We often hear this term, but exactly what is a call center, anyway?
In essence, a call center is a group of people who make and/or receive calls for a given business or non-business purpose.
What is a Call Center Designed to Do?
Call Centers can be used for many purposes. Business uses for call centers include: telemarketing such as placing outbound sales calls; receiving inbound sales calls; making and receiving inbound and outbound customer support calls; connecting and assisting employees; and more.
However, call centers are not used only by businesses. Many non-profit organizations, hospitals, emergency personnel and various other parties use call centers to manage their call flow and ensure that urgent calls are quickly attended to and routed to the proper party.
If you have ever had reason to call 911, you’ve spoken to call center staff. You most likely heard “911, what is your emergency” or a similar question. This is an excellent example of a call center at work. You were briefly in a queue, your call was routed to a call center employee, they quickly gathered the information, and they then dispatched your information (hopefully!) to the appropriate party.
Survey and statistics organizations also employ call centers to gather useful data on a wide range of subjects. Employees in call centers such as these might be placing outbound calls to gauge public opinion on important issues, collect general demographic information, perform market research, and more.
Even political parties use call centers. During election seasons, hundreds of call centers spring up across the US and Canada. The call center staff place canvassing calls to constituents, hoping to elicit voter support for a given candidate.
What is a Call Center’s typical setup?
Call Centers can be organized using many different methods. A call center does not even have to consist of one location – with a Hosted PBX service such as Easy Office Phone’s, call center staff can work from many different locations and still be tied together under a single phone service account.
In terms of call flow the options are equally extensive. Incoming calls can be sent to an auto-attendant, which can present callers with several options (e.g. Sales, Support, Billing, etc.) and then route calls to the appropriate staff member(s). Another option is to ring all or some of the call center employees, using a choice of different ring strategies such as Ring All, Round-Robin, Random, etc. Outbound call centers in some cases do not accept incoming calls at all and are set up strictly to place calls quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.
I have a call center or am organizing one. How can I learn more?
Easy Office Phone’s friendly and knowledgeable staff can assist by discussing your needs and determining the best solution for you, using our highly customziable Call Center Software and Reporting tools. Give them a call today at 1-866-671-0111!