80% US companies looking to outsource Call Center Offshore Services

Many US companies have moved there outsourcing work to countries like India and Philippines into call center service industry and BPO over the last few years. It has come to a head, with many Americans losing jobs to Indians and the like. From data entry to software development to telemarketing services provided by call center service providers, almost 80% of the American companies have thought of outsourcing as a strategy to cut costs and improve business processes.

Call center offshore services has brought in a revolutionary change of doing business by cutting cost and improving efficiency with regards to customer interaction resulting in better service. India the offshore call center services destination offers excessively low operational cost with regard to call center services.

e-CRM: The Emerging Call Center Phenomenon

One of the wonders of globalization is that a great deal of today's business can now be conducted over the web, meaning that physical location is no longer a central concern. The computing and telecommunications revolutions have transformed the way work is done everywhere on the planet, particularly in the area of services. Tasks that were previously accomplished at a centralized location like San Francisco or Tokyo can now be done virtually anywhere. Some of the functions that no longer need to be carried out on-site include human resources, customer service, accounting, translation and transcription, and applications programming. The Worldwide Web creates an unprecedented flexibility in business arrangements that is allowing companies to outsource such services, with geographical proximity no longer a key criterion.

Thanks to the Internet, multinational companies now contract such IT-enabled work to locations scattered around the globe.

And what are their criteria?

They look for an optimal blend of a talented, English speaking work force, good technological infrastructure, and favorable political climate. In short, somewhere like the Philippines.

In this era of rapid globalization, more and more companies are outsourcing the handling of their inbound and outbound calls, as well as customer inquiries through other channels. Those "customer contact points" cover everything from inquiries to complaints to sales to market research. This represents a major shift in strategy, and suggests that top international managers now realize that by outsourcing increasingly complex customer care needs, you can focus on your core competencies.

The term "call center" itself is fast becoming anachronistic given the complex nature of today's technology and communications channels. "Customer contact center" is more appropriate. Sophisticated ACD (automatic call distribution) systems are replacing antiquated PBX-based technology. Some of the latest technologies include:

Voice Over Internet: Phone calls transmitted over the web with a single telephone line handling both voice and data.

Text chat: An older technology in which two or more people communicate in real time by typing messages to one another.

Escorted browsing: The agent sees what the customer sees and directs him or her to specific web pages. Virtual conferencing: Real time communication in which you present "slide show" presentations to folks all over the globe while engaging them in interactive dialogue.

The key to call center success is to map out the many forms taken by customer contact and to ensure that they are all integrated into the CRM system and of course a good QA A Team on your side. Among other things, sales and marketing must be fully integrated with customer service.

One way of thinking about it is to consider the difference between analog and digital systems. In the analog system of traditional businesses, authority is hierarchical and decision making is "stretched out" across various departments. But in a modern digital system, e-business is based on a digital network that features instantaneous response and the integration and sharing of information across various departments.

The true digital organization doesn't differentiate sales, marketing, and service. Instead, there is a separate division for customer care (the customer contact center) that cuts across sales, marketing, aftersales services, complaints, and market research. Sales is not seen as a discrete event. Instead, it is treated as part of an ongoing interaction process with the customer.

Call centers are now big business in Asia, with Australia and Singapore leading the way.

The complexity and sophistication of what's going on is illustrated by the call center facility of Bass Hotel and Resorts in Singapore. They work closely with SingTel, which sets up local toll-free numbers in countries like China and India, then routes the calls over SingTel's international network to its local ISDN line. The data stream (which could be voice or digital data such as an e-mail or interactive chat) is downloaded to Bass' ACD system.

But a lot is also happening right here in the Philippines.

For example, over 1,000 hard working Filipinos now answer America Online's customer calls and e-mails on a 24/7 basis from specially equipped telecommunications facilities at Clark Special Economic Zone. They answer over 10,000 technical and billing inquiries daily, making up 90% of the company's customer e-mail. These AOL employees are four-year college graduates holding degrees in computer science, accounting, and business. AOL executives have been thrilled with the quality of their Filipino workers, who have proven to be both hard working and extremely loyal. AOL is planning to expand its operations here even further.