What are some basic requirements/issues for turning a small inbound call center of
four to six agents into a dual inbound-outbound call center?
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People, process, and technology are a good way to look at these kinds of transitional
questions. Depending on what the call center's outbound role will be, you'll need to determine if
the staff you've already got in place can readily transition to making outbound calls as well. You
will likely need call center agent training and incentives. On the process side, you'll have to
define all the outbound processes, but also define when people will handle inbound and when they
will make outbound calls. Who will decide? What are the driving metrics? You'll have to answer
those sorts of questions and clearly define and communicate the processes. Finally, you'll need to
look at your call center's business requirements and your technology and determine if you need
additional capabilities. Will call center agents be manually dialing, or do you need some level of
dialing automation, like an automatic call
distributor? How will you track the outbound calls and campaigns?
This was first published in September 2006