CALL CENTERS (CENTRES) - Faculty of Industrial Engineering and ...

lion in annual revenue. To support the global transportation network, FedEx has established 51
worldwide customer service call centers. The customer service at FedEx in the US handles about
500,000 calls per day. There are three major networks: 1. Domestic, 2. International, and 3.
Freight. For each network, the company has developed four different types of forecasts based on
different forecasting horizons: 1. Strategic Plan, 2. Business Plan, 3. Tactical Forecast, and 4.
Operational Forecast. Different methodologies are adopted for different levels of forecasts. An
overview of these methodologies is presented.
Keywords: Postal & delivery services, Forecasting techniques, Customer services, Case studies
(Appears also in Section I and II.)
31. Alouisa, J., W. Anderson, R. Castro, R. Ennis, J. Gevarter and R. Pandolfo. PruServ TM :
A call center support system, in Creating Value in Financial Services: Strategies, Operations,
and Technologies, Edward L. Melnick, Praveen R. Nayyar, Michael L. Pinedo, Sridhar Seshadri
(Eds.). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000, Chapter 19: 389–401.
Abstract. We discuss Prudential’s solution to complex call center problems. Since Prudential
is a service-oriented business, its success and competitive advantage lies in its ability to give customers
the highest quality of service possible, “wherever and whenever” they want it. Managers
at Prudential determined that without the proper tools to do the job, service quality would
be diminished. PruServ TM , a powerful call center application, effectively solved the business
problem by providing users with a robust and exciting application that resulted in “world-class”
customer service. This translated to the firm capturing an increased percentage of clients’ assets
and generating incremental revenues.
Acknowledgement: The abstract was taken from the introduction of the book.
32. Anton, J. The past, present and future of customer access centers, International Journal of Service
Industry Management, 11 (2), 2000, 120–130.
Abstract. Customers want better access to the companies from which they buy products and
services. Reviews how companies have responded to this demand for easy access. Looks at
the past, present and future information needs of the customer and how they have been met.
Touches on the developments in the communication channels available to customers and provides
some simple usage statistics. Forecasts the future technological developments which will once
again change the kind of access and information available.
Keywords: Customer requirements, Call centres, Customer satisfaction, Marketing communications,
Communications technology
33. Bennington, Lynne, James Cummane and Paul Conn. Customer satisfaction and call centers: an
Australian study, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11 (2), 2000, 162–173.
Abstract. Call centers are growing at unprecedented rates, yet relatively little is known about
customer satisfaction with this method of service delivery. Therefore, a review of the advantages
and disadvantages of call centers is provided before reporting on a study carried out with users
of a very large human services call center network. The results indicate that customers have
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