 | The Web threat to The Call Centre |
It seems that once again we’re seeing another high street retailer consolidating (aka ‘closing’) a call centre for efficiency reasons. This is management speak for ‘we’re losing hand over fist so we have to do something radical’. In this case, it’s a holiday firm whose “business has been badly affected by the increase in online holiday bookings“.
As the web becomes the ubiquitous choice for the discerning consumer, it’s clear to me that call centres run by established ‘bricks and mortar’ style retailers are going to be potentially under threat. The effect of Amazon on high street booksellers is clear to see - in my own home city of Edinburgh, I’ve seen a couple of long-established book stores change hands or go out of business.
The Amazon Effect is well known within the world of booksellers; it ripples through the working days of all those whose jobs are involved with books, such as publishers, retailers and distribution networks. By using the powerful emergent medium of the internet to great effect, Amazon created a completely new channel of direct sales to the consumer.
The Diversification Threat
As companies such as Amazon diversify into other areas (such as consumer electronics, entertainment and even film rentals), more and more established and conventional retailers are set to be hit. Many of these affected companies are large enough to have invested in call centres to support and augment their sales and customer service channels. The fact that these new, diversified web eTailers compete on price, choice and in many cases simple convenience makes their continued success inevitable. The conventional high street may well be beyond salvation, at least in the way we know it.
Consolation?
It’s not all bad news. Though many big online organisations eschew the call centre in favour of more cost-effective, streamlined and automated processes, the fact is that many will still need to provide a human voice at some point in the loop. Successful online direct sales companies such as Dell may well redress the balance; what the article doesn’t mention is the fact that Dell are opening a large call centre relatively nearby, which is likely to be larger and thus offer some consolation.
However, big fish call centre investments such as Dell leave areas with too many eggs in too few baskets. Whilst incentives are dangled like big juicy carrots to tempt and persuade these big fish to establish call centres in a given area, what we perhaps need is the complimentary big stick to ensure that they stay.
In my opinion, there has always been a touch of the ‘easy come, easy go’ attitude to call centres from many of the companies which operate them. We as an industry need to continually stress the need to deliver quality over the quest to continually trim costs. If we can do this, perhaps more customers will stick by the conventional players - for reasons of quality products and good service if nothing else.
John