Giving staff more freedom 'can improve call centres'

Date: 24/08/2011

There are some easy ways in which companies purchasing revenue share numbers could improve the success rate of their contact centres.

This is according to new research conducted by Loughborough University, which found firms can benefit from giving their employees the chance to offer a more personalised service.

Dr Ayham Jaaron and Professor Chris Backhouse in Loughborough's Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering studied operations at the Velux Company contact centre in Scotland for their investigation.

They discovered allowing workers to deal with a customer from start to finish, as well as removing scripts and call-handling times, greatly improved the experience.

Dr Jaaron said: "Call centres regularly get bad press, but they are often the main channel of contact between an organisation and its customers, so getting the service right is of utmost importance."

Earlier this month, Call Centre Focus editor Claudia Hathway claimed customers see such outlets as a reliable way of getting their issues resolved.