Said in very simple words, what the Call center outsourcing services offer is primarily based on the management of telephone calls by third parties human telephone operators. In order to understand the concept of a call center in a better way, we will need to first understand the basic definition as it relates to a Call center.
A Call center happens to be a physical place of work where human workers receive and/or make telephonic calls to/from the preexisting customer or to the prospective customers of a given company. Call center software may be classified in various categories based upon the processes they follow and their ownership.
Depending on the process of operation, a Call center can either be classified as an inbound Call center or as an outbound Call center. An outbound Call center refers to a process in a Call center, where the agents hold the responsibility for making outgoing calls. In most of the cases, such types of calls are intended for selling a product or a service, for conducting market research, for the collection of debts, or for the purposes of generating leads. Contrary to this, the reason for having an inbound Call center is to be able to handle incoming telephonic voice calls. Such inbound calls can be related to any service or product information, for handling technical support, and for bookings and reservations among other things.
Call centres can also be classified based on ownership. Any in-house call center processes of a given company are known as captive Call centers, while a Call center that manages the Call center services of an external client (could also be more than one client) are called Call center outsourcing services.
Call centers have been put to use by a lot of organizations for more than 50 years to run their business effectively. However, the business models that make use of Call center operations have been evolving over so many years as technology has been advancing. This has also been supported by technological advances in telecommunication and the growth of globalization where the business processes are now handled internationally. Nearshore outsourcing and offshore outsourcing have really revolutionized the very business models which are not only limited to the big global organizations but also of medium and small-sized enterprises.
Fonvirtual services for Call center software have been evolving too, from the traditional providers of services to a lot more value-based provider of services, which drives demonstrable business value.
A brief history of Call Centers software
The very beginnings of Call center software go as back as the 1960s. As per the history that is documented, the first organization to be able to operate a very early form of the modern Call center in their own office using PABX technology was the Birmingham Press and Mail. PABX happened to be a new technology in those days which allowed companies to handle more than one call at the same time by routing calls to different extensions within a given premise with the use of a human operator.
The technology of PABX was then succeeded by a lot more modern technology that was known as ACD in 1973. ACD was an automated technology that was led by a computer and it now became possible to automatically distribute the calls to multiple extensions without a need for a human operator. It led to a significant reduction in the waiting time with respect to the incoming calls since now there was not just one human engaged in management and diversion of the calls one at a time. ACD would divert these calls to the agents automatically Continental Airlines in the US were the first users of ACD. They put this technology to use for the management of their bookings.
The modern-day Call centers that are global in nature have emerged the advancement of the web and the dot come boo that happened in the 1990s. The internet and the advancements that happened in the field of telecommunications now made it feasible for the Call center operations to be done from far off and remote areas at much lesser costs without impacting the efficiencies of business processes. Companies could now have their services in the USA and an Indian call center thanks to the call center outsourcing services. This has led to a huge industry that still continues to grow.
Why should businesses consider Call center outsourcing services?
Organizations are struggling with many challenges today. Their products’ life cycles have shrunk, the customer loyalty has become very inconsistent, and there is a constant bombardment of technology which disrupts the preexisting business models and all of this puts extraordinary pressure on the already dwindling profit margins that these companies operate on. It is therefore crucial for companies to streamline the existing business processes in a manner that is cost efficient so that they continue to have an edge over their competition.
If the organizations hire Call center outsourcing services related requirements to an outside party, the BPO by itself can help the companies increase efficiencies in their operations, reduction in operating costs, and eventually lead to increases in overall profitability and sales. In the times when the customers have been spoilt by choice, a good customer relationship approach can be a very effective tool for companies in retaining and attracting new customers.
The companies can also save a lot of money by partnering with a Call center that can provide the organization with a ready to use infrastructure for a Call center. This way the company will not have to spend any capital in setting up their own physical infrastructure or incur any costs in hiring and in training id resources. Also, these third-party places will already possess a lot of experience in managing clients across different industries. The domain expertise that these companies will bring shall help their clients in identifying the inefficiencies in their own processes and assist in reengineering their own business operations that are more in line with the latest market trends.
Find out with Fonvirtual about Call center outsourcing services, and if you have any questions, contact us!
