Welcome!
In this week you will have an opportunity to find out more about the origins and history of customer contact centres. There are things to watch and something to read.
Consider also asking some of your more experienced colleagues about what they know about the origins and history of the industry.
And there is doubtless more that you will be able to find using your online search skills.
In this week you will have an opportunity to find out more about the origins and history of customer contact centres. There are things to watch and something to read.
Consider also asking some of your more experienced colleagues about what they know about the origins and history of the industry.
And there is doubtless more that you will be able to find using your online search skills.
As you watch this 2 minute video, think about how you can find out more about:
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Industry Background
The first call centres were set up following the development of automatic call distributor (ACD) systems, which are thought to have first been manufactured during the 1950s. These systems helped to filter and assign calls to agents using an algorithm and were first used by central operator enquiries in the UK. According to callcentrehelper.com, the earliest example of a call centre in the UK was the Birmingham Press and Mail centre in 1965. Over the next couple of decades, during the 1970s and 1980s, a number of major companies established their own call centre operations, such as Barclaycard and Lloyds TSB. In 1985, insurance firm Direct Line became the first company to sell insurance entirely over the telephone.
In the 1980s, the deregulation of the telecommunications market, along with technological advances in ACD systems and infrastructure, led to a fall in service costs and, as a result, the UK contact centre industry grew to become the largest in the world, with the exception of that in the US. The rise of the Internet during the 1990s continued to stimulate growth with the contact centre market, with dotcom companies continuing to attract large sums of investment during this decade and websites helping many companies to expand their communications services via different channels.
In the early 2000s, a number of companies opted to move their call centre operations to overseas locations such as India and the Philippines, where costs and wages are generally cheaper. As mentioned previously, in recent years many firms have begun to move operations back to the UK following a rise in customer complaints. Nowadays, the majority of contact centres utilise a multi-channel strategy, with many using various methods of communication, including e-mail, text messages, the Internet and social media, alongside traditional telephony services. This has been facilitated by the development of cloud-based technology and improvements in CRM solutions, which have helped to integrate the use of multiple channels and international operations.
KeyNote 2013
The first call centres were set up following the development of automatic call distributor (ACD) systems, which are thought to have first been manufactured during the 1950s. These systems helped to filter and assign calls to agents using an algorithm and were first used by central operator enquiries in the UK. According to callcentrehelper.com, the earliest example of a call centre in the UK was the Birmingham Press and Mail centre in 1965. Over the next couple of decades, during the 1970s and 1980s, a number of major companies established their own call centre operations, such as Barclaycard and Lloyds TSB. In 1985, insurance firm Direct Line became the first company to sell insurance entirely over the telephone.
In the 1980s, the deregulation of the telecommunications market, along with technological advances in ACD systems and infrastructure, led to a fall in service costs and, as a result, the UK contact centre industry grew to become the largest in the world, with the exception of that in the US. The rise of the Internet during the 1990s continued to stimulate growth with the contact centre market, with dotcom companies continuing to attract large sums of investment during this decade and websites helping many companies to expand their communications services via different channels.
In the early 2000s, a number of companies opted to move their call centre operations to overseas locations such as India and the Philippines, where costs and wages are generally cheaper. As mentioned previously, in recent years many firms have begun to move operations back to the UK following a rise in customer complaints. Nowadays, the majority of contact centres utilise a multi-channel strategy, with many using various methods of communication, including e-mail, text messages, the Internet and social media, alongside traditional telephony services. This has been facilitated by the development of cloud-based technology and improvements in CRM solutions, which have helped to integrate the use of multiple channels and international operations.
KeyNote 2013
The vocabulary of customer contact centres
Take 5 minutes to watch this video, which (among other things) introduces some of the technical terms and jargon encountered in a customer contact centre environment:
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