Call Center Magazines

Call center magazines enable readers to understand complex and dynamic issues related to call centers such as marketing, management, and technology. The magazines are also a great source of contacts and information for people who are already in the telemarketing business or others who want to set up their own call centers.

Call center magazines provide comprehensive and balanced product information on call center tools, administration, and operations. These magazines are written by a dedicated staff of editorial experts, corporate/call center managers, IT professionals, consultants and senior sales & marketing executives who generate essential editorials that help in understanding the strategies and services offered by call centers. They bring to light the technologies, services and practices that enable call centers to communicate effectively with customers, whether they call or go online.

Apart from providing crucial information in choosing the right kind of call center service, the editorials enable readers to optimize their call centers' resources, minimize costs and maximize the value their companies bring to the customers who contact them. Almost all call center magazines publish monthly expert opinions on the present standing and future prospects of call center development issues ranging from trends in customer-interfacing applications to call center best practices and budgetary trade-offs.

Some of these magazines also sponsor annual industry appreciation awards to give recognition to call centers that exhibit superior innovation, dedication, and the pursuit of excellence in providing products and services for the call center market and beyond. Winners are selected by magazine editors who look at each product's ability to enhance agent and call center manager productivity, boost sales, and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Individuals looking to make a career in call centers or those wanting to start their own call centers can subscribe to these magazines for call center industry updates on a regular basis. These magazines also feature expert advise from experienced call center professionals.

Call Center Solutions provides detailed information on Call Center Solutions, Call Center Software Solutions, Call Center CRM Solutions, Call Center Management Solutions and more. Call Center Solutions is affiliated with Outsourcing Call Centers.

 

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Scaling a Call Center With VoIP

If VoIP has had an impact on normal businesses, can you imagine the effect it has had on those firms whose entire existence is devoted to making calls? Most businesses have already switched over to VoIP and it's virtually impossible to find a call center, which doesn't use the cost savings and routing benefits of VoIP to improve its processes. But on a more fundamental level, VoIP is changing the very manner in which such businesses operate. In this article, we look at the disruptive potential of VoIP and unified communications in general and how it can have truly far reaching impacts.

With VoIP phones being as configurable as they are, it's only a matter of time before dramatic changes come about in organizations. It's expensive to run an office housing hundreds of people. Electricity, gas, water supplies, rent, security personnel, maintenance and a hundred other expenses add to the overheads of keeping everyone in one place making calls day in and day out. But that's exactly what call centers do and being a cost control center, they're constantly looking to improve their workflow and make it cheaper and more streamlined.

Which is why many of them are looking to VoIP to devise advanced telecommuting procedures, which allow people to work from home and have all the benefits of working from the office. With VoIP, it's possible to have all incoming calls transferred to your home phone and even have an extension assigned to it. This way, the person at the other end need never know that you're not sitting in an office. Nor do they need to.

There is a whole pool of talented people who would be ideally suited for call center work but who don't have the ability to travel to work, stay there for eight hours and travel back every day. Mothers, disabled people and even the elderly can earn their living and contribute to the economy by making use of VoIP. This untapped market of professionals is set to unleash its talents and businesses which have a clue are devising innovate means to tap into them.

We're already seeing this transformation in a few select businesses. It hasn't really caught on yet but its one of those trends whose time has to come some time or another. The benefits are simply too large to ignore. Which process-oriented business wouldn't want to cut its costs and improve its efficiency after all?

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Common Call Center Services

The popularity of a new business can be estimated; however, it is not always guaranteed. Many new business owners are finding themselves overrun with customers. A large customer base is a good thing; however, it may not be if you do not have the staff to handle those customers. Instead of hiring new employees, it is common for a business owner to use the services of a call center.

A call center is typically an offsite collection of workers who are experienced in trained in customer service. A call center worker is commonly referred to as a call center representative. The job of a call center representative is to answer incoming calls and then assist the callers in any way that they can. A call center is a great way for a business to save time and money because it eliminates having to constantly answer phone calls. To use the services of a call center, a business owner will first have to find one.

The best way to find a great call center it is know the services that they offer. Each call center is likely to operate under different rules and regulations; therefore, it is safe to assume that different call center services will be offered at different companies. Business owners are encouraged to learn what call center services are offered at a particular center. Once the information is complied it will be easier to determine if the call center services match your needs.

As previously mentioned, call center services are likely to vary from call center to call center. However, there are common call centers services that are offered by most companies. One of the most common call center services is that of sales. It is not uncommon for a call center representative to take a call and place a catalog order, airline reservations, or more. Medical call centers are likely to schedule patient appointments and offer some medical assistance to callers.

Another call center service includes setting up a toll free number. This toll free telephone number is often equipped with Interactive Voice Response (IVR). IVR is a system that is developed to help walk clients through the process of connecting to you. IVR may be used as an answering service if customers are unable to have their questions answered by a call center representative. Other call center services may include online customer support. Online customer support is important it today's world because now many individuals use email just as much as they do a telephone.

The above mentioned call center services are just a few of the many call center services that may be available. To ensure that you will be working with the best call center you are encouraged to know what these services are ahead of time. Your business and your client’s can both benefit from call center services.

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Types of Call Centers

There are different types of call centers, namely, inbound call centers, outbound call centers, web enabled call centers, CRM call centers, telemarketing call centers and telephone call centers.

Inbound call centers aid to handle calls coming from outside, mostly through toll free numbers. The services of inbound call centers are designed to handle catalog orders, and desk queries. They also incorporate customer care services, predict customer behavior and take action while the customers are still on the line. Inbound call centers employ teams of live operators, account representatives and program managers.

The success of outbound call centers depends on their extensive experience, technological solutions, quality assurance programs and commitment to customer service excellence. They ensure maximum results from direct marketing efforts. The integrated call management systems in outbound call centers systematically direct calls to consumers and transfer successful connections to a selected marketing representative (MR).

The use of web-enabled call centers are also on the increase these days. Web enabled call centers can fetch answers to questions or resolve customer service issues without having to disconnect from the Internet. A web enabled call center improves e-commerce initiatives by offering high quality customer service.

Telephone call centers offer flexible call routing and predictive dialing systems. Utilizing advanced telephony and Internet technology, the customer service representatives (CSR's) at the phone call centers provide accurate and timely information for the most complex inbound or outbound programs. Phone call centers offer personalized call management by a team of professional operators who personally know about the client and his business.

Call Centers provides detailed information on Call Centers, Inbound Call Centers, Outsourcing Call Centers, Conference Call Centers and more. Call Centers is affiliated with Call Center CRM Solutions.

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Call Center Facts and Fallacies

Planning on working for a contact center? Good decision. You'll be able to see yourself in a whole new light and gain a little more respect for yourself. But, do you really know what you're getting yourself into? Here are some facts and fallacies you may or may not already know which will probably help you gain some insight into the wonderful world of the contact center industry.

• Not all shifts in a call center are 'graveyard.' Although choice is a luxury you may not have as of the moment, your schedule will depend on the time zone of the country you will be assigned to and whether or not you will be assigned to 'voice' or 'non-voice' support like email and chat (although chat requires real-time support).

• The quality of sleep you get during the day does not measure up to the quality of sleep you will get at night. Say what you will, but the reality is that the human body was NOT designed to work at nights and sleep during the day. Nonetheless, get used to it.

• Stress is no laughing matter. It is a reality and it affects everyone, no exemptions. Sadly the effects are sometimes more than just physical but also psychological. Long work hours, intermittent night shifts, high work targets, and loss of identity are just some of what a call center agent is to expect. The odd schedules and nature of work keeps people planted to their chairs 9 hours a day, reading scripted conversations repeatedly - more often to irate customers from all parts of the globe. Since we're all about facts, here's a sad reality: Every single second of an employee's time is recorded, measured and automatically logged onto a computer for praise or censure on a weekly basis. Even walking down to the water or coffee station for a drink and a chat with a friend can mess up your performance metrics, salaries, and benefits. It's just challenging to juggle listening, watching and talking - all at the same time. Left untreated or unresolved, the burnout can lead to repeated sickness absenteeism.

• The BPO industry is fully aware of these health issues and is doing their best to address it timely and properly. Call centers provide agents with sleeping quarters, recreation rooms, out-of-town activities with their respective teams, not to mention competitive compensation and benefits including health packages to address their health concerns.

• Contrary to some beliefs, drinking coffee may not be that beneficial for your performance during your shift. Caffeine is generally accepted as a mild diuretic which speeds up the urination process (meaning frequent bio-breaks), but at the same time depletes calcium, which is lost through urine. Caffeine can dry out the mouth, which would lead to difficulty in speaking (not to mention that nasty 'coffee breath').

• Smoking contributes to stress and in no way, shape or form is stress diminished from smoking.

• Being fashionable is an acceptable way of expressing yourself.

• BPO agents receive higher salaries and benefits, unfortunately for some, saving are an alien concept. Except for those agents supporting their families who're capable of sending bigger amount of money.

There are still other things you'll discover in a call center that might shock you, surprise you, or even both. These are things you must discover without prejudice. Alongside the assurance of increased knowledge in both technical knowledge and soft-skills is culture enhancement. This means the manner on how you deal with inter-office politics and gossip, being able to deal with both the young and old, and most specially, being politically correct at all times so as not to offend the people in your office surroundings.

Contact Center - any 'call center' that offers not just 'voice' related services (answering services, order taking, appointment setting, etc) but also 'non-voice' services (chat and email support, postal mail catalogs, Web site inquiries, etc).

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Call Center Interview Questions And How To Tackle Them

If a company has a large number of customers, but doesn't have the capability to handle calls from those customers, they might contract a call center. These firms help with airline reservations, directory assistance, computer technical help, and other important customer service functions. They are generally staffed with both technically trained and non-technical employees, depending on the job needed. Many students apply for call center jobs because the schedules are flexible in most cases.

All call centers screen their employees, just as any other job would. If you're applying for a job at a call center and are nervous about the interview, you might be wondering what kind of questions you'll be asked. Following are the top 5 call center questions, and the best way to be prepared for them.

- "Tell us about you previous experience working for a call center services. Describe how you helped the customers."

This question might arise in the middle of the interview, or at any other point during the process. It's important to review and consider your past work history before interviewing with the call center. Be prepared to describe highlights of any past call center work you've done, and describe any times when you've worked successfully with others. Call centers like to look for people they would consider team players. Be sure not to make up any exploits at previous jobs. It's important to always tell the truth in a job interview.

- "Are you proficient with different kinds of software? What kind of computer experience do you have?"

Internet telephony is common in most call centers. This kind of technology is less expensive than using a landline. Call centers also maintain computer databases of customers, and are concerned with your ability to rapidly learn to navigate and use such software. Log files must generally be created after each call, and most employees must also know such basic office software as MS Word, Excel, etc.

- Question number three isn't a spoken question, but rather the interest of your interviewer in how you conduct yourself. They will be judging you on your communication skills and grammar to see how you might interact with a customer on the phone. Remember to speak clearly and concisely. Choose your words carefully.

- "What does a call center mean to you?"

This seemingly harmless question is a way for your prospective employer to gauge how serious you are, and what your commitment to the job will be. This standard question should be replied to earnestly, and it's important not to give the impression that you are planning to leave as soon as a better opportunity comes along. Interviewers are usually looking for employees that will stay with the company for a long time and make a career out of their job.

- "What do you consider to be the important of teamwork?"

Employers tend to prefer people who like to work in a team. Loners have a lower chance of being hired. Be sure to let your interviewers know that you can work in a team without becoming stressed or hostile. Management books about the value of teamwork can help you find the words you need to express the value of teamwork in the workplace.

These top 5 call center interview questions are among those you might expect to hear when you're applying for a job. Technical jobs will have more questions on the technical subject, while non-technical jobs might focus more on teamwork and interpersonal interaction. Whichever job you're applying for, be sure to be prepared to answer these questions and be on the ball. For more information about call center interview questions visit our bpo services blog. 

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Pros And Cons of Offshore Call Centers

Off shore call centers provide business owners with the ability to outsource important business tasks. We have heard a lot of hype stating that most Australian companies rather go offline than staying local by employing the services of an offshore call center. This might be true for larger corporations but it also poses many risks of which the biggest would be customer dissatisfaction. Business owners are well advised to weigh the pros and cons of going offshore when considering call center management solutions. We have looked at the pros and cons of offshore call centers and came up with a list of pointers to consider before you make your decision.

Pros:

- There is no doubt that offshore call centers offer very high competitive rates. This start with the fact that overseas wages (India mainly since most offshore call centers are based in India) and the cost of living is a lot less than in Australia. Were Indian workers might have a sufficient lifestyle with some $5/hour; Australians would never be able to do the same.

- Another bonus is the fact that India has some of the highest trained IT professionals in the world. If you’re outsourcing requires an IT help desk, then going offshore might be beneficial to your business after all. Obviously costs would have to be compared against each other as well as usability.

Cons:

- The fact remains that staying local will provide a better service. Having the ability to drop into your local call center will provide many business owners with peace of mind. Not only does this help them to get to know key staff but it also helps the staff itself being able to get an insiders view (by means of direct conversations) about the business in question.

- State regulations are sometimes very strict. With the increased security of no call lists, call center operators have to abide by the official rules. No call lists offer private individuals to be blocked from telemarketing calls with certain restrictions.

- A great pro of going local is the quality standard control. It's not that India doesn't provide some form of standards whilst dealing with clients, but often our own standards seem somewhat higher than theirs. This is especially important since customer service is directly related to a high standard. If there is a lack of control and quality, chances are that customers will run.

- With increased security issues we are dealing with an ever-evolving level of awareness by consumers. People are getting smarter all the time when giving out private information and by going local your clients are assured top quality privacy protection.

- Last but not least there is a huge language barrier between offshore call center staff and local staff. Customers are increasingly becoming frustrated by straining to understand an overseas call center operator. Often their knowledge of the English language is next to none but the problem starts with the way it is being phrased. Many Australians prefer to hear a familiar accent when marketed to. It provides them with a sense of familiarity and security and they are more receptive to offers.

In the end, whether you are choosing to go offshore or not depends on two things mainly. First, if your budget is more suited to an offshore call center, then you have no other options. But if you rather place client service before everything else, you might be better suited to go local.

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Call Center Outsourcing Service - Pros and Cons

Many mediums to large sized businesses are shifting towards outsourcing customer service operations. As a result, many call centers are known as 'customer care centers' 'contact centers' or 'service bureaus'. Due to the increasing popularity of customer services, call centers are becoming huge business enterprises in themselves. Typically, the call center works 24/7, with employees coming in shifts to carry out their designated duties.

In the West though, there is a raging controversy about the benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing work. So, what are the pros and cons of call center outsourcing service?

Pros:

• Availability: Businesses with a global presence are required to provide round the clock service to their customers. For the average business owner, matching business hours with clients located in different parts of the globe is a challenge. Round the clock availability is often vital to customer allegiance. By employing for customer service, it becomes possible for the business to offer immediate service to customers, any time of the day and night.
• Time: When a business makes use of call center outsourcing service, it frees up precious resources for more useful activities like developing core competency or sales and so on. Thus, the company can dedicate its trained resources to business developmental activities.
• Cost: One of the most important reasons for the development of call center outsourcing service is the cost savings. If a company were to employ their own trained personnel for the job, they would have to invest in new equipment or scheduled upgrades in equipment over and above the cost of hiring, training and retaining employees. If round the clock service is required, the cost may go up even more. On the other hand, customer services are much more affordable as the outsourcing partner generally charges competitive rates for the same.

Cons:

• Communication problems: One of the main concerns that some companies have when outsourcing work is the problem of communication. Serious problems could arise if terms of service are not laid down properly and if requirements are not laid down accurately at the time of engagement.
• Security: Reputed outsourcing partners generally employ powerful information security tools to encode data and thus prevent the theft of data. That said, data transfer could never be 100% foolproof. That is why it is vital that you shop around for an outsourcing company that has established credentials in the market.
• Regulations: Since most companies employ offshore outsourcing, laws and regulations pertaining to these may vary from country to country. Terms of service may be subject to regulations and policies, and these need to be considered carefully.

As you can see, the cons of outsourcing may largely be avoided by working with a reputed company.
 
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Cleave Global – A Quality Organization

Cleave Global is a leading BPO services provider in India with an aim to deliver very high quality standards. The spokesperson of the company re-iterated that “Cleave Global has always been committed to excellence in delivering high quality call center services across variety of industry verticals.” Cleave Global strives to meet or exceed client’s expectations all the time. There are quality policies in place to monitor benchmark and continually improve the bpo service processes and employees performance to serve the clients efficiently. These policies are designed by industry specialists who have considerable amount of experience and are six sigma professionals. They thoroughly train the bpo service agents to ensure the best service to the clients. The continuous positive feedback on the customer satisfaction makes them competent and very efficient all the time.

The primary objectives for the quality team of Cleave Global are to exceed customer expectations and to sustain business growth. Cleave Global management is committed to the quality endeavor by providing all the necessary resources in terms of manpower, skills and tools etc. The Review meetings are conducted regularly to monitor the effectiveness and continuing suitability of the system. They make sure that the international standards within call centers worldwide are being followed by every Cleave Global representative.

Regular training sessions including soft skills is provided to every representative to sharpen their skills and knowledge to sustain continuous improvement and to promote customer-centric approach. All projects follow a well-defined set of quality programs and procedures, which involves detailed estimations and clearly defined goal setting for every individual on the floor. This model-based approach has a strong process focusing on continuous improvement and comprises of guidelines, standards and templates adhering to the requirements of ISO 9001 and ISO 27001. Cleave Global is a certified BPO Services provider for Quality by Moody International, UK. Cleave Global provides specialized solutions on improving customer retention and increasing revenue per client. We strive to continuously improve our processes and performance to continue ISO certification. We are aiming to continually deliver the best services and remain as one of forerunners in the outsourcing services industry in India…

Various BPO Services

Internet and better communication strategies made various outsourcing services easier. Low pricing, rapid service and accurate result also attract business for outsourcing. There are many types of bpo services available in market depth. In call centers, a particular process task is outsourced. An example would be payroll. BPO services work could be either back office related or front office work. By front office functions we mean customer oriented work like marketing, answering calls, technical support and so on, whereas internal work like billing and purchase come in the back office bpo services category.

Book keeping, business consultancy, call centers, DTP, data entry, proof reading and editing, typesetting, handwriting services, marketing, medical billing and transcription, web design and development etc are all services that could be put under the BPO services category.

The new global scenario requires that each organization find its own niche field that can add value to the world economy. Thus companies now try to focus their resources on areas that give maximum yield. As a spin off of this trend, service providers who focus on narrow business providers these enterprises need also emerged. Thus the term BPO services came into being around 1995. The proliferation of the Internet and its emergence as a business tool helped to make call centers highly popular.

The sub categories of services that comes under BPO services:

Customer Contact Management

Finance / Accounting Processes

Logistics

Travel Management

Telemarketing

Health care

Utilities

Apart from these, Human Resources is emerging as another highly useful outsourcing services field, Consulting, Insurance, Documentation, Telecommunications are all sectors that are catching up on the bpo services trend.

Inbound Call center services would include Answering service, Customer Care Service, Order Taking Services and Debt Collections.

Outbound Call center services would include Center Appointment Setting, Telemarketing, Market Research Services, Voice Broadcasting Service, Virtual Assistance Services and Lead Generation Services.

Description: In present era of globalization, it is required for any type of business to manage all data and information handy and easy accessible. In this competitive business world no one can afford time so the bpo (Business Process Outsourcing) services have become most favorite term.

Brief Overview on Outsourcing and Call Centers

The term Outsourcing is used when a company contracts with another person or company to do their business operations or functions. In today’s era, almost every other company outsources in one way or the other. Usually, the function that is to be outsourced is considered as non-core to the company who will be using outsourcing services. The functions or processes that were previously done or performed in –house are now contracted out of business to an outsourced organization or an external provider. Any two or may be more organizations may enter into a contract wherein exchange of payments and services takes place. Majority of the work is being outsourced to companies or providers outside the nation, which is a big concern and this is termed as offshore outsourcing services or also many times as off shoring. Both these are quite odd terms in the sense that if a company decides to do business with any other company, it does not necessarily mean that the parent company have to go offshore.

The word outsourcing has been in existence from the day work specialization is there but it is only that in the past 20 to 30 years that many companies have implemented or started to use this concept or model to perform various processes or functions to include, but not limited to data entry and processing, account receivables and accounts payable, billing, and telemarketing etc. The primary reason that the companies go for outsourced services is that these processes or functions can be performed more cost effectively and at the same time increases the efficiency when these same functions are performed by call centers or external providers who possess the necessary skills, tools, facilities, and well trained employees to carry out these tasks.

The whole process of hiring or employing any external company to handle/perform business activities for any other organization is termed as Business Process Outsourcing. Call Centers as they are often called are the companies that provide these outsourced services. Many a times they are also known as service providers. At present, the most common forms of these outsourced services are business process outsourcing services and information technology outsourcing services.

Those companies who are not so big and have limited resources and money usually go for both internal as well as service providers so as to bring timeliness in their business functions and speed up their work processes. These sort of companies tend to hire many service providers who takes care of and handles almost all the aspects of an existing or a new project and this include marketing, sales, product design, software coding as well as software testing.

A centralized office or a workplace which is utilized for receiving, producing, and transmitting a very large number of complaints, requests etc. via email or telephone is commonly known as a call center. A call center typically consists of workspace for employees with many workstations inclusive of computers that is a must for all the agents, a telecom headset with a telecom switch, and managers managing the work force. Most of them are operated independently but recently the trend of additional networked centers has also come up.

A majority of business primarily in the US and UK are utilizing call centers in order to interact with their customers and resolve their queries and address their issues and concerns. Call Center Services include telemarketing, customer helpdesk support, email support, chat support, debt collections, inbound support, outbound support, data processing, claims management etc. There are many companies, which service their internal functions also with the use of service providers.

Description: Call centers have been a boom in the past decade but as it is with every other booming industry, they do have their critics, majority of them argue about the work atmosphere, especially the odd timings and office environment.

What Is Business Process Outsourcing?

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a subset of outsourcing and involves using a third-party, contracted to perform specific, specialised processes on a company's behalf. Thus it essentially means handing over operations and responsibilities of specific business functions to a third-party service provider. What would otherwise be the work of an internal system or service is now purely handled by an outsider.

Business process outsourcing traces its history back to the 1800s. America used Scottish workers to help build wagons and ships, thus outsourcing them. Another outsourcing practice is called 'offshoring', i.e., when foreign countries perform BPO services. Popular offshoring countries include India and the Philippines, where skilled labour is much cheaper.

Today, several large companies and a majority of businesses indulge in business process outsourcing. Usually, the business outsources the "less important" work so that it can concentrate on its primary area of work. BPO services like technical support, back office services, telemarketing services, inbound customer care services and outbound call centre services are among the few services that are outsourced by companies today.

The objective of business process outsourcing is to typically reduce the workload on the company and also hope to cut costs by handing over the work to a third-party. Sometimes even the labour costs involved are different in different countries, which is why several companies outsource work to far off countries. A good example of this would be a London based company outsourcing its brochure content work to India, since the labour is cheap yet creativity and good-quality work is available in abundance.

Usually, there are two types of BPOs, front office and back office outsourcing. Back office processes that are usually outsourced are billing, logistics and human resources. Nowadays, even claims processing at insurance companies are being outsourced to separate companies. Examples of front office outsourcing include technical support, customer service, marketing, and advertising.

BPO companies work in a similar fashion as a creative boutique. While they have a set of clients, their main revenue comes from work that is outsourced to them from larger companies and advertising agencies. Thus, when there are deadlines to meet or a huge proportion of work to be done, the easiest way to achieve this is to outsource it to a third-party. One of the biggest reasons that smaller outsourcing units thrive and earn a constant stream of revenue is because of the larger organisations that have reputed, large companies as clients.

With the IT industry booming in India and people recognising the numerous strengths of India, organisations throughout the world are outsourcing their services to outshore countries like India. It is also good to know that the Government of India has also taken positive steps and several initiatives to urge India into to recognising its true potential.

BPO Outsourcing Solutions Company - BPO has become crucial for almost every business enterprise. The main objective of business process outsourcing services is to let the organisation focus more on the core business and competencies, while the other work is handled by a third-party provider. Get Easy BPO Solutions

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Inbound and Outbound Call Centers

Call center business is one of the most highly valued businesses in this generation. Telemarketing business brings huge amount of profits. It has easy accessibility, wide scope, low costs, easy to outsource, and it requires the very basic verbal communication skills.

This kind of business is not as complicated compared to other businesses that involve constant analysis process and practical and technical skills. The primary medium of this business is the use of phones, either ordinary phones, or phone calls via the internet.

Although this business seems to look simple, however running this business is not as easy as you think. Interacting with people via phones calls is more risky than personal interactions. Communicating without seeing the real expressions and gestures of the people you are talking too, as well as without having eye contact is high risk to misinterpretations that is why call center agents require enormous trainings to learn proper ways of dealing with customers through phone calls.

This kind of business booms in marketing industry even though it requires enormous trainings. Telemarketing trainings are less challenging to those countries where citizens were trained to be proper communicators since they were still young. Telemarketing outsourcing evolved for the reason that many countries have potential to become efficient call center agents.

Telemarketing companies outsourced their services to countries that have high competency in using the English Language. Outsourcing to other countries also has low cost effectiveness.

There are two main types of telemarketing services. Inbound call center is the first one, where the call centre agents for a specific problem or need receive calls. For example, an individual need someone to teach him how to repair his television set. The client can ask telemarketing companies who are focusing in appliance repairs to ask for assistance.

Outbound call center is where a business is run for the purpose of promoting products and brands. These call center companies focus more on sales. They are using the strategies of telemarketing to advertise their products and brands in order to gain lots of customers. Outbound call center is an effective style of promotion because telemarketing could reach customers globally.

Outsourcing has affected business organizations all over the world with its many benefits. It has transformed the way we worked. Find out more about outsourcing by visiting us here. This article is written by Sher Torres who benefits from outsourcing herself.

Know about outsourcing as it Call Centers [http://www.cleaveglobal.com/services.html] as well as new updates about outsourcing.

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Call Center Quality

Quality is one of the pillars of success in call center services. Clients and customers are interested in quality work only. Competition in every business domain is so acute that there is very little room for error. Shabby work is detrimental for the brand reputation and BPO units are aware of that. Once you get a taint on your call center, you will find that business firms are not willing to touch you. To steer clear of such infamy, you will have to pull up the benchmark that measure performances at your call centers. Managers and supervisors have to particularly careful about quality checks and monitoring. It's not an easy task to monitor agents when they are handling hundreds of calls every day. But you have to carry on this labor to ensure that you are churning out only quality business process outsourcing work.
Adherence to stringent measures is necessary to keep the quality intact. Every step in the call center services should be measured against some set parameters. You have to keep the parameters higher than the average at BPO units. When you set the standards at a higher premium, your Transcription Service agents will be working harder to achieve those goals. A note of caution is necessary here. If your telemarketing goals are outlandish, the agents will give up before the projects starts rolling. Setting realistic targets is important for proper and positive motivation. Managers of telemarketing services can study the required standards from other projects in the same domain. You can always gather information from the Internet. Research is the key that sets off the project on the right track.
Monitoring of calls at the inbound call center and the outbound desk helps you learn from mistakes. There will be calls that do not yield results. There will be errors of telemarketing that come through clearly when you listen to the tapes of the conversation between agents and customers. But the call center managers have to do it in the right spirit. Your aim must be pick out the mistakes, not the agents responsible for those errors. When you start headhunting, agents get intimidated. Telemarketing services will suffer greatly when the agents are not free about their work. You can conduct training sessions to listen to the tapes. Make sure you praise a good job done while discussing these calls. A pat on the back inspires the whole team.
Manpower is the primary ingredient to guarantee quality in call center services. Hire the best available talent and make sure they are properly trained. No two-telemarketing project is exactly similar. Customize your training according to the campaign. Some added investment in training sessions will keep you in good stead to tackle complicated projects. Let the BPO agents pick things up instead of cramming them down their throats. No matter how skilled a customer service agent, unless that person is a team player, there is no room in telemarketing services. It's never a single player game. Get dedicated and focused employees. That will cut down your trouble by a large chunk.
We have the strictest quality checks on our Market Research services। Our BPO managers always work towards maintaining a higher standard of performance.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ivana_Lewis

5 Benefits of A Call Center to Your Business

Your business is growing and so does your base clientèle. Customers no longer originate from your neighborhood nor in one city only but now spread across state borders and countries. Your staff experiences heavy influx of telephone calls. The company's phones lines gradually get congested. Customer transactions suffer because they could not reach your office. As the manager, you know you must implement solutions fast or your business will suffer.
Under these conditions, it's time you switch to call center services.
A call center, equipped with the right call center software, offers the following essential benefits:
1.) ENHANCE CUSTOMER RELATION
Because callers can immediately connect to your office, they can transact business with no more waiting time. It eliminates wasted calls. It gives your customers quick access to the information they want and thus results in improve relationship with them. And too often, because clients can reach your office immediately, it enhances their perception of your company. You getter more customers, more deals, more revenues.
2.) IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
A call center allows staff to deal with more customers at any a given time. Richard Burgess, CEO of a large pharmaceutical company can attest to this. " The rapid growth of our company entails more doctors calling for prescription drugs and customers asking for product description. Our staff cannot handle this increasing volume of callers. A call center services solved our dilemna. Now, our personnel can take the growing calls and dispense the necessary services in less time, making customers happy. This translates to greater overall efficiency."
3.) MINIMIZE EXPENSES
With call center that has the right call center software, the same number of staff will be able to handle more calls। Sarah Danitz, an insurance company manager, has this to say, " We would have incurred large overhead expenses if we hire additional personnel to handle incoming calls। Instead, we turned to call center. It satisfactorily meets our demand. And we were able to save money in the long run." As you can see, you need not hire additional personnel or install extra phone lines to meet caller volumes.
4.) DISPLAY STATISTICS
In an ordinary helpdesk, your office can not track the number of calls you receive each day, how many of these calls were positively resolved, how many callers turn away,etc. A call center makes these statistics available so you will know measures to take in order to improve your business. "We didn't take any interests on our calls in the past, " says Michigan-based farm tools company owner Chris Laverdale. " But with a call center giving us these data, we see some patterns and seek ways for improvement. These call center statistics are really helpful."
5.) BETTER OFFICE COMMUNICATION HANDLING
A call center, aside from handling live calls, can also process emails. In addition, it can handle fax, web-based queries, web-cam conferencing, Instant Messaging, and other means of communication for the company. " Our struggling staff could hardly deal with the number of calls we receive, and we hardly have time for incoming emails. A number of deals were lost because we neglect emails. But now, we know better. Our call center, which has an excellent call center software, processes our calls and emails. Now, we receive favorable business transactions out of these emails."
These are just some of the many benefits your company can enjoy from a call center.
Janine Fritzgerald is a call center administrator now for 5 years. She began as a call center agent and then worked her way up to the company's corporate hierarchy. She knows about call center software. She is a Psychology graduate with Business Administration as secondary course. She lectures on call center management. She is also prolific writer. Her first book, “The Real Deal on Call Centers” is a sell out. Janine lives in Connecticut with her husband and two kids.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janine_Fritzgerald

Call Center Benefits

Are you a business owner looking to make use of call centers and the services they provide? The use of call centers can increase your productivity. What does this mean for the small business person? It means an increase in your bottom line - truly a benefit derived from the use of call centers and the services they provide.
Call centers offer business services that typically include telemessaging, order collection, customer service options, customer care, outbound calls that follow leads, and more. Plus, the services supplied by call centers are offered in multi-lingual options - representatives that speak Spanish, French, Chinese and English will be handling your clientele and increasing your business.
Telemessaging is a process in which a hired agent collects all of your incoming messages for you and your business. Once your messages have been collected by professional agents, they will be directly sent to you in the medium that you pre-select. Whether you desire the warm transfer approach, or you want your messages sent to a special voice mail, representatives are happy to take and direct your business calls for you. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can easily receive a pager notification - whatever is easier for you in terms of communication.
Do you want live representatives to handle all of your website chat users? You can hire a message center to handle all of the incoming web clients you receive at your website. Answering email questions and controlling live chat is no problem whatsoever when you hire a professional message service to handle the job for you.
With the services offered to you by professional message centers you can earn more money for your business. Qualified representatives will be more than happy to follow leads to new clients, search out new clientele for you with an outbound service, and they can even process any and all credit card orders that you may receive. Want to give your customers the impression that you are a caring business professional? Hire a message service to handle any and all customer service issues with the greatest of care. Or, if you prefer, you can create a customer hotline where qualified representatives will address any and every question your customers may have.
The benefits associated with developing your own call handling center are truly phenomenal once you consider them. Not only will you generate new clients, but you can keep existing clients satisfied. Furthermore, with your call handling associates hard at work taking care of the important and finer details of your business you can spend your time on more important issues like monitoring that bottom line. Watch your profits increase by leaps and bounds because you have a professional staff of friendly individuals working hard for you and your company!
Clearly, you have more to lose by not creating a call handling solution for your company than if you try a call handling service out for size. The nominal fees associated with such services are nothing compared to the benefits you will derive from the services afforded to you. Go ahead - test the waters and create a call handling solution for your company - you'll be pleased with your decision to do so.
Sunil KumarYour Independent guide to Call Centers
अर्तिक्लe Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Customer Service Call Center Etiquette

A lot of people do not know this but there is a whole lot more to customer service call center etiquette than just answering the telephones. Customers use call centers for a variety of reasons, and a lot of the times it regards asking questions or making complaints about a specific product and or service they have paid for. A lot of offshore providers have etiquette standards that their customer service representatives must follow.
What Is The Main Function Of A Customer Service Call Center?
Customer service call centers are there to troubleshot complaints, answer customer questions and solve the problems that customers may be experiencing. Offshore call center companies in countries such as India, are one of the largest employers of labor. Customer service representatives function as a very valuable link between the customers and the company where they purchased the product and or service. Because reps do not have a one-on-one interactions with customers, all their interactions is conducted over the telephone. As such ensuring that they have superb telephone etiquette is how many offshore providers make a positive impression on the customers they service.
• Telephone etiquette actually starts the moment a customer service representative picks up the call and it should last until the phone conversation has come to an end। Having superb telephone etiquette simply means answering a call in a polite way, using a very friendly tone and keeping one's mouth free of food, beverage or chewing gum. When the caller needs to be placed on hold, the proper etiquette is to simply ask the caller for their permission to place them on hold - this also applies to transferring calls. Doing this will allow the caller know what the customer service representative is about to do.
• It is important for a representative to have top notch listening skills because the customer is calling in order to get some assistance, your job as a customer service rep is to make them feel at ease. Top offshore call center providers such as InSO have well trained reps who refrain from interrupting customers while they are speaking, they are very skilled at handling even the most difficult customer.
• Aside from being a great listener, there is also a need for a customer service reps to have effective communication through good speech habits. Reps should speak slowly and clearly and should not use any lingo that the customer may not understand. A lot of offshore companies have been accused of sloppy speech patterns but NEVER InSO! This is one offshore provider that offers unrivalled quality service.
Cleave offers inbound and outbound call center services through a skilled team of professionals। The expert team at InSO is skilled at providing turn-key Offshore Outsourcing Call Center Services and solutions, which makes the services more than just that of a call center। The diversified activities offered by http://www।cleaveglobal।com include media planning, merchant account setup, online advice and website development services, apart from services and support as an outsourcing and offshore call center.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brayden_Jason

Exploring Avenues: BPO Services

BPO service is the latest buzzword, which has enamored the business community world over. It has become one of the fastest developing IT enabled segment in the industry. Termed as the fastest source of revenue for any prospering country, all blue chip organizations in the country are hiring Bpo call centers to outsource requirements of their clients. The objective behind the same is quite transparent, as in, “do what you do best and leave everything else to BPO services”.

The Indian call center services with its’ multitasking trait help save a management's precious time and further utilizes its’ resources that focuses entirely in strengthening the company’s proficiencies. In short, BPO call centers are effective tools that improve an organization's efficiency and effectiveness further reducing the business cost to manifold.
The world of Global Back Office Operations is expanding along with a tremendous increment in its’ key players, services and connectivity. In the current competitive scenario – where job market is so down – BPO services help in maximizing the opportunities for acquiring, retaining and growing the customer base. The various advantages derived from BPO services in India are as follows

Increased productivity: Availability of highly qualified skill pool and faster adoption of well-defined business processes leads to higher productivity gains without compromising on quality. With the essential BPO services, the companies can reduce their cost by improving their productivity. India, in particular, enables a leading high-tech company to cut costs by 60 to 80 percent in their expenses. However, in many developing countries, companies adopt BPO call center activities in order to intensify their labor market, thereby, leading to higher wages. Organizations need to manage their outsourcing provider which can modify their cost savings extensively.

Access to expertise - BPO call center: Employees are often highly educated to tackle the varied technical complexities of an industry. This provides the impetus to improve business processes further.

Effective cost control: Most companies utilize the BPO services to reduce their costs and increase their productivity. The basic motive is to focus on the core competencies by simply dealing with the clients/customer's needs effectively in a responsive manner for ensuring the timely delivery of the requirements.

Enhanced accountability: Wherever BPO call center services are involved, it is bound to improve the accounts of an organization with its core activities.

Reformed HR: HR duties can be efficiently performed by referring to BPO services in an integrated environment, which can boost up the annual payroll budget. With such an approach, HR managers can implement the cost reduction policies with improved service quality. Hence, the employer can have a cost effective service technology.

Liberty to centralize business: Not only considered as an essential tool in managing company data, the BPO call center services even boost the productivity and progress of business operations. Most of the call centers nowadays include centralized monitoring systems that create a better room for assessment of exercises. This will help the organization in taking corrective measures in implementing the strategic policies.

Apart from the above-mentioned benefits, an organization needs to keep a track of its security measures that manages a large volume of data. This in turn will enable the organization to reduce cost and stay ahead in competition technologically.

Outsourcing of BPO Services – Check List to Refer

In the last two decades, outsourcing Bpo services has turned out to be a global phenomenon and there are many companies in this category claiming the excellence. Also, there are many global BPO service providers offering BPO services in India alone. But still, the word outsourcing invokes a fear of losing competitive advantage and intellectual property. Before finding the right collaboration answer, take a look at the following questions for generating a well thought strategy:

Why are you outsourcing a particular task to Global BPO Service provider?
What kind of operations are you outsourcing?
Where and who will handle which process?
Are you collaborating with the right service partner?
How and where the process will get started?

Why are you outsourcing a particular task to global BPO service provider?
The companies shall not outsource the BPO service just because their competitors have adopted the trend. The organization must analyze whether your company really lack the technical advantage of delivering a particular solution or not. The management must also understand that how a BPO service in India or any other country is going to impact the business and finally the customer.

What kind of operations are you outsourcing?
There are many global BPO service providers offering BPO services in India alone pertaining to: research, development quality control, documentation, service, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. The decision makers must analyze that what is the risk involved in outsourcing a BPO service and is there a proper mitigation strategy available for averting the risks.

Where and who will handle which process?
It is a very important question, which arises while outsourcing the BPO service. The tasks of global BPO service providers must be clearly specified. The decision makers should be aware that who performs flawless roles of Product Manager, Architect and Quality Analyst among the global BPO service providers.

Are you collaborating with the right service partner?
Do not outsource the BPO service process until you know exactly that what problem is he going to solve and how effectively he will perform. Coordinate the issues in joint meetings and examine as many prototypes of processes, which they have developed.

How and where the process will get started?
Cultural issues also determine the working of your partner. The working culture of a BPO service in India will be much more different in UK or Japan. The organization must also anticipate the linguistic and cultural issues while finding the right global BPO service provider. Not only that, even the formalization of process must be done before one month while selecting the process. Additional time must be required for finding the right location dealing with travel and acquiring the work permits for starting BPO service in India. Conceptualize about the whole process and imagine that what kind of network compilers will be used and how much technical help will be rendered.
Companies across the world are in search of global BPO service providers for outsourcing the BPO services. It is always not necessary that you will only get the right solutions from the client and you will save huge money in the process. While operating as a Product Manager, one must answer these basic questions before outsourcing the BPO operations.

Sunil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Cleave Global e-Services. Pvt Ltd. has profound experience in global bpo services industry and expertise in projecting calls center campaigns in the ITES industry. He holds a Masters degree in Economics and with his extensive experience in outsourcing bpo services India. He is a Six Sigma (Green Belt) certified professional. He brings quality and process control in all operations.