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•90 The 100 Greatest Business Ideas of All Time

Idea 51 – ‘Our telephone answering system has broken
down, this is a human being, how can I help you?’

In 1999 Barclays Bank in the UK announced that it was cutting 10% of the jobs in

its branches and regional centres. One of the reasons given was that they

For most utilities intended by so doing to improve customer service. At first glance this

and finance looks unlikely, and the Bank’s customers are still to be convinced. How-

organisations ever, technology might just allow that apparent contradiction to be true.

the high street The call centre may just be that unusual phenomenon – an improve-

shop or branch ment in customer service that also cuts costs and improves profitability.

is giving way to For most utilities and finance organisations, the high street shop or branch

the call centre. is giving way to the call centre.

At its best the call centre is more than a telephone answering service.

It offers companies the opportunity to make contact with existing and prospective

customers, resolve problems, promote products and make it easy for people to buy

things. The basic function of a call centre is to retain customers and look for new

ones.

At the heart of the call centre are the customer service representatives (CSRs).

CSRs have access to data about their customers, their company and the many points

of intersection between the two. They act as gatekeepers for the two-way flow of

information. They are the intermediaries and interpreters. The technology is at its

best when the mundane sorting and analysing tasks are done automatically, leaving

the CSRs to handle the more difficult parts of the interaction.

Here is where the frustrations can occur. Interactive voice response (IVR) sys-

tems allow callers to serve themselves as far as possible. Customers have access to

data and information by using their keypads. Using an IVR, customers have 24-

hour service without troubling the CSRs. It’s cost effective for the supplier and

painless for the customer as long as everything is standard.