Topic 1.1: What a call centre actually does

A call centre is a team of people who speak to customers on behalf of a company, mostly by phone, but more and more by email, WhatsApp and live chat too. That is why many companies now call it a contact centre.

Think about the last time you phoned your bank, your cellphone network or a store about a delivery. The friendly person who helped you was a contact centre agent.

The main types of call centre work

• Inbound customer service — customers phone in with questions or problems: “Where is my order?”, “Why is my bill so high?”

• Outbound sales — agents phone people to offer a product, like insurance, a cellphone contract or a store card

• Collections — agents phone customers who are behind on payments and help them make a plan to pay

• Technical support — agents help customers fix problems with internet, devices or apps

• Back office and chat — agents answer emails, WhatsApp messages and live chats instead of calls

Local and international work

Some centres look after South African customers. Others, especially in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, look after customers in the UK, USA and Australia. These are often called BPO (business process outsourcing) jobs, because an overseas company “outsources” its customer service to a South African team. International campaigns usually want clear, neutral English and may work night or weekend shifts to match the customer’s time zone.

Whatever the type, every agent has the same job at heart: help the customer, follow the company’s process, and record what happened.