Contact centres are certainly nothing new. In fact for many companies they are tried, tested and valuable parts of their organisational infrastructure.
The contact centre is always evolving. Long gone are the days when the system was simply a few people in a room together answering calls, now you're more likely to find whole networks of people working on the same systems across different geographies, both national and international.
The technology used has also evolved, now customers are able to communicate with staff in a contact centre by phone, email, instant message and in some cases video conference. However, with many different methods and technologies out there, how does an organisation find which contact centre solutions are right for them?
When making plans around developing a contact centre, it is important to look at the requirements with the whole organisation in mind. First of all, identify the objectives of the organisation, and if growth is one of those objectives, plan your contact centre with enough room to grow and develop in order to accommodate the larger volumes of calls which may come from the company's growth. Secondly, consider the geography of the organisation. Are those that are contacting you all going to be in the same country, or will shifts be required in order to cover different time zones and localities?
If you are operating outside of the usual business hours, consider ensuring that someone is on hand to provide technical support if there is a problem with the hardware. Also take a look at your competitors and gauge what they are offering in terms of contact centre support. If the other companies in your market are offering 24 hour help lines then you will need to do the same. You may need to consider going one step further and looking at ways in which you can differentiate your support system from those of your competitors.
The contact centre is always evolving. Long gone are the days when the system was simply a few people in a room together answering calls, now you're more likely to find whole networks of people working on the same systems across different geographies, both national and international.
The technology used has also evolved, now customers are able to communicate with staff in a contact centre by phone, email, instant message and in some cases video conference. However, with many different methods and technologies out there, how does an organisation find which contact centre solutions are right for them?
When making plans around developing a contact centre, it is important to look at the requirements with the whole organisation in mind. First of all, identify the objectives of the organisation, and if growth is one of those objectives, plan your contact centre with enough room to grow and develop in order to accommodate the larger volumes of calls which may come from the company's growth. Secondly, consider the geography of the organisation. Are those that are contacting you all going to be in the same country, or will shifts be required in order to cover different time zones and localities?
If you are operating outside of the usual business hours, consider ensuring that someone is on hand to provide technical support if there is a problem with the hardware. Also take a look at your competitors and gauge what they are offering in terms of contact centre support. If the other companies in your market are offering 24 hour help lines then you will need to do the same. You may need to consider going one step further and looking at ways in which you can differentiate your support system from those of your competitors.
About the Author:
Emily Collins writes on behalf of Britannic Technologies. To discover more about the contact centre options for your company click here.
The Communication Blog
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