Call Center Outsourcing

Call Centers

Call centers are designated offices used to receive and transmit a large volume of telephone requests. Overseas call centers are operated by BPO companies to deliver inbound product support or other information inquiries from customers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. A contact center is a facility that in addition to providing call center services, handles letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails simultaneously.

Call Centers typically provide an extensive open workspace for call center representatives, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset, and one or more stations for supervisors. Call centers can be independently operated or networked with other centers.  These are often linked to a high-tech corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the center are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).

Most major businesses outsource their call centers to interact with their customers.  Some businesses even handle internal functions through call centers. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support.

Call Center Outsourcing

Call Center Outsourcing refers to the process of hiring a company to provide services that might otherwise be performed in-house. Most large companies now outsource their call center services to overseas locations.
The rapid growth of outsourcing is a direct result of the cost savings involved with the use of an overseas call center. Business Process Outsourcing companies can typically provide the same quality of work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers, and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.

Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, that might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The outsourcing company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined and often has access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own.