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Centurion Call Centre "Mr Watson, come here, I want you."
Pierre Mostert at Telkom comments :"The latest trend in the corporate PABX market is that customers require a PABX solution that is tailor made to their specific business requirements, as well as a single point of accountability. Telkom therefore entered into business partnership with Siemens, where Siemens will install and maintain international state-of-the-art PABX equipment and Telkom will be responsible for the network infrastructure."
The technology used in a Call Centre is called Computer Telephony Integration, or CTI. If you're calling from a cell phone, for example, CTI can identify you by your cell phone number, BEFORE the operator answers the call. Telkom's lines will soon also allow Caller Line Identification to enable this facility, but a simple reference or account number quoted by the caller can do the same thing.
CTI can also be used the other way around - for example, Direct Insurance companies use CTI to record your voice digitally, which becomes a legally binding agreement, allowing them to sell insurance directly over the phone - no documents, no signatures, no fuss. One of the leaders in this field is Guardian Direct.
With Telephones and Call Centres evolving at the current rate, Customer Service is moving to a new level altogether. So what will our descendants say of present telephone technology? Perhaps the very idea of a physical telephone may seem old-fashioned - a fashion accessory rather than necessity.
CONTACTS:
Peter Allen Pitout
James Hudson |
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Created and maintained by Intekom works Copyright © 1998 Intekom |
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Contents and images © 1998 All rights reserved |
Since these famous words by Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone has revolutionised the work place, but the computer age has led to even further innovation by combining the microchip with the telephone, and the result has made the old, manual switchboards a thing of the past - the new digital systems will not only answer the phone when you call, but route you to the relevant person, all without human intervention. It's called the Private Branch Exchange, or PBX.
Says Peter Pitout from Siemens Telecom : "PABX systems today do not really have to have a receptionist or switchboard operator. With the application of ISDN you can be routed to the caller or to the call party straight away."
Once the software has integrated who you are with the data in the system, which it can do in a split second, it waits for the call to be answered. As an operator picks up the phone, all your data instantly appears on his screen - all your relevant account details, and the status of the complaint presently being dealt with.
James Hudson at Guardian Direct explains: "The forms that we have tended in the past to require in great volumes are now basically obsolete. They are obsolete because we have a direct link in with the customer and we are using digital voice logging which is being developed locally for the purposes of the contract between the client and ourselves."