How
often recently have you heard frustrated comments
- ‘…business is great! We’d love
to expand but we simply can’t find the right
staff with the skills necessary to develop good customer
relationships…’ or ‘… can’t
expand any further - I’ve been capped by the
Regulation of Undertakings Law’?
To ‘expand’ in times of full employment
requires the adoption of innovative ways of improving
the skills and efficiencies of existing employees
It also requires the identification of additional
sources of skilled labour available both on (and
off) Island. One such source is highly trained and
trusted members of staff that have given up their
regular, full time job, albeit temporarily. Another,
those who are unable to travel to the conventional
workplace on a regular basis, because they may be
caring for sick, elderly or disabled relatives, are
disabled themselves or are single parents.
How to harness this available, untapped, resource?
The answer is to consider adopting technology that
allows access to cost effective means of maintaining
a dialogue with customers - the Call Centre.
A ‘Call Centre’ isn't necessarily a
huge operation employing hundreds of people answering
thousands of telephone calls each day - it can comprise
one person answering a single telephone. Call Centre
technology is particularly appropriate for highly
interactive customer relationships such as enquiry
and help desks; telemarketing; financial services;
retail or wholesale order entry; reservation systems,
or customer service departments – all of which
give rise to the latest trend in customer retention – Customer
Relationship Management.
A telephone call is often the first point of contact
for new customers, so prompt and professional responses
to all incoming calls are essential. Whether the
Call Centre is used for account maintenance, a customer
service desk, or perhaps public information, there
are two overriding demands - to improve the quality
of customer service and to reduce costs associated
with the operation of that service.
GemaTech, a privately owned UK based company has
developed a Windows NT server-based switch which
revolutionises the concept of the Call Centre, at
a cost considerably less than conventional systems.
Graham Chick, Managing Director of GemaTech explains, ‘ We
have turned the concept of Call Centres on its head.
Instead of requiring the skills base to commute to
the conventional centralised building, we extend
Call Centre functionality to wherever the skills
base might be - the office, working from home, or
even overflowing calls to employees in the UK or
elsewhere. This results in locally based companies
being free to expand operations utilising homeworkers
here or in the UK, with the benefit of close control
and ‘live’ monitoring of all call activity
through GemaTech’s unique Management Information
Screens.
For example, in 1997, a Travel Agency established
a ‘Virtual Call Centre’ employing six
agents all working from home. Now the same company,
according to The Sunday Times the 4th fastest growing
company in the UK in 1998, employs over 140 agents
working from home with all activities being closely
monitored by David Speakman, the owner and founder.
A further application for GemaTech's innovative
technology is in providing probably the only credible
Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity solution for
a businesses telephone system (PABX) available today.
Should your telephone system fail, or you are denied
access to your building because of fire, flood, gas
leak, traffic accident etc., by prior agreement your
incoming ISDN lines can be diverted to GemaTech’s
Business Continuity Manager (BCM) located at a remote
location. The BCM re-routes incoming calls to alternative
individual locations (using your DDI functionality)
as dictated by your pre-determined Call Plan, i.e.
diverted to your home, mobile, back-up office or ‘hot
site’.
Your business relies on telephones for more than
voice and faxes. All internet, e-mail, e-commerce,
DDI functionality and Wide Area Network passes through
your telephone system! Are you prepared for its failure? |
