Call Center Management Featured Article
Why Call Center Management Needs to Pay Attention to HR Resources
For years, the call center industry has been focused on catering to the needs of the customer while maintaining relationships in the hope of loyalty and future revenue. In the past, that meant great quality service while on the phone, anticipating needs and resolving issues on first contact. Now that social media has entered the scene at full force, call center management must identify the best way to monitor conversations on channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (News - Alert).
Today, users are reaching out to their favorite brands through social media as a way to connect or to be served. For instance, if a call is placed into the call center and the caller is told there will be a three minute wait – or longer – to talk to an agent, why not post the problem on Twitter (News - Alert) if the response is immediate? The expectation is there will be an immediate response, yet those unable to accommodate are sure to lose market dominance.
To that end, how does this level of interaction affect the company internally? Consumers expect immediate attention and care. Do employees expect the same thing? Are members of call center management using all of their resources to provide employees with the support they need to ensure the optimal experience for the customer? These questions are important to ask in a market where dominance is often dictated by your ability to anticipate and respond quickly to needs.
Recent research from Sandler Research suggests that the global human resources outsourcing market will increase at a rate of 12.34 percent CAGR over the time period of 2013-2018. There is a significant need to decrease operational expenditures in the market, which is driving the trend toward outsourcing. Slower economic growth has put companies on a path for maximum productivity with minimum expenditures. With globalization of the markets, a company’s customer base has expanded exponentially.
As such, companies are increasingly looking for ways to reduce hiring and recruitment costs. But is a lack of direct access to the HR department the answer to the call center’s woes? When HR resources are not easily accessible to those working to support the company, it can easily reduce efficiency among employees and even lead to disillusionment.
What does this have to do with social media? Everything. When employees are unhappy in their current environment due to a lack of support from call center management, it shows in the way they treat customers. This poor service can then spill into social channels, where it is then shared among the customer base and beyond. It can quickly damage a brand beyond repair.
The point is companies need to be well aware of the type of environment they need to create if they want the maximum output from their employee base. Otherwise, call center management will quickly find they don’t have much to do.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi