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Always On Call? The Competitiveness of the UK's Call Centre Industry
How can UK call centres continue to be successful in future?
The industry research commissioned by the DTI found that the UK call centre industry will have to change its role in order to continue to thrive. This means recognising the following:
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The demise of low value work:
- Customers ring call centres to get information or to perform an action.
- Voice activated telephone systems and the Web is or will be able soon to handle this work.
- So simple live calls to centres are likely to become a thing of the past, especially as more organisations seek to relocate this low value work offshore.
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The need for more sophisticated outbound calling:
- Although outbound calling accounts for only about 30% of call centre work, it is significant.
- People do not like being 'cold-called'. They seek to prevent unwanted calls such as these by using the Telephone Preference Service.
- A better way to attract new business is probably to use targeted marketing techniques, such as direct mail.
- Firms are increasingly aware of the importance of retaining an effective relationship with their existing customers.
- Call centre staff can add value to this relationship by using 'warm calling' techniques, based on information about the services that customers have already used. This can help re-establish a 'personal touch' that customers can value highly.
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The importance of empowered, trained staff:
- The cost of recruiting and selecting a call centre agent is estimated to be £2,500.
- The turnover cost per call centre agent is said to be £2,244.
- New agents are only 16% as productive as experienced agents.
- As the main reason for staff attrition is boredom and stress, call centres should help motivate agents through training and empowering them.
- This means giving them the right tools to do their job well.
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Selling the call centre internally:
- Persuading senior managers that the call centre is a vital part of their business.
- End the impression that call centres are the modern equivalent of 'sweatshops'.
- Do more high value work for the organisation.
- Report back to the overall business on the information and opportunities that the call centre feeds back into the organisation.