Thinking Of Putting Up A Call Center ? Are You Sure ?

Article Written By: ZigfredDiaz

Next to India, the hottest destination for business process outsourcing is undoubtedly the Philippines. A lot of call centers and other business process outsourcing ventures have cropped up all over the country. More than half of the available jobs advertised in the newspapers are business process outsourcing jobs. Instead of being stagnant because of the dwindling dollar, our export sector has exhibited growth due to business brought about by business process outsourcing. With these in mind, it seems that putting up call center seems very lucrative.

We thought of putting up a call center because of these developments. However as we closely studied the call center business, there were several things that we learned that helped dispel our misconceptions about call centers. They are as follows:

1.) A Call Center business still follows the traditional business processes - A misconception about putting up a call center business is that it spells instant big bucks in a short period of time. This is definitely not true. While it is true that the demand in the market for call center is so huge, however it does not necessarily translate to instant profits.

The feasibility study showed to us revealed that it is only in the second year that the call center starts to profit. Losses or a break even has to be incurred in the first year. This is really similar to any kind of business. It is expected that you will not profit immediately. Sacrifices has to be made within a certain window of time. As in any traditional business you need a good management team. Several small time call center operations has closed down due to bad management. Aside from that, your Human resource department has to be very good considering that it is one of the most importnat department in call center operations.

2.) Operating a Call center requires intensive Capitalization - Most people believe that putting up a call center requires very much little capitalization. After all you just rent a small space, put up a bunch of computers hook it up to internet connection and viola !!! You can now begin operating right ? Wrong !!! Operating a call center requires intensive capitalization. The dialing software alone cost more than a million pesos. Add to that the computers, plus you have to get licensed copies of Windows XP. You have to set up a server, a good stable and fast internet connection, hook up the wires, buy i.p telephones that call center agents will use.

3.) Intensive marketing is required in call center operations- andquot;Build it and they will comeandquot; is the attitude of some who starts to get build a call center. They think that because there is so much demand for call centers then if they simply build it, clients will come. This is absolutely wrong. The demand is not just for call centers but for andquot;reputable call centers.andquot; Being reputable means you can deliever what your clients expects you to deliever. However since you are still new in the call center business, you have to market yourself extensively that you are indeed andquot;reputable.andquot;

Big names in the industry have no problem establishing themselves as reputable. They easily get clients because they have a name. Small players players still have to prove themselves, so they usually go for the outbound. (By Outbound we are referring to call center agents calling persons abroad trying to sell something or offering a service whereas inbound refers to catering to the needs of already existing clients of big companies who outsource their customer support to call centers.) There is no question that money can be made in outbound calls. However take note that most outbound agreements are performance basis. So if your agents sell a lot of products you make a lot of money, but if they don't then you loose. It may take a while for small players to show the client that they can be trusted with the outbound before clients give them the inbound.

With all these in mind, before you jump into the bandwagon of the business process outsourcing industry especially call center operations, think before you leap !

About the Author

Zigfred Diaz may not blog about business process outsourcing always, but he blogs on business and entrepreneurship from time to time. He also blogs about financial management and How to invest in the Philippine stock market.

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Thinking Of Putting Up A Call Center ? Are You Sure ?