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Old 12th October 2009, 14:15   #1
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How does a call centre work ?

Well, what exactly that I wanted to know is, what happens when you dial in a number for getting support for any product. What is visible for us is
(1) we dial in a number
(2) the number gets answered by some person after making us wait for some (?) time
(3) once the issue is resolved, we end the call.

But what I am interested in is

(1) when we dial in a number, how does it get routed to a particular tech support person
(2) what are the basic infra structures required for this task
(3) any estimates of the approximate costs of these ?

By now, it would have been clear that I am planning to start a call centre business . Well it is yes and no. Yes for starting a call center business and no for the part that I am starting.

If the call center is in India and some body dials in from US, how does the call get transferred ? Is it through VOIP ? If so, what are the hardware requirements for such a communication channel ?

I know I am asking too much, but, would like to see how much info I can collect on these. Thanks Guys..
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Old 12th October 2009, 14:26   #2
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I have most of the answers as i worked for a call center and use to provide infrastructure solutions to them, for all your queries get in touch with some consultant or solution provider they will give you the full details.
The basic is you buy a routing station at US, toll free number, lease lines to India(with that calls lands in india), infrasture includes small data center where you keep all your servers, routers switches, MGX, IGX(Router for Voice calls) etc and workstations and actually its a huge investment.My co was initially financially supported by HDFC and Wipro.
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Old 12th October 2009, 14:39   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joecherian View Post
Well, what exactly that I wanted to know is, what happens when you dial in a number for getting support for any product. What is visible for us is
(1) we dial in a number
(2) the number gets answered by some person after making us wait for some (?) time
(3) once the issue is resolved, we end the call.

But what I am interested in is

(1) when we dial in a number, how does it get routed to a particular tech support person
(2) what are the basic infra structures required for this task
(3) any estimates of the approximate costs of these ?

By now, it would have been clear that I am planning to start a call centre business . Well it is yes and no. Yes for starting a call center business and no for the part that I am starting.

If the call center is in India and some body dials in from US, how does the call get transferred ? Is it through VOIP ? If so, what are the hardware requirements for such a communication channel ?

I know I am asking too much, but, would like to see how much info I can collect on these. Thanks Guys..
Here are answers to your 3 questions. I have tried to give most simple way to explain.
1. You need to pay to get toll free number (i.e. they call it 1-800).
2. Once you have your toll free number, you need to set up h/w (like normal EPABX system) to quickly take call someone made on your toll free number to other local line in order to keep your toll free number available.
3. once you have call on local line, based on your need (after identifying the caller), you need to divert to some specific person to answer.
4. above cycle ends when caller disconnects the line.

Now to get above setup, mostly everything varies as per your requirements. For eg.
1. How would you like to get identity of the caller.
2. Are you interested in storing communication happened between your caller & Tech person who responded the call?
3. How much information should be readily available to the person who is attending the call without him/her wasting time on getting information from the caller.
4. Voice recognization needs to be supported by the system or not.

Hope above gives you somewhat clear picture. All the best.
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Old 12th October 2009, 21:28   #4
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If you are really serious you can call Surya @ 9339861804. he lives down south. tell 'kenden' gave you the number.

Problem with call center is that even if have loads of money to spend for equipments, contingency, recurring costs etc. Main problem lies in the projects, how will you get them regularly. There is not much biz in dial outs. (late payment problem) Dial-ins customers will always choose reputed established company.
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Old 12th October 2009, 23:49   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joecherian View Post
(1) when we dial in a number, how does it get routed to a particular tech support person
(2) what are the basic infra structures required for this task
(3) any estimates of the approximate costs of these ?
As others have mentioned, standard way is to engage a consultant who will help you setup required infra+hire someone to keep it running.

But if you are starting small (up to 50 seats) than you can save a LOT of money by using standard PCs + standard EPABX to handle calls. PCs would decide whom to send call to and hand the call over to EPABX for delivery. And PC would start recording the call and monitoring to see when call ends and agent becomes free.
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Old 13th October 2009, 02:22   #6
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Joe, you can use readymade setups for your requirements if you are planning to go in for a US to India call center (US calls coming to India) by VoIP,

For a 50 seater it will be more than convenient for you and costs are reasonable without a lot of dedicated VoIP and/or Switching equipment.

In a regular call center, data (for the CRM) & Voice streams are handled seperatly by specialised voice switching equipment, manufacturers are Nortel, Cisco, Avaya, Aspect etc.

Now there are ready made solutions in the market (in the US market) which work with the help of just a PC & internet connections & your agent can get incoming calls at US national voice quality. You can check on apptix.com, Business Email & Hosted Exchange - Small Business Prices | Mailstreet etc. These are cheap and nice, however you will need a robust internet connection for the same.

Again for a half circuit to the US (IPLC) it is generally pretty expensive (this is what large call centers use).
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Old 13th October 2009, 08:20   #7
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Thanks guys for all the responses. My colleague's setup will be some thing like less than 50 seats initially, but has plans for expansion.

If he doesn't go for a VOIP server in US, can he still divert the calls from US to India ? For ex, if some one from US dials in a US toll free number, can he use a PC to divert the call to India (through VOIP) and then make it land on a indian local number ?

basically, he doesn't want to depend on some third party who provides such service, but wants to have it on his own ( which means he is bit relaxed on the expense factor (not much though)
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Old 13th October 2009, 08:50   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joecherian View Post
For ex, if some one from US dials in a US toll free number, can he use a PC to divert the call to India (through VOIP) and then make it land on a indian local number ?
Technically very easy, also a quick way to get arrested. You can't have single call span Internet and Indian PSTN lines. That is illegal in India.
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Old 24th July 2010, 15:42   #9
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Sorry for bumping this old thread, we have plans to setup a call center. only question is how to get business. Our call center would be an outbound one to start with, i have got some mailers from sites like itmatchonline.com, claiming they will provide client contacts only and we might have to negotiate the terms, this would be only after we pay them a certain amount(2-3k). my question is, is this the right way to start a setup?

Today i met up with the CIO of a small BPO here and they say we have to deposit 6 lacs(for 10 seats) and we will get 2.4 lacs as output every month(sounds fishy). So my question to all bhpians is how to get business, shall i pay 3k to itmatchonline people and take chances or is there another way about?


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