Irrespective of what the buzz is, tech support isn’t a walk in the park for a call center unit. A non-technical inbound call center agent will not be able to handle the work of a tech person if he/she is not properly trained. For example, the answering service agent working on tech support projects may have to answer specific questions about software and hardware, not to mention malware support. Without a grounded back-up in IT, the BPO agent has little chances of answering those questions. It’s a wiser idea to hire technical people who can double up as phone answering agents, rather than the other way round. Callers will be really put off by a telephone answering agent who cannot answer their queries with satisfaction.

In our work as a call center supporting almost every type of business, we have done projects on tech support. In them, we have used trained engineers to handle the answering service functions. Our callers never complained about the phone answering agents because all of their questions were answered with authority and sheer knowledge. The clients were a happy lot primarily because the inbound call center team at our end were able to answer related questions as well, going well beyond the features of the tech support we were providing. Most important, the BPO agents at our end steered clear of technical jargon that provided the much needed relief to callers who were fed up of such exercises in futility.

The call center units based in the Philippines are optimistic that the second quarter of the year would prove more beneficial for the BPO industry. As the case is, the year has already turned out excessively well for the telemarketing units in Philippines. They have exceeded their half-yearly target by a comprehensive margin, making their telemarketing services the fastest growing in the world. The yearly revenue target is more than met at the halfway stage. However, the business process outsourcing sector is hoping that it will perform better than they expect it to. The Filipino market is sure that the economic slowdown or the political complications in USA wouldn’t dent their profit margin.

Fusion BPO Services is also part of this optimistic scenario. Our call center in the Philippines is doing well for itself. There is a positive vibe among the telemarketing players in the sector about us. Though we are potential newcomers in the Filipino business process outsourcing sector, we have managed to make substantial inroads into the telemarketing services business in the region. In the coming years, we hope to see some fresh challenges being conquered as we move towards grabbing a lion’s share of the BPO service market in the country. The financial year of 2010 has brought great hope for call centers in the Philippines and we hope to be part of the success story.

Your endless wait after calling a helpdesk number could soon come to a relieving stop. These calls which often take a long time to connect and a longer time to get redirected to the right person offer little or no assistance to customer care. Continuation of such a trend is causing the level of customer satisfaction to dip substantially in the recent past making a contact center or a call center to seriously consider the introduction of automated self-service technologies.

So the next time you call your bank, an airline or your mobile service provider you may listen to a pre-recorded response. Then what happens to interaction? These automated services will allow you to lodge complaints and make queries without ever communicating with a human. From the perspective of a call center, this is not at all a raw deal. Attrition levels in the BPO industry are fairly high, so they are always looking for ways to lessen the dependence on manpower. This will give them the perfect opportunity to do so.