Customer service can be used as a competitive advantage; however, a survey conducted by YouGov indicated that 87% of people felt they deserved a better contact center experience when they were loyal and regularly spent money with a company. Taking note of the importance of good customer service and trying to improve it, many firms are centralizing their call centers in one single location.
There are certain benefits associated with centralization of operations, such as better consistency over the calls received and better overall communications. It’s also easier and less costly to train employees in one place. Another benefit of centralization is the deployment of one software to gauge usage and other analytics, while reducing errors and confusion. In a centralized structure, standard procedures are followed in one program, making it easier to manage, forecast and plan for the future. Also, actions to avert problems can be performed quickly and effectively when all relevant work is done in one place.
The advantages of centralization are to increase efficiencies and improve the quality of customer service. Be aware that there may be an increase in hardware costs, as the centralization happens, but over the long run, it’s usually easier and cheaper to maintain equipment and programs from one location.
