Call centres are now positioning themselves for the upturn in the economy. A survey conducted by a research and advisory consulting firm, noted that 81% of respondents expect contact centre staffing levels to remain steady or increase slightly in the coming year. Overall the sentiment coming from call centres is that there will be no foreseeable decrease in call volume in the near future. In light of the economic downturn, the financial services industry is expecting to see a sharp increase in the volume of calls from concerned clients looking to position their portfolios in the wake of rising financial markets. Coupled with concerns over rising debt levels, financial services are also expecting to see a sharp increase in phone calls to contact centres from homeowners looking to refinance their mortgages. Call centres are seeing a shift in their industry as it weathers the financial storm over the past year. The rise in the use of home based contact centre agents has been particularly noticeable. Growth in the home based agent population has outpaced that of site based agents. With the advent of VoIP technology, agents are no longer obliged to work in the same facility. Agents can now work out of the comfort of their own home office. The available technology allows for instant contact. This is indicative of the push from call centres to keep an eye on expenses and remain competitive in tight business conditions. In the short term, a telephone answering service will focus on the use of telecommunication VoIP technology and management methods for optimizing a call centre agent's performance. Recording calls, coaching, and workforce management will become the prime focus to help improve the overall quality and profitability of a telephone answering service. Call centres are also looking to the future for the return of economic prosperity. Discretionary spending on strategic goals designed to ensure that they will be poised to benefit from the upturn has increased. Most discretionary spending has been allotted for technology enhancements. By investing in technology, the centres are anticipating that the new technologies will deliver benefits in the form of lower operating costs and improved customer satisfaction. In terms of technology, call centres will also be increasing the use of speech analytics software to help them determine more about the customer on the phone line. Speech analytics call centre software can be used as a form of data mining. By recording conversations between agents and customers, the software can spot specific keywords and phrases and is able to determine calls from unsatisfied callers. This software can provide vital information that can be analyzed to determine the strategies and processes that can be used to help improvement interaction between the agent and the caller. The growth of instant and text messaging will also have a profound impact on the centres. The future for call centres is forecast to be bright. They are making use of the latest technologies to find ways to keep costs low while improving their level of service.
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