What is a Contact Centre?

A customer Contact Centre (previously referred to as a Call Centre) is a resource through which a company or organisation is able to handle large volumes of calls both inbound and outbound (telemarketing or service calls) in an efficient and effective manner.

Contact Centres were originally designed simply to process telephone calls, however today's Contact Centres are designed to provide organisations with the ability to centrally manage the flow of information from various "touch points" such as telephone, fax, email, web transactions and SMS. The customer Contact Centre is now viewed as the core of the business due to its critical role in maximizing customer satisfaction while at the same time realizing efficiency.

Goals of a customer contact center include the following:

• Deliver customer satisfaction through prompt, professional, transaction handling
• Control costs by using resources and technology more efficiently
• Help staff work more productively
• Increase profitability

There are three integral parts of an effective customer contact center - Agents, Managers, and Technology.

Considering that 25% of the cost of a running a call centre is through technology it is important to consider that it is often this technology that is the key differentiator between a successful and unsuccessful contact centre. To date this has included PABX, IVR and CTI technologies, however eCRM is rapidly being seen as the vital component of an effective and successful call centre.