Call Centres

In the past - and still currently at many organizations - switchboard operators answered each incoming call, determined the target staff member, and put the call through to the relevant extension. In a large organization, this procedure, can cause a large proportion of incoming calls to be 'dropped' as telephone lines become busier. This is clearly bad service, and is also very expensive and time-consuming for callers, since they have to 'tell the whole story' over and over again as they are shuttled from one extension to another.

Modern computer, database, network, and communication technologies can, however, be integrated to make use of a central database that holds most of the information required by callers. Using this combination of technologies, an institution can thus centralize most of the information about itself in a database accessible to staff and clients. All this is made possible by enormous advances in telephone exchange and switchboard technology over the last few years, where exchanges and switchboards are operated by computers. The system is designed in such a way that callers can access the public database of the institution or business in various ways:

• Callers can telephone and speak to an operator who has access to the complete database of the institution and can find the required information (including all the information the institution has captured about its client, such as name, student number, etc.) in a very short time.
• If a higher level of information is required, the call, with its accompanying PC screen, can be put through to a designated specialist in the organization who solves the problem.
• Callers can telephone and communicate with an automatic voice-answering system, which directs them to the correct person/section or to the correct 'talking database'   (such as a database containing examination results which might be read out to candidates using a voice synthesizer, once they have identified their examination number).
• Callers can access such databases independently, via the World Wide Web. This could allow the exchange of typed text information requests with a well-trained person in the call centre via an interactive chatroom, using chat technology. Using e-mail, voice recognition software, human operators, and database systems, a range of sophisticated communication options becomes available when accessing Call  Centres via the Internet.

A Call Centre is thus a possibly useful and powerful addition to the information system of any organization or business. It cannot function in isolation, but is situated where the various modern communication technologies flow together. Its operation is designed in such a way that it delivers the correct information to the caller in the shortest possible time - independently of the technology used to request the information. There are huge Call Centres in existence. One of the biggest is the Micron Electronics Call Centre, which has 1200 simultaneous operators - the company believes that in the future customers are going to demand instant responses to every kind of request or order. In addition, such a centre is ideally geared to absorb the expected flux of requests generated by online eCommerce. This is fast becoming a reality now that PBAX switchboards are able to route calls to their Internet Telephony Services (ITS), which in turn, make packet calls over the Internet. This makes Internet telephony a very easy and cheap option. In fact, Call Centres are fast becoming Internet Call Centres involving voice-over Internet Protocols, text chat, escorted browsing, callback, e-mail, and facsimile.

The importance of Call centres is emphasized by the fact that there already is a Call Centre College in the Netherlands, which provides appropriate training. The College believes that at present there are about 40 000 people working in Call Centres in the Netherlands; this number will grow to about 120 000 around the year 2000. It seems that the Netherlands is trying to become the country offering the best and most efficient Call Centre services to firms and organizations in the states of the European Union.

A Call Centre need not be physically located in, or even near to, the organization it serves. Modern communication technologies make its physical situation irrelevant, since calls can be transferred cheaply to the other side of the world in seconds - especially through the use of Internet technologies. In fact, many institutions and businesses are starting to think that it is cheaper to outsource their information services to specialist firms that have the necessary trained staff, hardware, and software.

Call Centres can be geared for a 24-hour, 365-day-per-year uninterrupted service. This might even be a requirement for organizations having only local clients, but who may need the services after hours, including distance education institutions or education departments.

In general, a Call Centre would consist of a room fitted with relevant communication technologies at each one of a number of specially designed ergonomic seats, with a PC/computer provided at each seat. Each computer would be able to handle Internet, Intranet, facsimile, e-mail, and voice and data PBAX communication smoothly through one integrated web-based (browser) operating system. Each computer could be connected to:

• an internal local area network (LAN) operated by a dedicated server containing all the necessary hardware and software to allow the Call centre to function;
• the Internet and the WWW for external communication;
• an Intranet within the organization;
• a PBAX system, through a telephone line for incoming/outgoing voice and information calls and faxes; and
• a central database on one or more database servers (which could be located anywhere in the world for that matter) mirroring all the operations of the organization it serves, its rules and regulations, privileges and duties, and the services it offers to its staff and clients.

A well-designed, well-built and well-run Call Centre can focus the energy of an organization on the service of its clients through its databases and communication technologies. Some staff may be freed to concentrate on the work they were appointed to do, and avoid spending time trying to find institutional information to answer the telephonic queries of callers who were previously randomly put through to them by PBAX operators.

A well-designed Call Centre can very quickly and accurately adapt to changes to an organization and the services it offers to its clients. This is because only one database, from which all the technologies draw their information to provide to clients, needs to be updated. This updating is immediate.

A well-designed, well operated call centre at an entity such as an education department could provide a huge impetus to the management of education in a province, or even in the whole country. It could dispense accurate information both quickly and cheaply to callers from within and without the educational structure. Since information is one of the major issues in education, well-designed Call Centres could also form the hub of larger educational initiatives.

One of the greatest weaknesses of a Call Centre is that, if it is not designed well, this could have serious repercussions for an entire organization. Likewise, it might also be too expensive for certain organizations to operate optimally. Another weakness is that management might see a call centre as a magical solution for all of the problems of an institution. It is definitely not, and will actually magnify existing organizational problems if it is not implemented carefully.