The call centre industry is not the same as many other industries and it can be argued that it is not an industry in the accepted meaning of the term. This is because it does not operate in isolation for its own ends, but rather supports the operations of specific organizations. Call centres are to be found across a wide range of industry sectors and for this reason their role varies significantly depending on where they are located.
One factor that has been used to distinguish call centres is employment size and elsewhere it has been argued that call centres have three essential elements:
- a customer service function;
- employees use telephones and computers simultaneously;
- there is automated call distribution.
However, all these factors have limitations. There are call centres ranging in size from just one person in a small room to vast centres employing several thousand people. Furthermore, not all employees use the telephone to communicate with the caller or customer. Traditional mail correspondence is still significant and although communication by fax is declining this is more than offset by the increasing growth of e-mail communication and video links.
The term ‘call centre’ is popularly understood but it is slightly inaccurate because the telephone is not always used. ‘Contact centre’ is a more accurate description because it incorporates the various forms of communication between organizations and their users. Both terms will be used interchangeably throughout this book and we can define them as follows:
Call/contact centres are systematically organized facilities that enable distant communication between the organization and the customer/client.
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