Let's talk business. Review on General Views on Call Centers

It?s a phenomenon. With the advent of globalization and the emergence of new industries replacing the dying ones, call centres came at the right time. In trying to get ahead of competitors, there has been an influx of personalized services in various industries; insurance, financial services, airlines and telecommunications services. Inbound and Outbound call centres have different working practices. Telemarketing also propagated the thousands of call centres.

An Economic Overview

More growth never meant more jobs. The ways companies are doing business are changing. Innovations are being made in making sales and working offshore. Call centres are providing a source of income to many people - which an economy needs and with the more flow of money, the more the liquidity in the economy. It is forming part of a solid and reputable form of economic development in many countries such as Australia, India, Mauritius, Fiji and Brazil.

Working in a Call Centre: The Case for YES

Whether it is casual, part-time, full-time or anytime, working in a Call Centre is an experience. You only have to use the voice, the mind, the script and the product will do the job. The best experience is in Sales i.e. Telemarketing. How easy is it to pick up the phone and make a sale to a stranger? Have you ever asked yourself?

You become a persuasive and a beneficially aggressive telemarketer where you can sell any product. You start to master the sales techniques, it helps the person to develop communication, marketing and interpersonal skills. Convince people that what you are selling is better than the other products. You need to have confidence and have excellent command over the language. The words coming out of your mouth should be exact and precise. It helps the person to talk to anyone at any age. It also helps you to think on the spot and negotiate difficult deals with the potential customer on the phone.

Working in a Call Centre: The Case for NO

You become a slave where it drains you to the fullest. Talking over the phone for hours either for customer support or sales is a tedious and monotonous task. The script is the same everyday. Those in Sales usually experience more trouble. The environment is stressed. Your and your calls are monitored to the extent that you cannot make mistakes on calls. You take the stress home. The social life is a bit troubled if the shifts are inappropriate. The level of enthusiasm is not there. There is pressure to meet sales targets and bring the queue down. The person working on the phone is treated like a robot that needs to be 100% efficient. The people are not treated with respect if sales are not made. There are also various health problems and psychological problems associated while working in a call centre.

Career in Call Centres?

The answer is a strict NO. Many undergrads continue working after they graduate. Some take the job just as a source of income until they find a better job. Some still work there because of the unavailability of jobs in their fields. What happen next depends on the person. Many have stayed at the Call Centres jobs for many years. Excellent telemarketers, some who even have excellent education credentials, keep on working and shift companies for better pay. A telemarketer who is making loads of money never thinks of his/her career. The money overshadows the thought of making a career outside that area. There have been many cases where people have moved on to carry on executive roles. Some have decided to open their own Call Centres! But the majority seem stuck in this boring job for various reasons.

Globalization: Offshore Business Process Outsourcing(BPO)

Globalization also means more free trade. Facing the cut-throat competition in a picking world economy remains a challenge for most multinationals and big companies. With the quest to improve efficiency levels and operate at minimum costs, Offshore Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) has been one of the first strategic steps utilized. It simply means a move of the?front and back office processes? to another country where the costs are lower and the quality of the labour is much efficient and cheap. That?s the borderless business. The use of Call Centres in this transformation is widely used to tap potential markets.

India has been the first country to experience Offshore BPO which resulted the corporate world to sit down and analyze its potential. The expansion was well received by the Indian economy providing an additional number of jobs. However, more countries attracted the Offshore BPO. This created a division of the market share. But some countries decided to create niche markets.

An Intervention on Call Centres: Where is Free Trade?

An economic expansion always creates competitors to mingle with laws. Because the boom of the BPO has been so well received, the UK and the US decided to review the laws regarding BPO. Many claimed that jobs are being lost in their countries and the service is not that up to the level. This resulted in many contracts not renewed. Why can?t there be free trade? Why is there the need for highly rich and influential countries to prevent free trade?

The Situation in Australia

It is an industry in itself which is booming at a rapid rate. They mainly employ undergraduates and fresh graduates. Unfortunately, in some places, many International students are being used as cheap labour. There has also been superiority among Indians when it comes to telemarketing. Some have moved to more executives positions as well. Many big companies like Telstra, were transferring part of their calls to India. It was later exposed on TV which reported that jobs are being lost and many customers cannot accept the transfer. It was explained that this is part of the changing world economy but it was still not really accepted by the public.

The Future of Call Centres: Economic and Non-Economic Implications

From an economic angle, Call Centres are adding extra jobs in the economy. Jobs lost in one country means jobs creation in another country. The process of globalization is ambiguous. With the expansion of Offshore BPO, more labour is being allocated to these highly demanding jobs. Overall, it is promoting efficiency on a world scale. Consumers might be getting lower prices due to the significant cut in costs while outsourcing. Dying sectors of the economy are being replaced by a more dynamic sector which employs a fresher pool of workers who are keener to accept changes and keep the innovation going.

Business economics do not deal with what is happening to the human morale while working in a call centre. However, new studies are making surface and its effects on its workers are being analyzed. It depends very much on the person to choose his/her job. The job satisfaction is not present but it offers an income stream to many indeed. It blocks your mind from thinking properly but a career choice is not recommended.

I think that the future of call centres is looking bullish at the moment. However, the public confidence in telemarketers is at a very low level. So many scams are being allocated to call centres. Telemarketers are lying to make sales and get ahead. If this is going to be so, then they will have the count the days of telemarketing. Its expansion will provide more studies, create more meaningful laws which will benefit both the workers and the companies. It will have to be a win-win situation, if they want to survive.