Thinking Of Putting Up A Call Center ? Are You Sure ?
By: Zigfred Diaz
The Philippines is currently the next hottest destination for business process outsourcing after India. There are several call centers and other business process outsourcing ventures operating in the country right now. A proof of this is when you look at the classified ads section of every Philippine newspaper, you can notice that more than half of the available jobs pertain to business process outsourcing. Another proof of this is the growth of our export sector despite the dwindling dollar. With these in mind, it looks like getting into the call center business will be very lucrative.
Due to this development, we thought of putting up a call center. However as we studied the call center business more extensively, we learned a lot of things that dispelled our misconceptions about call centers. These are as follows:
1.)Traditional business processes is still applied in the call center business - Operating a call center does not spell instant money in a short period of time contrary to what others think. It does not necessarily mean that you get instant profts just because the demand is so big or that you are earning dollars.
The feasibility study showed to us revealed that it is only in the second year that the call center starts to profit. Losses or a break even has to be incurred in the first year. This is really similar to any kind of business. It is expected that you will not profit immediately. Sacrifices has to be made within a certain window of time. As in any traditional business you need a good management team. Several small time call center operations has closed down due to bad management. Aside from that, your Human resource department has to be very good considering that it is one of the most importnat department in call center operations.
2.) Intensive Capitalization is required in call center operations - Some people think that putting up a call center requires only a little amount of capitalization. After all you just rent a small space and hook up a bunch of computers together and to the internet. This is grave misconception. Contrary to what most people think, starting call center operations require you to burn money. For example, the dialing software alone cost more than a million pesos. Aside from buying the computers, you have to buy licensed copies of Windows XP. You also need to setup other stuff like your server, ensure a good and stable internet connection and buy the i.p telephones.
3.) Call center operations requires intensive marketing - Some people think that because there is so much demand for call centers they can just build a call center and expect clients to come. This kind of thinking is very erroneous. Clients are not just looking for "call centers" per se. They are looking for reputable call centers. Call centers that can deliver services that their clients wants them to deliver. As a new player, you will have to establish yourself as somebody who is reputable.
Big names in the industry have no problem establishing themselves as reputable. They easily get clients because they have a name. Small players players still have to prove themselves, so they usually go for the outbound. (By Outbound we are referring to call center agents calling persons abroad trying to sell something or offering a service whereas inbound refers to catering to the needs of already existing clients of big companies who outsource their customer support to call centers.) There is no question that money can be made in outbound calls. However take note that most outbound agreements are performance basis. So if your agents sell a lot of products you make a lot of money, but if they don't then you loose. It may take a while for small players to show the client that they can be trusted with the outbound before clients give them the inbound.
It is therefore wise to consider all of these before you decide to join the bandwagon of the business process outsourcing industry in particular setting up a call center.
Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info
|
