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

Keywords: Marketing & Sales, Customer satisfaction, Prepackaged software, Computers & software
48. Swerdlow, R.B. Placing value on customer satisfaction for call centers. Proceedings of the Applied
Telecommunication Symposium (ATS’00). SCS, San Diego, CA, USA, 2000, 194–198.
Abstract. Call centers are groups of people with associated facilities who answer and make
telephone calls in a methodical, organized manner. It is a popular and economically important
form of conducting business. Most work in improving these centers focuses on cost, but customer
satisfaction with a call center can strongly affect business results. For this reason, a contract
for call center services should include performance as well as cost. This paper proposes a modification
to the fixed price incentive (FPI) contract format that includes customer satisfaction
as a part of the incentive in addition to cost. The key idea in relating subjective measures of
performance to cost is to estimate the reduction in staffing a contractor might achieve at the
expense of these subjective measures of performance. The paper also discusses a way to find
reasonable bounds on performance that does not appeal to industry wide benchmarks. This
contracting technique is currently in alpha test on a large help desk.
Keywords: Customer satisfaction, Call centers, Business, Fixed price incentive, FPI contract
format, Cost, Subjective performance, Staffing reduction, Help desk
49. Dilevko, J. An ideological analysis of digital reference service models, Library Trends, 50 (2),
2001, 218–244.
Abstract. Using the theories of Pierre Boudieu about occupational fields of struggle and species
of capital, this article examines the ideological implications of the digital reference call-center
model. This model has the potential to lead to deprofessionalization of reference work because of
increased automation and the replication of employment conditions prevailing in private sector
call centers. Call-center work typically involves unskilled women earning low wages in jobs that
present little opportunity for career building. Library directors who advocate digital reference
call centers as models of the future have neglected the negative aspects of call centers in their
rush to cut costs and provide efficient services. One answer to the deskilling dilemma is the
simple act of reading: the more a librarian reads, the more he or she becomes an irreplaceable
contributor in the reference transaction.
(Appears also in Section IV.)
50. Friedman, Tsily. Call center management: Balancing the numbers, Industrial Management, 43
(1), 2001, 6–10.
Abstract. Consumer behavior has driven companies to allocate large budgets to the fast growing
needs of call centers. Call center management has become more active than reactive, which
requires specific skills and expertise. Through the years, Tefen Ltd’s R&D department has developed
models and methodologies for effective and efficient call center management. These models
and tools are based on the company’s experience with a wide variety of call and contact centers
in different industries. This article focuses on the importance of the customer contact center to
the entire enterprise and presents a methodology for call center performance management and
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