1. Call Center Industry Overview
A call center is an entity that receives and places calls for customer service, marketing, technical support, and other specific business activities. In general, the call center is a service marketing organization composed of a group of service marketers in a relatively concentrated place. The call center usually uses computer communication technology to handle telephone inquiries from corporate customers, especially the ability to handle a large number of incoming calls at the same time, and also has a calling number display function, which can automatically assign incoming calls to personnel with corresponding skills, and can Record and store all incoming messages.
Our call center was born in the 1990s. Although it started late, it has developed very rapidly. After more than ten years of development, China's call center industry has not only matured in the financial, insurance, telecommunications and power industries, but also in e-commerce, market retail, government and other public utilities, IT industry, and factory manufacturing. The industry and the service industry have been extended and popularized, making the call center industry in China truly popularized in various business models of large, medium and small enterprises. Therefore, the wide application of China's call center industry is accelerating the industrial division of labor and the formation of the industrial chain while promoting the progress of China's call technology.
(1) Technical development of call centers in China
From the history of the technical development of the call center, it can be divided into four stages.
Phase 1: The first generation of call centers originated in the civil aviation hotline of the 1950s. In the early days, the call center did not have a so-called platform, which was a single-machine operation through voice calls over the public network. The check-in personnel answered the calls by personal habits and manual operations. Whether the client can dial into the enterprise service phone is all about luck. And the enterprise does not have any systematic call volume records for management analysis.
Phase 2: The second generation of call centers is derived from advances in digital signal processing technology and materials science and technology. With the advancement of technology, the demand for transfer calls and responses has increased. In order to efficiently handle the general problems raised by customers and save human resources, call centers have begun to use interactive voice response (IVR) systems. The application of this technology can eliminate the need for manual agent intervention, and the response to most common problems is answered and processed by the machine, the "automatic operator."
call center is derived from the advancement of computer technology, network technology, and database technology. With the development of computer telephony integration (CTI) technology, with the combination of communication technology and computer technology, data (such as customer information) acquired through telephone voice, computer and network can be integrated and coordinated, which can greatly increase services. The amount of information, speed, and new customer service business.
The fourth stage: The fourth-generation call center is derived from the advancement of Internet technology and multimedia technology. The call center not only supports multiple access methods, but also adopts advanced systems and is equipped with large databases. Users can access the call center system by telephone, SMS, fax, voice mail, internet, email, etc. With the development of network and mobile internet technologies, the new generation of call centers also support mobile phone clients, Weibo, WeChat et al. represent emerging media access methods. The call center is able to quickly provide information and services to customers and efficiently accomplish their business goals with modern communications and computer technology.
(2) Characteristics of China's call center industry
At present, China's call center industry mainly presents the following characteristics:
1) From the perspective of enterprise scale, China's small and medium-sized call centers currently occupy the main share of call centers, and the number of large and medium-sized call centers is relatively small.
2) From the perspective of service industry distribution, China's telecommunications, finance, government and public utilities industries have maintained an advantage in the number of call center seats in China in recent years, but the growth rate tends to decline. The overall scale of growth is more dependent on other industry seats. The share of scale is gradually increasing, and the growth rate is rapid;
3) From the perspective of the extension of the application field, with the development of the industry and the advancement of technology, the call center has gradually become a focus in the marketing process of the enterprise. Many non-service call centers are also emerging, allowing the application center of the call center. It has been well extended. For example, some companies have expanded the use of call centers, which are widely used in marketing, e-commerce, market research, and consulting.
2. the industry barriers to entry
(1) Industry technology threshold
The call center industry is a high-tech industry, which is a knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive industry. The current mainstream call center service is a cross-integration application field of computer IT technology, communication technology and other related technologies, and technology and application are constantly developing. And updated, with a high technical threshold. Call center service providers need to have relevant theoretical knowledge, professional skills and practical experience, master advanced technology in the industry, and have excellent R&D, implementation and management capabilities. Technical level and research and development capabilities are key factors for companies to gain competitive advantage.
(2) Marketing network threshold
The hosted call center business is mainly for small and medium-sized enterprise customers in all walks of life. The mining and marketing of potential customers is the premise of the establishment of the hosted call center project. It is necessary to establish a wide-ranging and efficient marketing channel and a long-term sales team. Market research, customer and case accumulation, personnel training, etc. Those who entered the industry later have no first-mover advantage, and business development and channel construction are more difficult.
New technology innovations provide new opportunities for call center business
From the perspective of technology development, a considerable proportion of call centers in China have been very high-end in system equipment configuration, and can fully meet the needs of business operations for a long time. With the development of modern communication system technology, Internet technology and interactive video signal system in the call center, the call center is further developing towards intelligence, personalization, multimedia, networking and mobility. The call center will make a qualitative leap in performance, structure and application. In the future market, Internet call centers, multimedia call centers, and virtual call centers will also be promoted as companies become more aware of the call center, the customer relationship management market, and equipment manufacturers. Future call centers will be based on information technology such as voice, data and video, which will enable the call center to leap in functionality. It is foreseeable that the call center is deeply integrated with product manufacturing, software development, digital content, and information technology services while technology is evolving. It is constantly generating new services and new formats, promoting its connotation and boundary agglomeration, and implicating new Great market space.