Call Centre Academy, the call centre HR company in the MB Worksoft group, has completed an upgrade and investment programme in preparation for 2000`s anticipated boom in takeup of customer relationship management (CRM).
Now all Call Centre Academy needs is a telephone system, says MD Candy Kotze-Hayes, and it can be fully operational.
"Ironic as it seems," says Kotze-Hayes, "we have been running our call centre training facility without telephones for more than three months. While upgrading, we have been running courses for customers with urgent needs, such as Uthingo Lottery. But we`ve been doing it without telephones or e-mail."
To ensure it could provide continuous service to its trainees in this period, Call Centre Academy erected an emergency line-of-sight telecommunications link to MB Worksoft head office a kilometre away. "We were able to maintain service to our clients in this period," says Kotze-Hayes, "but we look forward to having a full infrastructure, especially with the market ready to take off."
Industry research indicates that more than 92% of companies globally aim to implement CRM as a core technology driver of improved business. Accordingly, says Kotze-Hayes, Call Centre Academy has invested heavily in infrastructure and technology to lay a platform for skilling up call centre personnel in sufficient volumes.
Call Centre Academy can train 120 people daily through its Rivonia offices, and another 15 at customer sites.
"Many companies contemplating CRM focus the bulk of their attention on the technology they are going to deploy," says Kotze-Hayes. "What they often pay the least attention to is the fact that there is a human operator at the other end of the line, and no matter what technology is used, the quality of the interaction depends on the calibre of the person taking the call."
Agents need to be trained from Day One on for a career in call centres, says Kotze-Hayes. They need to be given a career path and managed.
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