The Economist
Software: Making call centres run smoothly involves an ever-greater dependency on technological trickery behind the scenes
IT IS a familiar litany. Your call is important to us. An operator will be with you as soon as possible. Your call may be recorded for quality-control and training purposes. These phrases are familiar because the use of call centres has become so commonplace: in 2007 companies worldwide spent some $280 billion on outsourced call-centre services, according to NASSCOM, a call-centre trade group in Delhi. Costs are rising (they jumped 30% last year in India), customers are becoming more demanding, and competition is increasing. So the companies that operate call centres are adopting new software to monitor and improve performance.