词条 | Call centre |
释义 |
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. An inbound call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information enquiries from consumers. Outbound call centres are operated for telemarketing, solicitation of charitable or political donations, debt collection and market research. A contact centre is a location for centralised handling of individual communications, including letters, faxes, live support software, social media, instant message, and e-mail.[1] A call centre has an open workspace for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration. The contact centre is a central point from which all customer contacts are managed. Through contact centres, valuable information about company are routed to appropriate people, contacts to be tracked and data to be gathered. It is generally a part of company's customer relationship management. The majority of large companies use contact centres as a means of managing their customer interaction. These centres can be operated by either an in house department responsible or outsourcing customer interaction to a third party agency (known as Outsourcing Call Centres). HistoryThe origins of call centres dates back to the 1960s with the UK-based Birmingham Press and Mail, which installed Private Automated Business Exchanges (PABX) to have rows of agents handling customer contacts.[2][3] By 1973, call centres received mainstream attention after Rockwell International patented its Galaxy Automatic Call Distributor (GACD) for a telephone booking system as well as the popularization of telephone headsets as seen on televised NASA Mission Control Center events.[4][5] During the late 1970s, call centre technology expanded to include telephone sales, airline reservations and banking systems. The term "call centre" was first published and recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary in 1983. The 1980s experienced the development of toll-free telephone numbers to increase the efficiency of agents and overall call volume. Call centres increased with the deregulation of long distance calling and growth in information dependent industries.[6] As call centres expanded, unionisation occurred in North America to gain members[7] including the Communications Workers of America[8] and the United Steelworkers. In Australia, the National Union of Workers represents unionised workers; their activities form part of the Australian labour movement.[9] In Europe, Uni Global Union of Switzerland is involved in assisting unionisation in this realm[10] and in Germany Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft represents call centre workers. During the 1990s, call centres expanded internationally and developed into two additional subsets of communication, contact centres and outsourced bureau centres. A contact centre is defined as a coordinated system of people, processes, technologies and strategies that provides access to information, resources, and expertise, through appropriate channels of communication, enabling interactions that create value for the customer and organisation.[11][12] In contrast to in-house management, outsourced bureau contact centres are a model of contact centre that provide services on a "pay per use" model. The overheads of the contact centre are shared by many clients, thereby supporting a very cost effective model, especially for low volumes of calls. The modern contact center has developed more complex systems, which require highly skilled operational and management staff that can use multichannel online and offline tools to improve customer interaction.[13][14][15] Technology{{multiple image|caption_align=left| header_align=center | footer_align=center | align = right | total_width = 380 | image1 =Call centre desk lakeland florida.jpg| width1 = 2288 | height1 =1712 | alt1 = | caption1 =Workstation | image2 =Aspect Tel-set telephone call centre.jpg | width2 = 1535 | height2 = 1112 | alt2 = | caption2 =A typical call centre telephone. Note: no handset; phone is for headset use only | footer = Call-centre technology circa 2005 }} Call centre technologies include speech recognition software to allow computers to handle first level of customer support, text mining and natural language processing to allow better customer handling, agent training by automatic mining of best practices from past interactions, support automation and many other technologies to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction. Automatic lead selection or lead steering is also intended to improve efficiencies,[16] both for inbound and outbound campaigns. This allows inbound calls to be directly routed to the appropriate agent for the task, whilst minimising wait times and long lists of irrelevant options for people calling in. For outbound calls, lead selection allows management to designate what type of leads go to which agent based on factors including skill, socioeconomic factors and past performance and percentage likelihood of closing a sale per lead. The universal queue standardises the processing of communications across multiple technologies such as fax, phone, and email. The virtual queue provides callers with an alternative to waiting on hold when no agents are available to handle inbound call demand. Premises-based technologyHistorically, call centres have been built on Private branch exchange (PBX) equipment that is owned, hosted, and maintained by the call centre operator themselves. The PBX can provide functions such as automatic call distribution, interactive voice response, and skills-based routing. Virtual call centre{{see also|Software as a service|Telecommuting}}In virtual call centre model, the call centre operator pays a monthly or annual fee to a vendor that hosts the call centre telephony equipment in their own data centre. In this model, the operator does not own, operate or host the equipment that the call centre runs on. Agents connect to the vendor's equipment through traditional PSTN telephone lines, or over voice over IP. Calls to and from prospects or contacts originate from or terminate at the vendor's data centre, rather than at the call centre operator's premises. The vendor's telephony equipment then connects the calls to the call centre operator's agents.[17] Virtual call centre technology allows people to work from home, instead of in a traditional, centralised, call centre location, which increasingly allows people with physical or other disabilities that prevent them from leaving the house, to work. The only required equipment is Internet access and a workstation.[18] The companies are preferring Virtual Call Centre services due to cost advantage. Companies can start their call centre business immediately without installing the basic infrastructure like Dialer, ACD and IVRS.[19] Cloud computing{{Main|Cloud computing}}Through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs), hosted and on-demand call centres that are built on cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) platforms can integrate their functionality with cloud-based applications for customer relationship management (CRM), lead management and more. Developers use APIs to enhance cloud-based call center platform functionality—including computer telephony integration (CTI) APIs which provide basic telephony controls and sophisticated call handling from a separate application, and configuration APIs which enable graphical user interface (GUI) controls of administrative functions. Outsourcing{{see also|Outsourcing}}Outsourced call centres are often located in developing countries, where wages are significantly lower. These include the call centre industries in the Philippines, Bangladesh, and India. Companies that regularly utilise outsourced contact centre services include British Sky Broadcasting and Orange[20] in the telecommunications industry, Adidas in the sports and leisure sector,[21] Audi in car manufacturing[22] and charities such as the RSPCA. IndustriesHealthcareThe healthcare industry has used outbound call centre programmes for years to help manage billing, collections, and patient communication.[23] The inbound call centre is a new and increasingly popular service for many types of healthcare facilities, including large hospitals. Inbound call centres can be outsourced or managed in-house. These healthcare call centres are designed to help streamline communications, enhance patient retention and satisfaction, reduce expenses and improve operational efficiencies. HospitalityMany large hospitality companies such as the Hilton Hotels Corporation and Marriott International make use of call centres to manage reservations. These are known in the industry as "central reservations offices". Staff members at these call centres take calls from clients wishing to make reservations or other inquiries via a public number, usually a 1-800 number. These centres may operate as many as 24 hours per day, seven days a week, depending on the call volume the chain receives.[24] EvaluationMathematical theory{{see also|Erlang distribution}}Queueing theory is a branch of mathematics in which models of service systems have been developed. A call centre can be seen as a queueing network and results from queueing theory such as the probability an arriving customer needs to wait before starting service useful for provisioning capacity.[25] (Erlang's C formula is such a result for an M/M/c queue and approximations exist for an M/G/k queue.) Statistical analysis of call centre data has suggested arrivals are governed by an inhomogeneous Poisson process and jobs have a log-normal service time distribution.[26] Simulation algorithms are increasingly being used to model call arrival, queueing and service levels.[27]Call centre operations have been supported by mathematical models beyond queueing, with operations research, which considers a wide range of optimisation problems seeking to reduce waiting times while keeping server utilisation and therefore efficiency high.[28] CriticismCall centres have received criticism for low pay rates and restrictive working practices for employees, which have been deemed as a dehumanising environment.[29][30][31] Other research illustrates how call centre workers develop ways to counter or resist this environment by integrating local cultural sensibilities or embracing a vision of a new life.[32] Most call centres provide electronic reports that outline performance metrics, quarterly highlights and other information about the calls made and received. This has the benefit[33] of helping the company to plan the workload and time of its employees. However, it has also been argued that such close monitoring breaches the human right to privacy.[34] Complaints are often logged by callers who find the staff do not have enough skill or authority to resolve problems,[35] as well as appearing apathetic.[36] These concerns are due to a business process that exhibits levels of variability because the experience a customer gets and results a company achieves on a given call are dependent upon the quality of the agent.[37] Call centres are beginning to address this by using agent-assisted automation to standardise the process all agents use.[38][39][40] However, more popular alternatives are using personality and skill based approaches.[41][42] The various challenges encountered by call operators are discussed by several authors.[43][44][45][46][47] Media portrayalsIndian call centres have been the focus of several documentary films, the 2004 film Thomas L. Friedman Reporting: The Other Side of Outsourcing, the 2005 films John and Jane, Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night, and 1-800-India: Importing a White-Collar Economy, and the 2006 film Bombay Calling, among others.[48] An Indian call centre is also the subject of the 2006 film Outsourced and a key location in the 2008 film, Slumdog Millionaire. The 2014 BBC fly on the wall documentary series The Call Centre gave an often distorted although humorous view of life in a Welsh call centre.[49] See also
References1. ^{{cite web |url=http://ewa-ltd.blogspot.com/2010/03/contact-centre-vs-communication-centre.html |title=Contact Centre vs Communication Centre vs Call Centre |publisher=EWA Bespoke Communications}} 2. ^Science and invention in Birmingham#cite note-45 3. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.callcentrehelper.com/the-history-of-the-call-centre-15085.htm |title=The history of the call centre |publisher=Call Centre Helper Magazine |date=19 January 2011 |accessdate=29 November 2014}} 4. ^{{cite web |url=http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-history-of-the-call-center-explains-how-customer-service-got-so-annoying |title=The History of the Call Center Explains How Customer Service Got So Annoying |last=Smith |first=Ernie |date=5 August 2016 |website=Vice.com}} 5. ^{{cite web |url=https://voxjar.com/call-center-history/ |title=The History of Call Centers Timeline |website=Voxjar.com}} 6. ^{{Cite book |title=Bottom-Line Call Center Management |last=Butler |first=David L. |work=Books.google.com |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann}} 7. ^{{cite book |first1=Pradeep |last1=Kumar |first2=Christopher Robert |last2=Schenk |title=Paths to Union Renewal |publisher=Broadview Press |year=2006 |isbn=1-55193-058-7}} 8. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/Improving_Call_Center_Jobs_a_Top_Priority_for_CWA_Customer_Service_Activist/ |title=Improving Call Center Jobs a Top Priority for CWA Customer Service |publisher=Communication Workers of America |accessdate=2011-02-23}} 9. ^{{cite web |url=http://workers.labor.net.au/90/news22_call.html |title=Call Centre Union Busters Get Wake-Up Call |publisher=Workers Online |accessdate=2008-07-08}} 10. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.uniglobalunion.org/uniindep.nsf/callcentres?openpage |title=Uni Global Union's call centre organising campaigns |publisher=Uni Global Union |accessdate=2008-07-08 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615190548/http://www.uniglobalunion.org/uniindep.nsf/callcentres?openpage |archivedate=2008-06-15 |df= }} 11. ^Cleveland, Brad, "Call Center Management on Fast Forward (Third Edition)", ICMI Press, 2012 12. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.cactussearch.co.uk/content/clients/roles-we-recruit |title=Cactus Search - List of Call Centre Management Roles We Recruit |publisher=Cactus Search |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129062129/http://www.cactussearch.co.uk/content/clients/roles-we-recruit |archivedate=2014-11-29 |df= }} 13. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.nea.com/blog/reinventing-customer-service-the-modern-contact-center |title=Reinventing customer service: the modern contact center |last=Viswanathan |first=Ravi |last2=Sandell |first2=Scott |date=21 June 2016 |website=Nea.com}} 14. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.genesys.com/solutions/contact-center-modernization |title=Contact Center Modernization |last=Staff |year=2016 |website=Genesys.com}} 15. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.tmcnet.com/cis/features/articles/301771-history-advancement-the-contact-center-the-customer-experience.htm |title=The History and Advancement of the Contact Center and the Customer Experience |last=Bernier |first=Paula |date=3 August 2012 |website=Tmcnet.com}} 16. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7035699/description.html |title=US Patent 7035699 - Qualified and targeted lead selection and delivery system |date=2006-04-25 |publisher=Patent Storm |accessdate=2008-05-29 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125122611/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7035699/description.html |archivedate=2009-01-25 |df= }} 17. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/kapq5p85xnhrwe5b/ |author=M. Popovic and V. Kovacevic |title=An Approach to Internet-Based Virtual Call Center Implementation |publisher=University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia}} 18. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.nticentral.org/about/articles/nnyt03012006.shtm |author=David S. Joachim |title=Computer Technology Opens a World of Work to Disabled People |publisher=New York Times}} 19. ^{{cite web|last1 = Kumar|first1 = Harish|title = Hosted Contact / Call Center Services in Indian Telecommunications Licensing and Regulation|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294894811|website = Researchgate|page = 6|doi = 10.13140/RG.2.1.2931.9445}} 20. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.livemint.com/2008/11/15003857/Orange-says-outsourced-work-to.html |title=Orange currently outsources work to Indian units of Convergys Corp |publisher=The Wall Street Journal}} 21. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.ewa.ltd.uk/case-studies/adidas |title=adidas setup a dedicated customer care centre |publisher=Adidas}} 22. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.confero.co.uk/casestudies.htm |title=Audi chose Confero as an outsourced contact centre |publisher=Confero}} 23. ^{{cite web |title=Billing and Collections |url=http://www.modernhealthcare.com/section/articles?tagID=13 |website=Modern Healthcare}} 24. ^{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=RqTgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22central+reservations+office%22&dq=%22central+reservations+office%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizmviI9MfWAhXEwlQKHR1KAbMQ6AEIOjAD|title=Managing Front Office Operations|last=Kasavana|first=Michael L.|last2=Brooks|first2=Richard M.|date=1998|publisher=Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Motel Association|isbn=9780866121798|language=en}} 25. ^{{Cite journal |last1=Gans |first1=N. |last2=Koole |first2=G. |last3=Mandelbaum |first3=A. |doi=10.1287/msom.5.2.79.16071 |title=Telephone Call Centers: Tutorial, Review, and Research Prospects |journal=Manufacturing & Service Operations Management |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=79–141 |year=2003 |url=http://ie.technion.ac.il/Labs/Serveng/files/CCReview.pdf |pmid= |pmc=}} 26. ^{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=L. |last2=Gans |first2=N. |last3=Mandelbaum |first3=A. |last4=Sakov |first4=A. |last5=Shen |first5=H. |last6=Zeltyn |first6=S. |last7=Zhao |first7=L. |doi=10.1198/016214504000001808 |title=Statistical Analysis of a Telephone Call Center |journal=Journal of the American Statistical Association |volume=100 |issue=469 |pages=36–50 |year=2005 |url=http://132.68.160.12/serveng/References/statanalysis.pdf |pmid= |pmc=}} 27. ^{{Cite news|url=https://portagecommunications.com/a-primer-on-two-call-center-staffing-methods/|title=A Primer On Two Call Center Staffing Methods for Call Center Workforce Management|last=|first=|date=|work=|newspaper=Portage Communications|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-14|via=}} 28. ^{{Cite journal |last1=Borst |first1=S. |last2=Mandelbaum |first2=A. |last3=Reiman |first3=M. I. |title=Dimensioning Large Call Centers |doi=10.1287/opre.1030.0081 |journal=Operations Research |volume=52 |pages=17–34 |year=2004 |jstor=30036558 |url=http://iew3.technion.ac.il/serveng/References/Dimensioning.pdf |pmid= |pmc=}} 29. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2005/04/SE0504NU02.htm |title=Working conditions and health in Swedish call centres |publisher=European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions |date=2005-06-05}} 30. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Industry=Call_Center/Hourly_Rate |title=Hourly Rate Survey Report for Industry: Call Center |publisher=PayScale |accessdate=2008-06-05}} 31. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/94-2.pdf |format=PDF |title=Advice regarding call centre working practices |publisher=Health and Safety Executive |accessdate=2008-06-05 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220050612/http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/94-2.pdf |archivedate=2009-02-20}} 32. ^{{cite journal |last=Pal |first=Mahuya |author2=Buzzanell, Patrice |title=Breaking the Myth of Indian Call Centers: A Postcolonial Analysis of Resistance |journal=Communication Monographs |year=2013 |volume=80 |issue=2 |pages=199–219 |doi=10.1080/03637751.2013.776172}} 33. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.callcentermagazine.com/shared/article/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=12803684 |title=The Call Center Answer Team reaches out to the industry for to crack a tough nut |work=Q&A: How Many Calls Should I Monitor |publisher=callcentermagazine.com |date=2003-07-30 |accessdate=2008-06-05}} 34. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.acewh.dal.ca/eng/reports/moving6.pdf |format=PDF |title=Who’s on the Line? Women in Call Centres Project |publisher=Health Canada |work=Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women's Health |accessdate=2008-06-05}} 35. ^{{cite news |url=http://blogs.zdnet.com/ip-telephony/?p=873 |title=Tone-deaf to customer complaints, Dell opens yet another call center in India |date=2006-01-30 |publisher=ZDNet |author=Shaw, Russell |accessdate=2008-06-05}} 36. ^{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4738804.stm |title=Abuse rattles Indian call centre staff |publisher=BBC News |date=2006-02-22 |author=Ahmed, Zubair |accessdate=2008-06-05}} 37. ^Fleming, J., Coffman, C., Harter, J. (2005) Manage Your Human Sigma, Harvard Business Review 38. ^{{cite book |last=Paprzycki |first=Marcin |title=Data Mining Approach for Analyzing Call Center Performance |publisher=Springer |year=2004 |location=Berlin |doi=10.1007/b97304 |isbn=978-3-540-22007-7|display-authors=etal}} 39. ^{{cite web |title=Evaluation of the Performance of customer service representatives in a call center using DEA/Network Model/Fussy Sets |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04132003-184221/ |accessdate=1 July 2008}} 40. ^{{cite journal |last=Srinivasan |first=Raj |title=Performance analysis of a call center with interactive voice response units |journal=TOP |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=91–110 |publisher=Springer Berlin |location= |year=2004 |doi=10.1007/BF02578926 |last2=Talim |first2=JéRome |last3=Wang |first3=Jinting|display-authors=etal}} 41. ^{{cite web |last=Skyrme |first=Pamela |title=Using personality to predict outbound call center job performance |url=http://applyhrm.asp.radford.edu/Volume%2010/MS%2010_2_%20Abraham.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=1 July 2008 |display-authors=etal}} 42. ^{{cite journal |last=Stolletz |first=Raik |author2=Stefan Helber |title=Performance analysis of an inbound call center with skills-based routing |journal=OR Spectrum |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=331–352 |year=2004 |doi=10.1007/s00291-004-0161-y }} 43. ^{{cite journal |last=Witt |first=L. A. |title=When Conscientiousness Isn’t Enough: Emotional Exhaustion and Performance Among Call Center Customer Service Representatives |journal=Journal of Management |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=149–160 |year=2004 |doi=10.1016/j.jm.2003.01.007 |display-authors=etal}} 44. ^{{cite journal |last=Aguir |first=Salah |title=The impact of retrials on call center performance |journal=OR Spectrum |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=353–376 |year=2004 |doi=10.1007/s00291-004-0165-7 |last2=Karaesmen |first2=Fikri |last3=Aksin |first3=O. Zeynep |last4=Chauvet |first4=Fabrice|display-authors=etal|url=http://home.ku.edu.tr/~fkaraesmen/pdfpapers/AKAC_ORS_04.pdf }} 45. ^{{cite journal |last=Murthy |first=Nagesh N. |title=The Impact of Simulation Training on Call Center Agent Performance: A Field-Based Investigation |journal=Management Science |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=384–399 |year=2008 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.1070.0818 |last2=Challagalla |first2=G. N. |last3=Vincent |first3=L. H. |last4=Shervani |first4=T. A.|display-authors=etal}} 46. ^{{cite web |last=Armony |first=Mor |author2=Itay Gurvich |title=When promotions meet operations: cross-selling and its effect on call-center performance |url=http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/facseminars/pdfs/2006_12-08_Armony1.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=1 July 2008 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124093944/http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/facseminars/pdfs/2006_12-08_Armony1.pdf |archivedate=24 January 2009 |df= }} 47. ^{{cite journal |last=Goldberg |first=L.S. |author2=A.A. Grandey |title=Display rules versus display autonomy: emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and task performance in a call center simulation |pmid=17638495 |doi=10.1037/1076-8998.12.3.301 |volume=12 |issue=3 |journal=J Occup Health Psychol |pages=301–18|year=2007 }} 48. ^{{cite journal | last1 = Hudson | first1 = Dale | year = 2009 | title = Undesirable Bodies and Desirable Labor: Documenting the Globalization and Digitization of Transnational American Dreams in Indian Call Centers | url = | journal = Cinema Journal | volume = 49 | issue = 1| pages = 82–102 | doi=10.1353/cj.0.0164}} 49. ^{{cite web|author=02:00 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018vlpy |title=BBC Three - The Call Centre, Series 1 |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=2013-12-10 |accessdate=2017-12-10}} Further reading
External links
5 : Computer telephony integration|Telemarketing|Outsourcing|Telephony|Customer service |
随便看 |
|
开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。