SMS is among the most ubiquitous communication tools on the planet-three billion users worldwide according to Portio Research-but banks are struggling with how to fold it into their operations. Today, many banks offer text-based alerts around account balances, but two-way interactions are generally limited to transactional information; and capabilities have not progressed much in the past year.

Now there are signs that consumers are growing disenchanted. A recent Javelin study forecasts a big slowdown in the number of new households receiving SMS alerts as they conclude that alerts fail to deliver timely information, are too generic and are too difficult to tailor. "Consumers are trying it and not finding it as helpful as they'd hoped. Customers want SMS, but they want it better," says Mark Schwanhausser, a research analyst at Javelin. For the institution to entice customers and make the most effective use of SMS, Schwanhausser and other analysts say banks need to transform texting into a two-way engagement.

Stepping into the SMS fray last month was SoundBite Communications, which unveiled a novel SMS platform that offers improved customer service by tying SMS to the call center. Rather than calling a customer support center, with SoundBite's Contact Center Text Messaging Solution a consumer can send a text message using a keyword and five digit telephone number, known as a short code. When the consumer sends a text message, the SoundBite Dialog Engine reviews the message using a set of predefined business rules. Based on the results, the solution automatically responds with a personalized text message. If the consumer's text message warrants special attention, the message can be routed to a customer support agent who can access the entire message history and respond using the SoundBite Agent Text Portal. The entire text message conversation can transition from agent to automation and vice-versa, depending on the consumer's most recent response.

Executives at SoundBite say that consumers may be frustrated with banks' current SMS capabilities, but texting remains their preferred means of communication. According to a survey commissioned by SoundBite through Chacha.com, 52 percent of respondents prefer customer support via texting, while 35 percent preferred voice. One big reason is that texting doesn't require a customer to wait on hold, says Alan Berrey, vp of market development at SoundBite.

George Peabody, director of Mercator Advisory Group's emerging technologies advisory service, agrees that SoundBite's offering is a potent new tool for organizations that want to leverage consumers' communications preferences and the ubiquity of the mobile phone. "They're taking the experience with Web chat and opening it up to a broader audience because of SMS's huge user base." Meanwhile, George Tubin, a senior research director at TowerGroup, says two-way SMS make enormous sense. "Alerts now are static but useful. But to take action I've got to go to the bank branch or make a call."

That said, SoundBite could have a tough go of it on two fronts. First, there are IT budget concerns. Second, SoundBite must muscle into a competitive field. ClairMail, Sybase, and M-Com are just some of the big players in the space. All three offer a mobile baking solution that integrates Web browser, applications and text messaging, and some analysts wonder if SoundBite's text-only approach is viable even if its customer service focus is unique. Schwanhausser says it's critical that banks integrate all three modalities into their mobile offering "because that's what customers demand." And Red Gillen, a senior analyst at Celent, adds that "the market is pretty saturated. If [SoundBite] is serious they need all three." However, Peabody is not so certain. While banks will need to offer all three modalities, he says it's not clear that they must get all three from the same vendor.

Some analysts also question the wisdom of linking SMS to the call center at all, arguing that text messaging will increase the costs of the call centers and reduce mobile banking's ROI. The purpose of mobile banking is to avoid the call center, says Nick Holland, a senior analyst at Aite Group. "The beauty of mobile banking is it disintermediates people. If anything call center text messaging is a step backward." Peabody again counters that banks should not think of communication channels in either/or terms. The goal is to communicate with the customer as effectively as possible.

Source : American Banker

The definition of Call center, usually targets the area of technology, ie, structure, design of hardware and software and the functionality that is provided through the systems. Specify what is a call center goes beyond a computer system or cutting-edge technology, although it is important to facilitate human work, does not predominate. The human being is the important element in the definition we propose.

Although our aim is to sensitize the definition of Call Center from the technological standpoint the humanistic point out some definitions raised by the companies that offer this service.

An important element, as we noted at the outset, is to be human. People who answer calls in a call center operator are called (a) or telemarketer, as carried out not only answer the calls, also have the ability to advise and address any concerns of users. Operator (a) is the term used for the service offered by the company and we want to avoid confusion with the person performing the service.

A Call Center is composed of human beings with feelings, thoughts and proposals to be heard and evaluated. Our customers should not be considered a cold statistic, your call goes beyond a question, complaint or grievance, is a vital input for development and strengthen the business.

Neglecting India and other popular call center destinations, HP has chosen the region of Northern Africa.

Tech giant Hewlett-Packard has expressed interest in creating tech support centers in Africa, though which countries it wants to help develop still aren't disclosed.
"We see Africa as a potential base for providing all sort of services and technical support for customers outside of Africa," said Rainer Koch, HP Managing Director, in a statement to Reuters. "We plan to invest more in the future on the continent on that perspective."

At a time when the U.S. unemployment is at record levels, the company may suffer from some public criticism -- especially from consumers who do not enjoy dealing with tech support that is obviously in foreign countries. Popular foreign nations for call centers are often times located in India, Singapore, the Philippines, and Mexico, with these nations chosen for several selected reasons.

India and the Philippines are popular due to cheaper labor, and both nations have large populations of young people familiar with western culture. Furthermore, India also has a large labor force of workers who have attended university classes, along with a strong familiarization with English.

Singapore also has a large number of English speakers, and is a nation that has a stronger IT infrastructure than other possible markets.

Unlike these other nations, Northern Africa doesn't have these advantages, which HP will have to slowly develop over time. The company plans to hire at least 1,000 employees by the end of 2010 for its first call center -- HP officials didn't disclose how many facilities they plan to develop.

Also, it will be interesting to see which countries HP chooses, and why the nation was selected. Many nations in Africa are having problems with war and extreme poverty, so HP must select a North African nation carefully.

Source : Dailytech.com

Despite the recession, roughly 68 percent of call center managers plan to increase hiring over the next 12 months by more than 10 percent, compared to 2008, according to the second annual Contact Center Recruitment and Compensation Survey from call center hiring solutions provider FurstPerson.

The survey, which polled more than 100 call center managers, also shows that the recession has led to much lower voluntary attrition – meaning that more call center agents are reluctant to leave their jobs, mainly because they have much fewer job opportunities.

“Compared to 2008, 2009 voluntary turnover was consistently lower,” a press release promoting the new survey states. “The current economic conditions may be driving reduced voluntary attrition.”

The reduced agent attrition has led to reduced recruiting and hiring costs. According to the survey, the average cost of attrition in North American call centers in 2009 was 22 percent lower than in 2008, when it was $4,284.73 per agent.

Interestingly, the survey shows that a center's attrition rate is related to the length of tenure for its director.

"As companies prepare to staff up for the coming year, they will have to weed through an even deeper pool of applicants due to the economic downturn," said Jeff Furst, president and chief executive officer of FurstPerson, in the release. "Hiring wisely is still of tantamount importance and this survey clearly reveals the high costs associated with turnover and attrition.”

“FurstPerson's focus is to be a hiring support solution for managers so they can add talent smartly -- quality talent which will help them maintain high customer service levels,” Furst added.

FurstPerson is a Chicago-based company that provides pre-employment screening and assessment solutions to call centers via Internet using the software-as-a-service model. Its flagship call center hiring system, 1stHire, is used in more than 600 locations across North America, Europe and Asia. FurstPerson's call center hiring solution includes call center simulations, problem solving tests, personality tests and analytics, all integrated on a single platform.

Source: Tmcnet.com

Many successful businesses today have found a way to improve customer service and reduce overall costs by having call center operations run through an outsourced provider.

Call center outsourcing helps businesses to better serve their customers with skilled agents that guarantee high service quality levels. Also, call center outsourcing, can be beneficial for businesses looking to succeed in Business 2.0.

outsourcing call center activities can help a company to “hold an edge in the market.” For example, the incorporation of social media networking has helped many companies today to improve their operations.

Also, with more and more consumers having wireless services, call centers can utilize the ability to connect with customers whenever needed to lower abandonment as well as increase call satisfaction.

In addition to addressing the new market, call center outsourcing via a hybrid approach allows even companies unwilling to push all of their customer contact outside to select calls to be handled in-house.

Frontier Airlines' call center in southern New Mexico is closing Tuesday and 11 of its workers are moving to Denver as the airline consolidates operations under its new ownership.

Frontier was acquired out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October by Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc., which also recently bought Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines.

The shutdown of the Frontier reservations center in Las Cruces, N.M., was announced Sept. 28. At the time, Frontier said the shutdown would "eliminate an operational duplication that exists with our Midwest Airlines partnership."

About 100 workers were still employed as of Tuesday at the Las Cruces center, which opened in 2000. That's down from a high of as many as 200.

"People have continued to work hard. We have a remarkable group of people," Ruben Servando Valdez, who has managed the facility since it opened, told the Las Cruces Sun-News. "I'm blessed to have worked with these people."

The Las Cruces employees were offered jobs elsewhere with the company. Eleven have accepted and will move to Denver, Servando Valdez told the Sun-News, but he said he plans to stay in the area.

Source : Bizjournals.com

The state's unemployment insurance call center will extend its hours Dec. 21 through Jan. 22 because of a seasonal surge in calls, the state reported.

The TeleClaim center phone lines will be open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, the call center will close at 4:30 p.m. Saturday hours will remain from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., except on Dec. 26, when the center will be closed. The state said the center will be closed on the Martin Luther King Day holiday on Jan. 18.

Source: Telegram.com

More than half a million people in Germany work in the call center industry - in one of the 6,700 call centers of the country. This is one of the results of a new survey recently presented by "Call Center Forum" one of Germany's call center associations.

The study, which was conducted by the consultants of profitel, shows that personnel has been growing steadily compared with numbers of 2006 where about 400,000 people worked in the industry. The number of call centers has increased by about 17 percent compared with 2006.

Less Outbound
80 percent of call centers are so-called inhouse call centers meaning they are part of a company or an organization. Call Centers that only provide outbound calling have become rare (2009: 10 percent, 2006: 30 percent). 60 percent of German call centers are mere inbound centers, 30 percent offer both.

Most contact centers are located in North-Rhine-Westphalia - the "Bundesland" with the highest poplulation. About 80 percent of call centers are based in the Western part of the country, 20 percent in the former “German Democratic Republic".

Source : Call Center International Magazine

Computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. will pick up the keys to a new call center in Conway, Ark., on Friday, and move 400 workers into it over the weekend.

Those workers are now in temporary space in Little Rock, 25 miles south of Conway.

Palo Alto-based HP (NYSE: HPQ) plans to ultimately house 1,200 workers in the new facility, which is designed to hold up to 1,400 if that ever becomes necessary.

Brad Lacy, president and CEO of the Conway Development Corp. and Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, said HP will move into the southern half of the two-part building first. The other half is still being built and should be finished by the end of January.

Many of the new HP workers are locals, but some families have moved in from all over the country to work at the center, Lacy said.

HP has “plugged in” to Conway, said Mayor Tab Townsell. “We’ve got some of them on our city boards and foundations right now.”

Turning over the keys will be a very simple procedure, Lacy said, since HP will have to work hard to shift all 400 people over the weekend. A ceremony to mark the opening of the facility will be held later in the winter or in the spring, he said.

Conway, with a population of about 52,000, is the county seat of Faulkner County and has three colleges and universities — the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College and Central Baptist College. The town is known for toad races held at a festival in early May every year. Read More...

Source : Bizjournals.com

Many businesses turn to call center outsourcing services to free up company resources from handling customer support activities. While these benefits can help to improve a company’s image and focus more on their core business, there are other long term benefits that not only make outsourcing a favorable option, but help to improve profit potential as well.

One key improvement to call center outsourcing is saving in-house space by eliminating the need for dedicated servers. Aside from space savings, businesses will also reduce costs associated with ongoing maintenance and other fees at their site.

To ensure customers are always receiving the best quality care from agents, choosing a call center outsourcing provider also means only experienced and highly trained agents will be in touch with customers.

Finally, quality and compliance issues are no longer an issue for businesses as the outsourced call center provider will ensure all rules and regulations are always met.

Call center outsourcing can become the extension of a company’s business and help to not only improve customer satisfaction rates, but chosen correctly, can even help the company to grow and drive profits.

The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training's unemployment call center, swamped with calls from out-of-work Rhode Islanders, will be closed to incoming calls on Friday -- and on certain other dates this month -- to try to cut down on its backlog.

Closing the center to the calls will allow the center's staff to focus, on those dates, on processing claims for benefits and on returning e-mail inquiries from the unemployed, said Raymond A. Filippone, the Department of Labor and Training's associate director who oversees unemployment programs.

The agency has received a high volume of calls, e-mails and claims for benefits in recent weeks, especially since the federal government decided to extend certain benefits programs.

"Rhode Island was one of the first states in the nation to implement this latest unemployment insurance extension, thereby assisting thousands of Rhode Islanders who had exhausted or were on the brink of exhausting their benefits," Sandra M. Powell, the agency's director, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
"However, the process of implementing this important program has been time-intensive and has resulted in a backlog of approximately 3,000 unemployment insurance claims filed online," she said.
Powell added, "It is in the best interest of all our customers that we take actions now to reduce this backlog as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, we need to devote more time to online claims processing."
In addition to Friday, the call center plans to close to incoming calls on the morning of Dec. 16, and all day Dec. 17. The center will then close to incoming calls every Thursday thereafter "for as long as the volume of online claims warrants," the agency said in a statement.

The agency is also implementing longer hours on days it is open, Filippone said. For example, the call center normally is open for calls on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. But it will soon be open those days from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., he said.

The agency is also in the process of hiring more workers for the call center.
Rhode Island has the third highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 12.9 percent. About 35,000 Rhode Islanders are currently collecting some type of unemployment benefit through the agency, Filippone said.

Source : newsblog.projo.com

Telemarketing service has been around for a long time, but in the recent years it has been increasing demand. India especially has suddenly become a hub for telemarketing jobs. Not even local products, lots of products across the globe are being outsourced for telemarketing in India.

Telemarketers can work in a variety of ways. In most of the cases job of Telemarketing agents involve calling to the people and spreading awareness of the products and services, and confirm sales deal on phone.
Outbound Telemarketing jobs require the executive to make outgoing calls using a 'script' prepared by the management, aiming to sale products and services. For each agent it is very important to know the telemarketing script proper to make customer interaction more healthy sale oriented.

The Telemarketing agents have a strict schedule to follow and they need to make a certain number of calls within a fixed period of time. This requires for any Tele caller to keep the calls as short as possible.
Telemarketing is not easy task and if you really want to make Telemarketing project successful then it is very important that you have well qualified telemarketing executive. As speaking is a skill and there are certain techniques that have to be practiced by agent in in order to achieve desire results and to be a successful telemarketing call center. Motivation also plays very important role and is the key to successful telemarketing. So always try to keep you staff motivated. Motivation can determine whether or not a telemarketer speaks in a professional manner with customers.

One of the vital part of telemarketing is that each call center agent should be very well aware about call format, from starting to end and flow of call should be very effective through the customer conversation. Call format should be in below format and it is very important for call center agent that he or she should follow each point properly so that they can generate more sales.

Call Format -
1. Introduction
2. Description of the product
3. Price details of product
4. The value and features of the product
5. How to order the product
6. The closing of the sales

Telemarketing executives need to show very professional attitude during the customer interaction as customers will never have to deal with an agent that displays a poor attitude because they know that the key to success is professionalism and information.

Source: Bestsyndication.com