Sales and Service Departments - Telephone Marketing - Mail Order - Airlines - Courier Companies - Taxi firms - Travel Agencies

Increasing competition in all areas of business means companies must provide the highest possible levels of customer service in order to win and retain loyal customers. The aim of a call centre is to ensure that the organisation handles incoming calls in the most efficient and economical way whilst achieving the maximum caller satisfaction.

In the beginning, call centres were the preserve of very large organisations such as airlines and mail-order companies with hundreds or even thousands of staff answering calls. Call centres are now available in much smaller configurations. Some advanced small business phone systems can be configured, either wholly or partially for call centre operation, serving as few as just two or three call-answering positions.

Call centres are used in sales and service departments, airlines, travel and transport companies, courier companies, public utilities, mail order companies and telemarketing organisations. A fast-growing area is 'internal call centres' which deal only with calls generated within an organisation.

The physical components of a call centre are an ACD system (either dedicated or programmed as part of the normal phone system), together with an ACD management information system. The system watches over call traffic and provides up-to-the-minute information on how efficiently calls are being handled.

Some advanced call centres also include voice processing systems and CTI. These allow incoming callers to control the routing of their call (Key 1 for sales, 2 for service etc) and to provide information 'up front' such as an account number. When the agent answers the call, the callers details are displayed on a computer screen and the system is ready for the input of new information.