Overview Call and Contact Centre Technology

Centralizing Customer Service

A call or contact centre can be described as the centralized customer service location of an enterprise or organization. The call centre either initiates contact by making outbound calls to current or prospective customers or receives and answers incoming calls. The provision of customer care and support is the main concern of call centres, though other business activities such as sales and marketing, plus technical support and helplines are also provided.

Call Routing and Distribution

The 'analogue' concept of a call centre is an area where calls primarily concerned with customer service are made or received with calls routed via a call distribution system integrated with a relevant business database. Call centre employees, or agents, communicate via a variety of technologies such as phone, fax, email and postal services though use of the phone is dominant. Agents often work at individual workstations which are set up in large open areas with each agent equipped with a telephone, headset and computer. The workstations are networked with supervisor stations where agent performance can be managed and monitored.

Virtual Call Centre

There is an increased use of the virtual model where company staff such as sales and support teams are linked together in a virtual call centre using sophisticated computer and software systems which allow staff to be 'patched in' from anywhere. Field and on-site staff can interact with callers providing the same services, and offering the same caller options, as a dedicated live call centre.

Call and contact centres can operate discretely or be integrated into a larger network comprising company systems, other call centres, and even virtual technologies. Links to the company database and LAN, plus integration into existing phone networks, allows agents to access relevant data for a particular customer and patch incoming calls to another company office should the need arise.

CTI (computer-telephony integration) provides the mechanisms for connecting a caller to the most suitable location for addressing their needs, be it a call centre or a branch office.

Live Call Centre Integration

Conversely, a live call centre can act as an overflow for a company whose primary customer interaction is via staff managed by an in-house hardware PBX system or an outsourced virtual system.

If the virtual PBX has a limited call capacity the systems can be designed to switch calls to the live agents in the event of overflow.

Also the live contact centre can be used as an after hours extension of the virtual PBX, or if staff are temporarily out of reach or inaccessible.

Integration of a variety of call handling and management technologies allows business to provide competent and informative customer service using the most cost effective combination of real and virtual systems. A caller may call the customer service number and be routed across the globe and back during the course of the conversation. The complexity and sophistication of call centre technology allows companies access to comprehensive call handling and management solutions, but within the confines of a sensible budget.