John Chen This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. www.callcentres.net

   www.callcentres.net/scripts/la - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/24/2001   Last Visited: 1/27/2002

   When John Chen took over as chief operating officer of database specialist Sybase one of the first things he did was to call the customer services number. He found himself in "touchtone hell", listening to endless lists that he satirises as, "Press two if you speak English, press three if you have a moustache, press four if you wear glasses." Immediately, he initiated a reform of the system so that customers instead received quick answers from knowledgeable human operatives.
   
   Reform of the call centre might not be an obvious first task for an incoming chief operating officer, but Chen saw it as key to turning round the company's fortunes. "It is all about service to the customer and putting the customer first," he says. His strategy looks as if it has paid off -- Sybase has returned to high revenues after years in the doldrums.
   
   Over the past few years, call centres have become one of the fastest growing industries in the UK -- by some estimates, nearly 3% of working people are now employed in them. Yet they have become a byword for sweatshop working conditions, demoralised staff and poor customer service. We can all sympathise with Chen's experience of touchtone hell, resenting the minutes spent listening to Vivaldi and navigating through obtuse touchtone commands.
   
   From the technologist's point of view, these centres are also expensive to set up and run -- investments in software alone could reach [pound]200,000 for a big centre, without even counting the hardware and telecoms costs. Last year, companies spent [pound]110m on call centre systems in the UK, according to analyst Gartner's estimates.
   ...
   Remember Chen says. "If customers are calling my company because something has gone wrong, the last thing they want to hear is a bunch of messages about how great we are."
   
   DO HAVE DECENT MUSIC FOR USERS ON HOLD
   
   Avaya, a customer relationship management supplier, did some research into people's behaviour while on hold and found that no music or a poor choice of hold music caused 15% of people taring off and never come back So be warned.