A
call centre or
call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by
telephone. A call centre is operated by a
company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for
telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of
letters,
faxes,
live chat, and
e-mails at one location is known as a
contact centre.
A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for
call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a
telephone set/
headset connected to a
telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate
computer network, including
mainframes,
microcomputers and
LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called
computer telephony integration (CTI).
Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support.