What is a Contact Centre?
In simple terms, a contact centre, or call centre, is a collection of human and information systems (people, processes and technologies) designed to support contact with customers or support a particular business function.
At its most basic it can mean a handful of untrained people answering simple queries over the phone. At its most sophisticated it can mean thousands of trained agents working in different locations using e-mail, video-conferencing, voice and the Internet to manage a complete customer life cycle.
Often referred to as the "factories of the modern era" they are typically large open-plan areas dominated by rows and rows of computers.
Contact centre operations are typically split into inbound (order taking, help desk, response management) and outbound (cold calling, sales, promotions).
Over the last decade contact centres have evolved to be a key strategic weapon, enabling companies to competitively differentiate in their ability to attract and retain customers.
Increasingly customers are using the web, e-mail, voice mail, fax in the way they choose to do business. Each customer contact experience is key to the loyalty of that customer transaction.
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