Contingency programs that are not cost-effective

Contingency programs that are not cost-effective usually have three characteristics: The most costly mistake that a business can make in developing its program is to have it aimed at keeping technology running instead of keeping the business running. 1. Program focus is on keeping technology running rather than on keeping the business running. 2. No one worked with functional supervisors to develop alternative procedures to support vital business functions until normal processing capability is restored. 3. The program fails to recognize that businesses could continue to function for a week or two without normal computer processing capability. Like, Comment & Share our page! Visit our website at www.unite.com.ph

Survey: BPO employees setting market trends in PH

MANILA - Business-Process outsourcing (BPO) employees, with cumulative compensation of about P250 billion annually, are now more influential in setting market trends than the average Filipino, according to a study conducted by Nielsen Philippines.

In a statement, Nielsen Philippines Managing Director Stuart Jamieson said the BPO employees’ income has more to do with it than anything else.

“Being well paid than most Filipinos, BPO employees are formidable members of the growing middle-class population of the country. The spending habits of BPO employees reflect an affluence that is more than the general population, spurring consumer spending,” Jamieson said.

In the Nielsen Outcall report, which provides a 360-degree view of BPO employees, BPO employees are able to alter their lifestyle to fit the demands of their job. They also change their purchase and consumption habits, helping set market trends.

With this, Jamieson advises marketers to tap BPO consumers by forming retailer collaborations around BPO offices. 

This is specifically advantageous for convenience stores and fast- food coffee shops that are frequented by call-center employees.

In terms of food products, BPO employees consumed more processed and pre-packed food during breakfast and breaks, while for dinner, their diet included other alternatives, such as pre-packed food, or dining out. They also showed high consumption of breakfast cereals, hard candies, gum, biscuits and chocolates.

“In some in-depth interviews which were used to complement the survey data, respondents say they prefer instant breakfast cereals because they can be eaten quickly at home or out of home. While consuming candies and gum help them to be alert and awake during night shifts, BPO employees rely on biscuits to keep them full in between main meals,” Nielsen said.

The Outcall report also disclosed that BPO employees drink beverages such as iced tea, energy drinks, ready-to-drink juices and milk more frequently than most Filipinos. It was learned in the interviews with BPO employees that consuming these drinks is their little daily indulgence as these satisfy one or more of their consumer needs.

There was also a higher consumption of alcoholic beverages among BPO employees. Data showed that 76 percent of BPO respondents admitted that they consumed alcoholic drinks in 2012 compared to 40 percent of the general population.

Nielsen said BPO employees considered alcohol as a facilitator in establishing teamwork. They claimed that for spontaneous or after-shift drinking, they buy alcoholic drinks from convenience stores and places which are open 24 hours.

“For a planned drinking session, they go to grills and watering holes. These planned drinking sessions happen usually on paydays, when they have money to burn. BPO employees said they also drink during their day-offs in their homes or neighborhoods,” Nielsen said.

When it comes to technology adoption, BPO consumers are more likely to own gadgets more than the general market. 

This is a strong indicator of the improving socioeconomic class of BPO employees.

Compared to the general population, more BPO employees own postpaid subscriptions, with significantly higher monthly spending than the total market.

The in-depth interviews say that mobile phones are essential in their lives because they enable them to manage their busy work schedules and, at the same time, cope with maintaining their relationships with family and, friends. They also use their mobile phones as a tool for entertainment to break the monotony of workdays.

“By being constantly on their mobile phones and staying online through their high connectivity and multiple- connection points, BPO consumers are more accessible via the Internet. BPO consumers live multiscreen lives. They watch TV while they have a tablet or mobile phone on hand,” Jamieson said.

“This gives advertisers and marketers huge opportunities to drive innovation and interest to various categories, such as consumer goods, pharmaceutical products, telecommunications and financial services,” he added.

© ABS-CBN NEWS

  

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What is Business Continuity means?

Ensuring that essential business functions can survive a natural disaster, technological failure, human error, or other disruption. Reviewing and updating district-wide business continuity plans and assuring essential business functions are adequately staffed per Base Plan. Plans for continuation of IT services, communications, and essential business functions in the immediate aftermath of an incident.


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Trivia: “Take an extra effort in understanding customers to serve them well! “

 “Take an extra effort in understanding customers 
to serve them well! “

Customer is every company’s core business because without the customers, a company’s products or services are useless. This is one of the distinguishing factors between private business and public service, which pushes private businesses to work harder in caring about customers compared to public organizations that tend to forget that the public they serve are their principal sources of funds from whom they get their mandate and their salaries. Because of which, private companies need to take an extra effort in understanding customers to serve them well. One approach to do this is to think like a customer in order to anticipate the needs, requirements, and wants that a customer needs to address or satisfy in availing a service or purchasing a product. 

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IBM sells off Customer Service BPO business for $505 million

IBM, quoting low margins and profitability, has decided to sell off its customer service BPO business to Synnex for $505 million. The acquisition will be fully integrated under the Concentrix brand, a wholly owned subsidiary of SYNNEX.

As part of the transaction, SYNNEX will enter into a multi-year agreement with IBM, and Concentrix will become an IBM strategic business partner for global customer care business process outsourcing services. Synnex will pay approximately $430 million in cash and $75 million in stock for the IBM business.

IBM has sold off the business unit to focus on innovative and high value areas that allow for larger profit margins. “This agreement is good for IBM as it furthers our focus on growing our software and cloud-based CRM [customer relationship management] solutions as part of [our] continuing shift to high value and innovative spaces,” said Lori Steele, general manager of IBM Global Process Services”.

IBM still retains a significant portfolio in other BPO areas including HR, logistics and procurement.

“We are very excited to bring together these two great teams, each recognised by their clients as leaders in providing outstanding and innovative solutions,” said Kevin Murai, President & CEO, SYNNEX Corporation. “This acquisition will significantly extend our portfolio of offerings and delivery capabilities that will make Concentrix a global Top 10 player in this growing market.”

The acquisition should provide Concentrix and its customers significant economies of scale, leveraging a range of technology platforms, people and services to support high-value customer interactions.

Through the acquisition of IBM’s customer care business process outsourcing services business, Concentrix will provide customer care services for clients in more than 12 industries.  Concentrix will significantly expand its global footprint across six continents to approximately 45,000 staff and 50 plus delivery centres.

While the transaction is being completed, the companies will continue to operate independently and IBM customer care business process outsourcing services will continue to be sold and delivered as usual.  IBM hasn’t commented yet on how that will affect operations here in Australia and New Zealand and whether this will see Concentrix setup offices locally.

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"Call centre business gains momentum"

Call centre business is gaining momentum as a number of large companies have outsourced work to third parties recently.The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, including call centres, is now worth around $12 million, of which 50 percent is accounted for by the domestic market, according to its trade body.

The local demand for such services is growing by around 20 percent every quarter, said Ahmadul Hoq Bobby, president of Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and Outsourcing (BACCO). He said a positive trend in the business is that big companies are becoming confident of local service providers. He said mobile operators Airtel and Citycell have recently outsourced their call centres to local companies, while Robi has outsourced work to an Indian company.

Biman Bangladesh has also outsourced a part of its call centre, Bobby said. At the same time, companies in the fast-moving consumer goods and health sectors are signing up local call centres to maintain their back offices. Bobby said the operations of domestic companies should be outsourced first to local call centres, then international contracts would grow.

Bangladesh provides several BPO services such as customer services, telemarketing, telemedicine, back office operations, virtual assistance and CCTV monitoring. The country has potential in several other sectors such as legal processes, human resources, supply processes, finance and administration, and will grab the market soon.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has recently encouraged the industry by easing the licensing process.

Among the challenges the sector faces, Abdur Rahman Shawon, executive coordinator of BACCO, said internet prices are still high compared to the competing nations.

A second submarine cable is required and bandwidth connectivity is still a problem, he added. Shawon also said a tax-break for at least 10 years is required to attract foreign clients and investment. The World Bank is going to fund a $70 million ICT project for institutional support for call centre training programmes. Over 50 call centres are now members of BACCO and as per BTRC statistics, around 70 call centres are in operations.

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News Update:
SM Investments Corp., one of the largest business organizations in the Philippines, is supposedly securing several office properties in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig. The move is seen as an effort to gain access to thegrowing business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Meanwhile, the IT and Business Process Association in the Philippines (IT-BPAP) predicted that by 2016, the BPO industry will post revenues amounting to $25 billion from $13 billion last year.

Source:
http://business.inquirer.net/

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Which business functions are essential to maintain market share and reputation, or to strategically adjust to changed circumstances?

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Ways How to Boost the Confidence of Call Center Agents.

4 ways how to Boost the Confidence of Call Center Agents.

3 of 4: Create a positive environment.

Another way to approach counseling is to focus on creating a positive environment for the agents. Instead of seeing hatred and desperation, agents should be able to see the positive side of things. Apart from providing positive feedback and counseling, this can also be achieved by providing fun at work. Managers and supervisors should think of creative ways to make work fun and something to look forward to by giving concrete incentives and awards to agents.

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Confidence or the belief on oneself is very important in any endeavor including at work. In a call center company, an agent’s confidence is crucial because it constitutes part of the nature of customer service. Confidence is important in communication in order to impart messages with clarity and sincerity. This is especially true because agents usually communicate with foreign clients who could be intimidating and demanding. Boosting the confidence of call center agents is therefore an essential function of managers and supervisors.





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How to Boost the Confidence of Call Center Agents.

4 ways how to Boost the Confidence of Call Center Agents.

2 of 4: Peer Coaching.

One can supplement the training of agents in building the relevant skills need for effective customer service and communication through coaching. A buddying technique helps a agent to have a peer with whom one can receive advises and tips. Agents tend to be more responsive with peers because they can immediately relate to their experience.

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Conversation tips for agents on chat support outsourcing.

Listen to what they need.

The customer may be asking for a product’s specifications, looking for discounts, or having problems checking out their cart. Understand what your customer is after, ask questions to get down to the significant details, and reply accordingly. Avoid pitching sales if unnecessary.

Most importantly, the agent must comply with the business’ guidelines on chat sessions and follow the provided scripts. Following these tips can help agents effectively engage the customers on chat support.

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4 ways how to Boost the Confidence of Call Center Agents.

1 of 4: Provide training.

The most apparent way to boost confidence level of agents is through training. Training allows agents to reach a certain level of communication skill which makes them comfortable in communicating. Training can also be used to directly address deficiencies that can cause an agents low level of confidence. The best training that can help agents gain confidence in communicating with foreigners is a practice training in which agents actually talk to foreigners.

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Contingency programs that are not cost-effective usually have three characteristics: The most costly mistake that a business can make in developing its program is to have it aimed at keeping technology running instead of keeping the business running. 1. Program focus is on keeping technology running rather than on keeping the business running. 2. No one worked with functional supervisors to develop alternative procedures to support vital business functions until normal processing capability is restored. 3. The program fails to recognize that businesses could continue to function for a week or two without normal computer processing capability. Like, Comment & Share #UniteMember #PhilContactCenter visit our website at www.unite.com.ph/