Ever take a look around the office and think “what this place needs is a call center, and it needs it today?” That might sound like an order too tall for most anyone to supply, but a new business launching in Cebu in the Philippines is set to do just that. The new business, KallFly, is offering a rather unique prospect: a complete contact center that can be ready to go in a matter of hours.
KallFly, founded by Vince Loremia and Mark Anthony Lapuz—who between the two have “years of experience in the business process outsourcing industry in Cebu,” as it's described—set up the firm to serve as what was also described as an “on-demand contact center marketplace.” The company, which drew support from the Singaporean group known as the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI), already boasts 520 virtual call center agents, and of these, 95 percent are Filipino. Most of them work from home, which offers a particular benefit for families, particularly single mothers for whom child care is a major challenge.
Companies interested in contracting KallFly pay a comparatively low rate, about $4 an hour, with $2.50 an hour going to the call center agent and $1.50 an hour going to KallFly itself. From there, the company essentially sets up the call center for the contracting business, allowing companies to expand the operation as required, and include things like uploading a standard call center script. A feedback and rating system helps ensure call quality, and business owners can actually listen in on the calling in progress to provide rapid coaching as needed.
This is, according to the company, a significant improvement over standard call center operations, in which clients would have to place a “minimum order,” so to speak, of between seven and 10 call center agents and put down an initial deposit of $1,000. KallFly, meanwhile, appears to have an on-demand sort of format, which can be a big draw. So far, nine companies—including locations in Australia, Singapore, the Philippines itself and even the United States—have signed up with KallFly to develop a new breed of call center.
The concern in terms of language barriers or technical skill are addressed, as KallFly plans to—within the next two to three years—start bringing in agents that can handle other languages like regional favorites Japanese and Korean, but also Spanish and German. That shows a willingness to provide more value, so those who go with KallFly shouldn't be terribly put out. In a time when every penny counts, and some places are even starting to bring call centers back to the United States for the value of lifelong fluent English speakers, it's interesting to see a firm like KallFly step in to try and fill the gap with low-cost virtual agents. It's also noteworthy here to point out how the use of virtual agents, and thus a minimal infrastructure required to keep same operating, is keeping expenses low, a development that some companies may particularly want to think about.
Only time will tell just how well KallFly does in the long term, but it's a pretty safe bet that the company will continue to find interested users around the world.