This week's computer times has published a special on Call Centre Technology. The articles highlight the advantages of call centres, its impact on customer service, how to effectively manage a call centre and the relevant call centre technologies. Call centres have been a useful tool in optimising customer relationships while keeping cost down, reducing the drain on human resources and improving efficiency. It has also enabled companies like Starhub and Hewlett Packard to gather useful information for decision making. Local companies that have invested in such advantageous technology are Citicab, Comfort CabLink, Starhub, Yellowpages and HP.

At the heart of any call centres are three major components: ACD (automatic call distributor), CTI (computer telephone integration) and IVR (interactive voice response). ACD provides the caller with a voice menu and connects their selection to an agent. CTI combine customer data with voice systems and is sometimes used for telemarketing. IVR is an automated telephone answering system that provides user-friendly menus to capture information. The foundation it which a call centre is built on is the relational database that call centre applications query on. The relational database expedites the agent's task by presenting all information relevant to the call on a screen. It also enables the users to access, process or change their own data yet preserving data integrity and reducing data redundancy. Such utilities of a call centre help companies respond effectively to their customers and hence is often a subset of CRM (customer relationship management). Web-enablement of call centres further enhances CRM by extending accessibility for customers. Data collected on each customer contact can also be reviewed to generate real-time reports to respond proactively to fast-changing patterns of customers.

To fully realise its business potential a call centre must be well managed. Related technologies (servers, application software, database) to call centres should be purchased and engineered with care as network traffic can suffer if call centres have high usage levels. Call centres must also have auxiliary systems so that customers will not be disappointed if a power failure occurs. Forecasting modules are also essential in managing databases as they aid in monitoring of trends and real-time performance. Analysis of customer contacts to forecast potential workload can help effectively allocate costs and resources and determine necessary training to agents.

In today's increasingly competitive environment, call centres when fused with the complimentary technologies can effectively and efficiently manage customers and collect relevant data. It can also be a tool for competitive intelligence that a company can leverage on.