Call Center Technology—Is It a Help or a Hindrance In Your Company?

By Kristina Evey

Customers and companies alike are relying on call centers to manage large portions of their business functions. Companies are using their call centers to serve as a resource for customers to answer questions, schedule repairs, take orders, process purchases and for possible upselling. Customers rely on call centers to answer questions that are not clearly explained online, to purchase, to get more information or to simply have a human being and call center representative be their connection to the company, not the Internet.

Therein lies the challenge—how to effectively utilize and manage a call center to best serve the needs of both the customer calling in and the company itself. The main purpose of the call center is to provide excellent service in order to increase customer satisfaction and retention. In the mind of the customer, the person with whom they are speaking is the company. The smart companies are using their call centers to partner with the customer in order to enhance the experience that their customers are already having with them in order to generate retention, loyalty, and increased profits.

Focus On the Customer By Using Technology

Call centers are striving toward high efficiency and effectiveness. This is aided by new technological developments that have appeared on the market at lightening speed in recent years. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software provides amazing tracking and scheduling for customer touchpoints and purchases. Call center technology has advanced to the point where calls can be monitored and tracked, queued at the point of inception, as well as time per call demonstrating work flow and scheduling needs, etc.

All of this technology is extremely useful provided the focus remains on the needs of the customer. Technology is a wonderful thing, but steps need to be taken to ensure companies aren’t using it as an obstacle for the customer or losing the personal aspect of the interaction. Automated attendants, voice queues, time per call measurements are useful and have their place, yet the “live person” is what so many consumers prefer and appreciate. Once we lapse into having technology “process” our customers, the quality of the call suffers in the drive to minimize the duration of each call.

Your Call Center Presents Opportunity

The call center is an excellent opportunity to focus on customers and grow business. It is an avenue of communicating with customers during which customer expectations can always be exceeded. The goal is to maximize the relationship between the company and the customer through the call center. The key word here is "relationship."

Customers are buying the relationships that we are promising them, not merely our product or service. When the customer has an excellent experience with the call center, customer loyalty and retention improve. Technology improves the effectiveness and efficiency of true partnerships with customers. It serves as the foundation of information for the call center employees to carry the experience to the next level. CRM software can relay the previous purchases of the customer, yet the call center staff themselves are developing the sustainable and loyalty driven relationship when they actively and genuinely engage with the customer to anticipate needs before the customer is even aware they have them. When customers feel that the call center staff and company is truly on their team, they reward the call center and the business with their loyalty and dollars.

About the Author

Kristina Evey helps companies improve the way they connect with their customers. She is the owner of Centric Strategies, a firm oriented toward developing a cultural mindset focused on the customer. Her strategy is to ensure that everyone within a company or group is of the same “Customer Centric” mindset. Collaboration between Evey and the client will identify the needs and opportunities to set mutual goals that are both realistic and achievable.

Evey is a professional speaker and educator in all areas of Customer Service.

Originally Published here

Success Stories of Contact Center Outsourcing in Pakistan

1. Chevron Pakistan Ltd (0800-12122)

• Chevron Pakistan Limited a leader in the global integrated energy business realizes that their customer services need an effective channel.

• They had a decentralized terminal based order taking system which was causing delay in deliveries.

• In anticipation of a significant increase in orders they had a need of an innovative order taking solution. To remedy this, Chevron decided to outsource and partnered with Arwen Tech to examine their processes, recommend potential solutions, implement the most appropriate service, and then evaluate the results.

They Initiated with Customer Support Services only, then they Started order taking services for one location Karachi only. The efficiency provided by the Arwen Tech meant that Chevron was able to speedup adequately the total order taking operation. The Karachi operation was considered to be best practice in the Chevron and this model is now used to drive innovation and expansion throughout Pakistan, Orders taken at our call center directly through their SAP system (Singapore).






2. City District Government Karachi (CDGK) 1339

• CDGK was trying to take a brave initiative to make an effective channel for the citizens of Karachi to hear and solve their problems

• CDGK had a need to develop a system that will act as interface between the citizens and government a trustable platform by which citizens will be able to register their complaints effectively

• They had a pressing need to quickly transition all The Citizens complaints for that they needed to get connected with 18 town offices KBCA, KW&SB and Civic Center and a centralized complaint center in a short time frame.

For The City District Government Karachi, the easy answer was Arwen Tech and Contact Center Outsourcing.

In just five months--from August 2007 to January 2008— Contact Center Outsourcing made it possible for them to be the first ISO Certified District Government in Pakistan including KBCA, KW&SB and all 18 Town Offices. And made it possible to successfully transition all the complaints and connectivity of 18 towns with an outsourced call center to Arwen Tech in record time― and, in doing so, meet the stringent requirements to create a feeling in the populace that government officials are interested in hearing their voice on 24/7 basis.



3. Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pakistan (0800-DIRECT) (0800-IQUIT)

• Pfizer the world's largest research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical Company became increasingly aware of the need for a solid customer relationship solution.

• Pfizer searched for a partner who could identify with their Needs and provide them with a robust solution that would enable them to gain customer loyalty as well as attract new customers

After searching for a customer service provider, Pfizer recognized Arwen Tech as the industry leader in customer care and chose to partner with for contact center services.

To show appreciation to their customers, Pfizer is offering their consumers a free product Home delivery services as well as an advisory services for an anti-smoking campaign IQUIT (0800-47848) through First ever call center outsourcing in pharmaceuticals industry of Pakistan to promote customer loyalty. Pfizer’s Call Centre providing service 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM and 6 days a week customers can call at their Toll Free Number 0800-DIRECT (0800-34798) from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad & Multan and inform operators about product and contact details. Once they confirm an order, Area distributor contacts them and delivers the product at their home within 2-3 days from the date of placement of an order.

Further To build the rapport and the relationship with customers they invite them to give feedback by giving them a Courtesy calls.



4. Adamjee Insurance Company, Pakistan (0800-00242)

• Adamjee Insurance Company Limited, already among the top insurance Company of Pakistan, hopes to attain industry leadership by combining the best product range with outstanding customer service.

• A large part of its business is conducted by telephone, and the company needed a complete and detailed picture of all its customer interactions in that channel. It needed to gain full visibility of the pattern of all its telephone contacts with customers.

• In order to deliver on its commitment to continuous improvement, Adamjee Insurance needed a clear view of the quality of customer experience when contacting the organization.

Adamjee Insurance Company Limited the leading insurance company of Pakistan partnered with Arwen tech to setup the 1st insurance call center in Pakistan after seeking a business partner who recognized the importance of a customer care program. Having exceeded the client’s initial goals, the client sought assistance from Arwen tech for help increasing revenue by implementing a solution selling component to its program.