Cookie Preference Centre

Your Privacy
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Performance Cookies
Functional Cookies
Targeting Cookies

Your Privacy

When you visit any web site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences, your device or used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually identify you directly, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. You can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, you should know that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site may not work then.

Cookies used

ContactCenterWorld.com

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.

Cookies used

Google Analytics

Functional Cookies

These cookies allow the provision of enhance functionality and personalization, such as videos and live chats. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies, then some or all of these functionalities may not function properly.

Cookies used

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant ads on other sites. They work by uniquely identifying your browser and device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will not experience our targeted advertising across different websites.

Cookies used

LinkedIn

This site uses cookies and other tracking technologies to assist with navigation and your ability to provide feedback, analyse your use of our products and services, assist with our promotional and marketing efforts, and provide content from third parties

OK
[HIDE]

Here are some suggested Connections for you! - Log in to start networking.

MEMBER
Rory Aditya
Manager Digital Service of Retail Customer Care
8
EXECUTIVE MEMBER
M Fajri
Learning & Development Manager
199
MEMBER
Vijay s
Director
44

Industry Research : Call Me: Tech Powers Philippines Call Centre Success

When night falls in Manila, a wave of young people scurry into the skyscrapers which criss-cross the city.

They're call centre agents, and because most of their clients are on the other side of the world, the night shift is their busiest time.

Last year, with more than 600,000 call centre workers, the Philippines officially overtook India as the world's call centre capital.

If you phone up to book a flight, buy a theatre ticket or complain that water is cascading out of your washing machine, you're now more likely to speak to a Filipino than an Indian.

The Philippines has a number of obvious advantages when it comes to call centres. Wages are low and most Filipinos speak English in an accent which, given the American colonial influence here, is easy for US customers to understand.

Filipinos also pride themselves on being approachable and friendly - a trait which is essential for speaking to strangers on the phone every day.

But a good phone manner is no longer enough.

The industry is changing fast - and despite being in a country where more than a quarter of the population live in poverty, call centre managers know that, to be competitive, they have to invest in technology to rival that found anywhere in the world.

"The Philippines came into this business about 10 years ago, around the time of a technological shift to IP telephony," says Raffy David, one of the directors of Teleserv, a call centre that caters for both Philippine and overseas clients.

IP telephony - or voice services over the internet (like Skype) - suddenly enabled companies to make easy and cheap foreign calls, opening up the possibility of outsourcing call centres in the way that had never been economically viable before.

"We got the new equipment, and had an attitude to embrace new things," he says. "We still have that."

A decade later, labour costs remain low (a Teleserv agent currently earns about $4,800 a year) and Mr David says that a substantial proportion of the money this saves goes into investing in new techniques for improved customer service.

"It's all about enhancing the customer's experience," he says. "We want to give them a fast, efficient and highly personalised service."
Multiple channels

Teleserv's staff now do far more than answer phone calls.

They're getting an increasing number of queries via email, and the company has developed a system which filters emails so that common topics are grouped together, allowing the agent to write one answer to multiple queries.

Another growth area is social media.

"More and more people are wanting to contact us by Facebook and Twitter," says Raffy David. "We have to be able to respond to that need."

One of the firm's latest innovations is a system that groups all social media into one folder, allowing employees to instantly see every message, no matter how it comes into the centre.

In order to stay ahead of the game, Teleserv sometimes employs outside firms like Avaya, which specialise in providing communications solutions.

"Especially now, with so many people using social media, businesses have to be very careful that their service is good," says Edgar Doctolero, the country manager for Avaya Philippines.

"It's so easy for people to post opinions - either good or bad - on Facebook or Twitter, and their message can go viral really quickly.

"Imagine the impact that can have on a contact centre."

One system Avaya is currently promoting is Click To Chat, to help customers while they're browsing a web page - perhaps there's an instruction they don't understand, or they don't know how to navigate to the relevant section.

Using Click To Chat, the customer can simply type their query into a box, click a button and receive an agent's reply.

Mr Doctolero says his firm is also developing more video-based products than it did in the past.

"We have a client that's a printer company - and the majority of calls they get are about how to replace a particular cartridge," he says. "We realised this and made a video of how to do it, so when a customer contacts us with this type of query, we can just send them the video."
All change

But it's not just ways of interacting with customers that are changing. The very nature of call centres themselves is also undergoing a dramatic shift.

Many people here are anxious to differentiate between call centres and BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing).

A BPO is much more than a call centre - it includes human resources, finance, accounting, even paralegal work - and many industry insiders say this is where the future lies.

You only have to look at the example of India, they say, which is way ahead of the Philippines in this regard.

The Philippines may have more call centre agents, but India still has more BPO employees - and every year a great proportion of them work in the more lucrative and more skilled non-voice-based services.

Looking at the returns, it's easy to see why the Philippines wants to follow India down this route. In 2010, India's overall BPO revenue was $70bn, compared to just $9bn in the Philippines.

A move away from voice-based services will need more staff, more training and more hardware.

But Jojo Uligan, head of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines, is bullish about the future.

His projections show the Philippines more than doubling its BPO employees by 2016 - from about 600,000 to 1.3 million people.

"That's amazing, right?" he says, smiling confidently.

He's working with the government to make sure the country's often crumbling infrastructure is improved to cope with such an expansion - not just in the traditional Philippine call centre hub cities of Manila and Cebu, but all round the country.

The government is receptive - it's already offered tax breaks, fast-tracked permits and other perks to BPOs thinking of setting up here.

Last year it also published a Philippine Digital Strategy, to promote the use of modern communication networks.

It's not hard to see why the government is so keen to help - unemployment and especially under-employment are high in the Philippines, and it badly needs the jobs which BPOs can provide.

But it knows it has to fight hard to get them.

Given the current economic situation in the West, there are increasing calls for a reduction in outsourcing - including a recent commitment by US President Barack Obama to bring more jobs back to the US.

The Philippines has to be able to provide a cheaper but at the same time equivalent or better service than what the company can find on its home turf.

In doing that, new and innovative technology is one of its key weapons.

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk

Today's Tip of the Day - What Type Of Relationship Do You Want?

Read today's tip or listen to it on podcast.

Published: Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Printer Friendly Version Printer friendly version

2024 Buyers Guide Visual Communications

 
1.) 
Premium Listing
SJS Solutions

Optymyse - Digital Employee Engagement
Optymyse is a completely new way to empower, engage, motivate and retain your contact centre, call center and helpdesk agents. Optymyse is a unique neuroscience-based approach which takes care of your most valuable asset - your people and is focussed on improving mental health, wellness, wellbeing, motivation, happiness and reducing stress in the workplace.


2.) 
TeamViewer

Co-Browsing Integration
Co-Browsing is the practice of web-browsing where two or more people are navigating through a website on the internet. Software designed to allow Co-Browsing focuses on providing a smooth experience as two or more users use their devices to browse your website. In other words, your customer can permit the agent to have partial access to his/ her screen in real-time.
 

About us - in 60 seconds!

Join Our Team

Industry Champion Award Leaderboard

Most active award (top 10) entrants in the past 48 hours! - Vote for Others / About Program
Submit Event

Upcoming Events

The 19th AMERICAS Annual Best Practices Conferences are here! Meeting Point for the World's Best Contact Center & CX Companies Read More...
 30399 
Showing 1 - 1 of 3 items

Newsletter Registration

Please check to agree to be placed on the eNewsletter mailing list.
both ids empty
session userid =
session UserTempID =
session adminlevel =
session blnTempHelpChatShow =
CMS =
session cookie set = True
session page-view-total = 1
session page-view-total = 1
applicaiton blnAwardsClosed = True
session blnCompletedAwardInterestPopup = False
session blnCheckNewsletterInterestPopup =
session blnCompletedNewsletterInterestPopup =