Journalist and The Public Relation Officer

Journalist : Good morning Sir. Could I have some information? What does the term call centre mean?  PRO : Call centre is a multi-faceted work-place where various functions occur like customer service centres, information lines, reservation centres, help desks, etc. It is a sophisticated voice operations environment that provides a full range of high-volume, call handling services (inbound and outbound) including directory assistance, multilingual customer support, credit card services, operator services) interactive voice response and web-based services.  Journalist : What size of accommodations is preferred by the call centres?  PRO : Call centres prefer large accommodation depending on their work load and customer base.  Journalist : How large or small is the call centre's work force and personnel costs?  PRO : The size of the work force depends on the functions of the centre. If it is a centralised call centre that handles various functions and their work force is large. Then the personnel costs are the most significant.  Journalist : Could you tell us about the technology they use?  PRO : The call centre’s technologies include Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Interactive Voice Response (VR), Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) which allows the actions of the computer to be synchronised with what is happening on the phone. They employ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies and other database systems too.  Journalist : What types of calls do the call centres handle?  PRO : Types of calls are often divided into outbound and inbound. Outbound calls are those which the agent initiates to a customer with the aim of selling a product or a service to that customer. Inbound calls are initiated by the customer to obtain information, report a malfunction or ask for help.  Journalist : How are the staff organised?  PRO : The staff of the call centre are organised in tiers. The First tier consists of unskilled workers who are trained to resolve issues using a simple script. If the First tier is unable to do so, then issue is transferred to a more skilled second tier. In some cases, there may be a third tier of support too.  Journalist : Do the call centres get criticised and if so, for what?  PRO : Yes. They do. Some critics say that the work atmosphere in such an environment is below human standard. Some criticise about the low rates of pay and the other constrains put on the staff by the employers. For example, there is the restriction of time that a staff can spend in the toilet. Apart from that, the cal1ers complain about the skill level of the staff and their inability in solving the problem for which the customer calls.  Journalist : Could you tell us about why there is a trend to move call centres to India?  PRO : One reason is the large number of English speaking workers available who can be employed cheap. Also, Indian technology is good and infrastructure is cheap.  Journalist : What does the future hold for call centre employment in India?  PRO : According to the survey conducted by the Employment Cell of India, call centres are going to be the largest job providers in India. The Rs. 81,000 crore industry including other IT-enabled services is expected to generate 20, 00,000 jobs in the near future. The future looks good for the call centre industry because India has a large number of graduates and undergraduates with good command over English. Indian technology is good and infrastructure is available cheap and also effectively trained manpower which is the backbone of a call centre.  Journalist : How is an Indian call centre executive's work rated?  PRO : Indian call centre executives take 8 to 10 minutes in processing their call, whereas call centre executives in the U.K. and the U.S. take 12 to 15 minutes to perform the same task. This saves time and increases efficiency levels. Indians have neutral accent and easily understandable English Accent compared to people in China and other countries.  Journalist : Thank you very much for giving us your valuable time and information.  PRO : You're most welcome. Let me also thank you for taking your time to gather information on call centres. Hope to see the write up in your publication.  Journalist : You're we1come. We will send you a copy of our journal in which the article gets published. Good day sir.  PRO : Good day!