The Call Center Handbook, 5/e (Paperback)

Need to know how to buy a phone switch for your call center? How to measure the productivity of agents? How to choose from two cities that both want your center? No problem. The Call Center Handbook is a complete guide to starting, running, and improving your call center. It explains it all: everything that goes into the connection between a company and its customers. From technology primers to details about choosing and using specific products, this handbook is an indispensable guide for the call center manager. Tips for what works and what doesn't. Help with operational problems, like managing people and technology, for without tools call centers fail to thrive. Includes information on switches, IVR, voice processing, call center peripherals, software, long distance and toll-free services, outsourcing, agent training, monitoring, the Internet, and disaster prevention.

New and expanded topics in this edition include: ?IP technology in small and mid-sized centers--what it means for the manager, and how to coordinate with the IT department ?The impact of the economy on an industry once thought to be "recession-proof"--what it means for hiring, service levels, and technology development ?What to do when your vendor goes belly up ?The offshore revolution--India, Philippines, Australia, and other low-labor cost areas that are altering the cost equations for service delivery and site selection