TMCnews Featured Article
May 18, 2011
What Are Call Center Operations?
By Jamie Epstein, TMCnet Web Editor
The term ‘call center operations’ consists of many aspects. But essentially this term refers to all of the daily activities and processes that go into ensuring a call center is efficient.
A call center is an office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call center is run by a company that either offers incoming product support or can offer information to consumers with questions. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, product services, and debt collection are also made at call centers on a regular basis.
Call centers require many different types of technology in order to continue to be productive. Some of these technologies include: speech recognition software that enables computers to handle customer support, natural language processing to allow better customer handling, agent training by providing agents with current best practices scenarios, and auto dialers.
Coaching on behalf of call center upper management is crucial to ensure call center agents possess the skills and knowledge needed to successfully help a customer. Well-trained agents will help to make sure that customers are always happy, call volume is manageable and the overall team is working together.
Training on a consistent basis for agents is also necessary as new products are introduced or new information is made available. As all agents experience some amount of downtime in between each call, training exercises can be completed during this time period.
Jamie Epstein is a TMCnet Web Editor. Previously she interned at News 12 Long Island as a reporter's assistant. After working as an administrative assistant for a year, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web editor for TMCnet. Jamie grew up on the North Shore of Long Island and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting from Five Towns College. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves