Edwards 1

Brannan Edwards

Professor Mosley

English 1102

10 November 2010

A Venture in to Call Center Management

Although the history of customer service dates back as far as the first trade between two

cavemen, the application of customer service in the modern call center environment is quite new.

Call centers have emerged alongside advancing technology to become an integral part of today’s

business culture. With the emergence of the modern call center comes the need for trained

management personnel that understand the needs of this unique field. Before the invention of the

internet shopping, cell phones and computers, there was no need for a group that could handle a

wide range of questions and problems about a product. Products were purchased in stores and,

when a question or problem arose, customers simply called the store or took the product back.

Today, sprawling buildings house hundreds of employees with specialty telephones and

computer software. The job of these employees is to provide friendly service without ever

seeing the customer. As we delve farther into the future, these call centers will likely increase in

number, spread to new venues due to outsourcing or possibly evolve into something else entirely.

Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain; Call centers will continue to require strong talent

management that understands the challenges and requirements of the environment.

Although call centers are now an integral part of modern business, they only have a short

history. The original call centers were the old switchboard rooms that telephone operators used

to work in (Fischer 37). There were no specialized phone systems or computer software in these

early days. Complex switchboards and rudimentary headsets were used and very rarely was the
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idea of service associated with the job. As technology progressed, large organizations such as

utilities, media companies, and airlines created the first telephone service departments. These

service departments were viewed simply as “functional departments” that served a variety of

purposes (Cleveland). The roles of these departments were new and unique and managers often

struggled to define their goals (Cleveland). Much of the technology to create phone queues,

answering systems and specialized software had to be designed from scratch to handle this new

environment. The duties and methods of call center management also had to be forged through

trial and error, with the reputations of companies weighing in the balance.

The call centers of today are very different from those of the past. Greg Gilstrap, manager

of a technical support department, says, “Today, we have specialized training programs and

administration software for call center managers. Fifteen years ago we didn’t even have

computers. We didn’t even have technical support departments for that matter” (Gilstrap).

Today’s technology also allows for new methods of support, such as email and chat lines, to be

included under the domain of call centers (Gans, Koole and Mandelbaum 5). Some call centers

even exist separate from the businesses they support, offering their outsourcing services to other

companies which are unable to invest the time and money needed to build their own. Call centers

have become an important part of our daily lives, providing sales, customer service, technical

support and even emergency support. It is almost impossible to find a product or service that

does not have a support line associated with it. Each application requires a different type of

manager with a different set of skills and training. Some businesses, such as tax preparation

software companies, have extremely high call volumes during a few months of the year while

virtually no one calls during the remainder (Gilstrap). Managers in a situation like this need to be
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able to build and maintain the infrastructure required to train and staff hundreds of temporary

employees in a short period of time.

Although the necessity of call centers is undisputed today, the future is still quite

uncertain. With companies trying to increase profits, many call centers are being outsourced for

cheaper labor. Other companies are doing away with the call center altogether by using

specialized hardware and software to allow employees and managers to work from home

(Pascal-Bennett). These jobs rely heavily on technology and advances are constantly being made

that make call centers more efficient. Powerful search engines that scour knowledgebases to find

quick answers are becoming more and more popular and Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

systems are slowly taking away jobs by tracking shipments and answering questions without the

need for a representative. Some of these systems are becoming so sophisticated that they can

measure emotional distress through voice recognition software and interact appropriately with

customers (Yacoub et al. 5). Each of these avenues of growth will require visionaries with new

methods of management that can adapt to the new environment of their industry.

Although higher education is not a necessity for an individual entering into the field of

call center management, it can be helpful. I have worked as a member of call center

management for the past six years and I have noticed many of my superiors hitting a plateau

where a lack of education causes difficulty with career progression. As steps are taken toward the

future, different skills and educational requirements are in constant demand for supervisors,

managers and directors. I have found the challenges of this field to be very suitable to my

abilities to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Although I cannot be certain of what the

future holds for my career in this field, I intend to be as prepared for it as possible.
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Works Cited

Cleveland, Brad. "Interview with Brad Cleveland." Interview. YouTube. International Customer

Management Institute, 8 Feb. 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmIIcMfAlN0>.

Fischer, Claude S. "Chapter 2: The Telephone in America." America Calling: a Social History of

the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley: University of California, 1992. 37. Print.

Gans, Noah, Ger Koole, and Avishai Mandelbaum. Telephone Call Centers: Tutorial, Review,

and Research Prospects. 2003. TS. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,

Pennsylvania.

Gilstrap, Greg. Personal interview. 27 Oct. 2010.

Pascal-Bennett, Sharon. Personal interview. 6 Nov. 2010.

Yacoub, Sherif, Steve Simske, Xiaofan Lin, and John Burns. Recognition of Emotions in

Interactive Voice Response Systems. Tech. Palo Alto: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories,

2003. Print.