Setting up a Call Center

[amitsco]

Hi,
I am a student and have been given the responsibility to set up a call center in theory and the amazing part of this project is " I dont know where to start from". I need hardware software, bench markings everything. Can someone please guide me in the right direction!

[RobinVossen]

Check out: Asteriks.
It says what you need and how it works.

[fingal]

I've worked in one... My God, what an experience! One thing to measure is the 'abandonment rate.' That's the rate at which callers put the phone down because they aren't getting replies from call centre staff.

Exactly how long does it take before a caller hangs up? You would need to define what counts as 'abandonment'... In practice, some people will hang on for 2-4 minutes, so if you were working in a call centre you would want staff to end their calls as quickly as possible.

That's a rough guide and obviously has 0 to do with software... We used a bespoke system for these things, and call centres are a bit like information factories.

[jayd512]

Absolutely correct, fingal. I currently work in a call center. While the bosses look at different criteria (depends on the *type* of call center), Abandonment rate is on of the biggest issues. Second to that would be the Service Level, which is another indicator of how long a caller is on hold before they get a response. Once you take these things into account, all the rest of it starts to boil down to micro-management.