ABSTRACT
Starting up a new contact centre or developing an existing call centre requires the organization to take a strategic overview of current customer contact media, the way in which relationships with customers are managed and the approach to quality management. This chapter helps develop a 'state-of-the-art' customer interaction centre in terms of defining the business requirements and identifying the technologies available to support them. There are three levels of technologies: Managing Communications, Managing Customer Contact and Managing Contact Centre Performance. The organization needs robust systems for capturing, publishing and learning from customer and staff feedback to move forward confidently and achieve its business objectives in an environment that focuses on customer interaction. The basic principle of training, coaching, monitoring and evaluating staff against a common set of criteria is well understood. The chapter provides long-term forecasts of required staffing and technology levels, plus short-term staffing rosters.
