costs and in some cases better skills in the workforce made offshore call centers attractive to businesses seeking to cut costs. CALL CENTER IN THE PHILIPPINES CALL CENTER

It is a centralized office environment wherein agents either answer inbound calls or make outbound calls. is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone is a booming industry in the Philippines

What is a CSR?

Call Center Finishing Course

Page 1 of 3

San Pedro Manpower Development Institute

Intro to Call Center

CSR stands for CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE. Other names for a CSR are Call Center Agent and Telephone Sales and Service Representative. A CSR does the following: sells products and services that meet specific customer needs. - resolves customer issues as efficiently as possible retains current customers and ensures their satisfaction - provides the most accurate and relevant information available to clients before sending product brochures or catalogs - handles account inquiries - provides customer support in technical or non-technical matters BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING - is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. OUTSOURCING - refers to the process of contracting to a third-party. OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING - is the practice of hiring an external organization to perform some business functions in a country other than the one where the products or services are actually developed or manufactured CONTACT CENTER

A part of an enterprises overall customer which manages customer contact, including letters, faxes, emails, newsletters, mail catalogues, Web site inquiries, and other gathered information.

INBOUND AGENTS

handle calls from people needing support, asking for information, and filing complaints.

OUTBOUND AGENTS

call people on behalf of a business or a client for the purpose of telemarketing, surveys, debt collection, verification, and updating services

TECHNICAL SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVES

deal with computer software and/or hardware concerns and queries and provide assistance on technical aspects

QUALITY ASSURANCE PERSONNEL

monitor recorded calls and handling time (average length of call), how agents handl the transaction, evaluate the performance of agents such as average number of calls per week; analyze the call flow, provide input to the team leader.

TEAM LEADERS
Call Center Finishing Course

Page 2 of 3

San Pedro Manpower Development Institute

Intro to Call Center

supervise 12 18 agents working under them. Team or shift leaders are given leadership training programs to enable them to evaluate agents performance and productivity.

HUMAN RESOURCES PERSONNEL

in charge of recruitment, compensation and benefits, payroll, employee communications and relations.

TRAINERS

provide training on the English Language, local accent reduction/neutralization, understanding American culture, and other topics related to call center work..

The benefits of outsourcing 1. Take advantage of the cost-advantages! 2. See an increase in business 3. Save Big! 4. Get access to specialized services 5. Concentrate more on core business 6. Make faster deliveries to customers 7. Improved customer satisfaction 8. Benefit from time zone advantages 9. Increased efficiency 10. Give businesses a competitive edge! 11. Outsourcing countries also benefit from outsourcing.

Why is the Philippines emerging as a global BPO hub?

Cultural compatibility with the West Philippines is the third largest English-speaking country in the world Philippines has one of the highest literacy rates (94%) in the world. Attrition rates in Filipino call centers are lower at 20% as compared to others.

Call Center Finishing Course

Page 3 of 3