Featured News: Call me: Tech powers Philippines call centre success
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."
Teleserv's Raffy David says low labour costs mean the company can invest in technology.
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.
Follow this link to read the full article.
"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."
Teleserv's Raffy David says low labour costs mean the company can invest in technology.
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.
Follow this link to read the full article.
