The company for this year chose White Cross Children’s Home as beneficiary. White Cross is a child welfare institution catering to children of parents with tuberculosis.  The center today also provides shelter to children of unwed mothers, physically incapacitated parents, prisoners and victims of rape.

Joining this civic cause were team members from Operations Support, Telenational (Omnitrix) and Human Resources.

Magellan Solutions’ human resources manager Jenice Chua opened the program with an invocation, followed by a short introduction of guests and participants. Parlor games later ensued, bringing delight to the children as they participated in Bring Me, Stop Dance, Stacks of Cups, Heaven and Earth, Pass Around games, and even a singing contest.

And to make the visit more memorable to the children, gifts and other exciting surprises were given and Jollibee meals were served.

The participants came home feeling a sense of satisfaction knowing that this once a year undertaking brought happiness to the children who attended the event. Aside from growing its inbound call center business, Magellan Solutions understands its obligation to the society by sharing its blessings to those who have less.

Contact centers initially emerged in the Philippines as a major provider of front- and back-office support such as voice, e-mail, order processing, shared services and many more to global businesses. They provide outsourced services ranging from telemarketing, travel services, technical support, education, customer care, financial services, and online business to customer support (B2C) and online business to business support (B2B).

Call center on steady course
The industry first emerged in the Philippines in 1997. Since then, it has grown into a $13 billion industry in 2010 with no signs of slowing down.

The Philippine government has tagged the call center industry as the “Sunshine Industry” because of its massive expansion over the last 10 years. It is considered one of the fastest growing sectors within the economy. Call center companies require candidates who are extremely fluent in English, and (for technical accounts) possess excellent IT skills – which are quite abundant in the country.

The Philippines was in the spotlight in 2000 when the “Love Bug” e-mail virus wreaked havoc globally, infecting millions of computers that year. Reports said the virus may have originated in the Philippines.

The incident had a positive aftermath. It eventually earned the country a reputation as an emerging tech support hub for many companies including AOL, Sykes, Trend Micro, IBM, and Accenture. It also acted as a catalyst in the formation of local call centers and other outsourcing services.

Majority of call center facilities are located in first-tier cities Metro Manila and Cebu. Second- and third-tier cities are located in regional areas such as Bacolod City, Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro, Clark (Angeles City), Dagupan City, Davao City, Tacloban City, Dumaguete City, Lipa City, Iloilo City, Legazpi City, Iligan City and Urdaneta City.

The country has remained an outsourcing favorite among various countries abroad. More companies in the United States and Europe are coming to the Philippines to take advantage of the low cost yet high-quality call center and outsourcing services.

And there you have it, the history of Philippine call centers in a nutshell.

We now delve on the lighter side of call centers. Nowadays, call centers and their employees have been portrayed on TV, movies, and YouTube. They range from the informative to downright funny depictions of call center life.

Here are my best picks of call center portrayals:

5) Call Center (2008 USA)
This movie follows the story of Eric Barnett, a lowly customer service representative for SuperCom Telecommunications. When he thought that the day is another day, his world suddenly changed when he realizes it is the last day of the quarter and he has yet to reach his quota. When a technical glitch occurs in his favor, Eric is soon presented with a chance to save himself.

4) Wanted (2008 USA)
This movie features Wesley, a frustrated call center employee when he learns that he is the son of a professional assassin, and that he shares his father’s superhuman killing abilities.

3) Outsourced (2010 USA/India)
Outsourced is an American sitcom in an Indian workplace. It is based on the movie by John Jeffcoat and is adapted by Ken Kwapis (In Cahoots Productions) and Universal Media Studios for NBC. It is an adaptation of the feature film of the same name.

Outsourced is set in a call center based in Mumbai India where an American novelties company recently outsourced its order processing. A lone American manages the call center, and must explain the American culture to his employees while finding ways to understand Indian culture.

2) The Wedge (2006 Australia)
The Wedge was an Australian TV sketch show created by Ian McFadyen and produced by Network Ten. The show ran for two seasons, airing 2006 and 2007. It featured skits about “Wedgetel,” a fictional Call Center. The Wedge pokes fun at and is inspired by the large number of Australian call centers located in India.

1) Hello, Taliban! (2001)
This is a lighthearted poke at the telemarketing industry. It is a recording that features a supposed Taliban agent and the voice of an FBI agent reminiscent of Sgt. Joe Friday asking for Bin Laden’s location or “you must face the consequences.”

Taliban agent: “Leave us alone. We know nothing of this Bin Laden.”

FBI: “We think you do. Listen, Mr. Taliban Person, do you realize that this is your final opportunity or we must lash out with an assault of which you do not have the technology to handle?”

Taliban agent: “We do not fear your weapons.”

FBI: “We know that, but you don’t have answering machines.”

After which, the “Taliban agent’s” phone is bombarded by nonstop telemarketing calls.

Honorable mentions:

Slum Dog Millionaire  – Jamal Malik as a tea server working in an Indian Call Center

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Features an outsourced call center agent, asking Major William Lennox if he “wants to avail of a premium plan” during a critical moment

Spiral - A movie about a telemarketer who has only one semblance of a friend: His telecommuter boss. But the telemarketer’s social circle seems to improve greatly when a whimsical co-worker enters his life.

Work in an inbound call center is fun but requires a sheer amount of patience. Callers are of garden variety, some of which may not be the type you want to speak with.

To succeed in the actual “work”, here are some of the things I apply:

Stay alert – all the time
Before I go to work, I take a bath to keep me wide awake. For coffee drinkers, have a cup first before logging on so that the caffeine takes full effect. Just imagine the aroma and the hot sip. But be careful: Your cup of coffee might spill, makes you jump out to seriously wake you up!

Be tolerant
We Filipinos are polite and respectful, but the world does not revolve around us. The world is so diverse we have learned to adapt in the way other people respond or react to certain situations.

As a call center agent, I learn how to smile even if the caller does not see me (and it shows in my tone of voice). Take a deep breath. Learn how to be open-minded to make it easier for you to deal with customers, whether they are rude or not.

Read, read, read
Read the newspapers. That way, you are abreast of the world around you. There are times when a customer asks about a current event. If you are informed, you know how to take that discussion further. The call becomes a great way to connect and thus make that interaction a pleasant experience.

Exercise
Working at night time is not an excuse for you to neglect exercise. Flex those sleeping muscles, and shed off those unwanted fat! Not only does it maintain your weight but it keeps you stay awake because of the blood pumping in your veins.

Laugh
Laugh. Don’t frown or get mad. A positive attitude affects your productivity. It just feels good to be happy all the time!

Learn to have empathy
Love your work for it brings food on the table. Take care of your customers, whether you’re doing outbound calls or a technical support. Care for the people around you too.

Most of the people I know ask me, “Why don’t you go back to teaching?” I tell them, “I have a life here. I love my job and I am happy.” With all the detours I have made in my work journey, I know I will return to teaching. In the meantime, I am taking advantage of the unique opportunities the call center industry offers me, and loving it every moment of the day.

Frederick D. Chua, Magellan Solutions’ chief executive officer, reports that the latest facility will accommodate 285 “capable” seats and will house the CEO’s office, conference room, training rooms, recreation area, sleeping quarters and more. More development projects in the center are now underway.

Chua said the expansion is a strategic step toward providing first-class back-office support for businesses worldwide. The company remains committed to serving global small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurs and professionals. “Magellan Solutions Outsourcing has gone through measured growth from its first site in San Juan City, which presently has 245 seats,” Chua said. “We are extremely delighted to see more businesses considering us to generate increased operational efficiency and for cost reduction.”

Magellan Solutions Outsourcing, Inc. was established in 2005 starting with only 14 agents. It is presently staffed with 250 employees and continuously growing. To date, the combined delivery centers in San Juan and Mandaluyong provide operational seating of over 500.

For further information, contact Fred Chua, Business Development – fred.chua@magellan-solutions.com

Working in a call center is not all fun and games as people from other industries perceived it to be.

Here, we work extremely hard. One of the obstacles we deal with is fighting off the urge of falling into sleep during the wee hours of the morning.

I have been with the call center or BPO Industry for almost three years now. I am proud to say that I enjoy working here and I see my hard work paying off. I started as sales agent at a company based in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. It was my first foray in the contact centers after a stint in teaching. Obviously, the two industries are totally different from each other. Work in a call center is a far cry from what I was once accustomed – teaching and shaping minds. Now I still make instructions but on top of it, vigorously promote services to people around the world.

As they always say – “Nothing is inevitable but change” and the only thing we can do is to adapt and to surpass challenges.

My second title within the industry was call center representative. There are 2 types of roles assigned to a call center representative – the first one is sales or doing outbound calls, and the other one is customer service, the inbound call center support.

If I were asked to choose which function I strongly prefer, I go for inbound customer support. I love dealing with callers and answering their questions. I work as an order taker and have been promoted by title in just a short span of time.

Like other professions, call center work entails a high degree of discipline, focus and determination. It takes more than just saying, “Oh, I know that person” or namedropping famous people to fast track promotion. To prove yourself worthy of bigger challenges and responsibilities, you need to stand out from the rest with the right skill sets to boot.

In my next article, I will share some of the techniques I use to succeed at work in the call center.

Let the truth be told – there are “call centers” and there are THE call centers!

A successful career depends on choosing the right one for you. Different people require different skill sets, work preferences and attitudes.

The guide below will help you choose the RIGHT call center environment that fits you.

1) Contact center – What differentiates contact centers from the others is that instead of utilizing calls, they resolve a myriad of concerns such as fax, live chat and e-mails. They can send out e-mails (marketing/sales) or answer incoming e-mails (support, assistance, answering queries).

2) Inbound call center – Inbound call centers (as their name implies) handle inbound calls (calls initiated by the customer). These calls range from sales queries, technical support, customer complaints, and directory assistance.

3) Outbound call center – Outbound call centers focus on outbound calls (cold calls, calls coming from the outbound call center agent) to prospective customers and/or sales leads.

4) Blended call center – A blended call center is a hybrid of the above three. It combines automatic call distribution for incoming calls with predictive dialling for outbound calls. They usually enjoy “hybrid” agents who can do both inbound/outbound calls as well as e-mail and chat support.

We hope that the information will help you make the right choice in choosing a call center career that best fits you.

3) Transcription
Jobs in the transcription call center focus on converting audio recordings and live calls into text format. Transcription jobs require excellent listening skills and accurate typing abilities.

IP Relay - IP-Relay professionals help clients who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, speech-disabled, or deaf blind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device.

Voice Transcription – Voice transcriptionists listen to recorded and live calls (conference calls, meetings) which they transcribe into text formats.

Medical Transcription - Medical transcriptionists listen to recordings by physicians and other healthcare professionals dictating a variety of medical reports, such as emergency room visits, diagnostic imaging studies, operations, chart reviews, and final summaries. They eventually transcribe these recordings (translating medical jargon and abbreviations into their expanded forms) into text form.

4) Others
These call center careers do not fit any of the above categories. They are on a league of their own.

Directory Assistance - These agents provide telephone number information to callers, and have access to alphabetical or geographical information and directories to answer questions and suggest alternate locations and spelling under which the number could be listed in.

Collection – Call center collection specialists (also known as telecollectors) contact the clients of banking and credit card companies to collect accounts on their behalf.

Medical Collection - These call center professionals contact patients and insurance companies to collect accounts on behalf of these hospitals.

Technical Recruitment - Technical recruiters source and process potential candidates who have technical capabilities, such as software programmers, network/systems engineers and Internet gurus.

Language Educators - Teaches english and other languages to online participants through a simulated classroom environment by establishing a student-teacher relationship using various teaching strategies.

In the rapidly growing and evolving world of call centers, new careers and technologies are always emerging. And there are many call center professionals out there who will answer the call and accept the challenges that lie ahead.

People these days cannot tell the difference between technical support and telemarketing. All they do is that they are all taking calls.

This two-part primer will guide future call center professionals to choose the kind of career that best fits their skills and preferences. Call center jobs can be classified in four categories:

1) Support
2) Sales
3) Transcription and
4) Others

We will first discuss Support and Sales.

1)    Support
The careers in the call center’s support department have a wide variety of administrative jobs. They range from administrative work like human resources, accounting to information technology and public relations.

Back-office Support. This provides customers with back-office support to their clients. This would include administrative, clerical, data management/processing and e-mail management.

Product Support. This provides information and technical assistance regarding the client’s products.

Help Desk/Technical Support – Help Desk/Technical Support agents provide troubleshooting support for PCs, laptops, printers, scanners, and computer peripherals, as well as software issues and internet issues.

Customer Service/Care – Customer service professionals ensure that the organization they represent satisfies their customers’ needs. They are usually in charge of providing help and advice to customers using their client’s products or services; they are skilled in communicating courteously with customers via telephone and email.

Foreign Language Support – Multilingual agents provide phone support using two or more languages

2) Sales
Sales Call Center jobs focus on promoting and selling the client’s service/product to potential clients.

Inbound Sales - Inbound sales agents are responsible for answering inbound calls from interested parties with the intention of selling a product/service or taking/fulfilling an order.

They are also expected to provide outstanding customer service and answer the relevant questions of callers.

Outbound Sales – Outbound sales representatives are assigned to sell products or services over the phone to potential clients. They usually predetermine sales leads based upon a list of criteria specific to the sales requirements set out by the company they are representing.

The outbound sales representative calls the sales leads and delivers a sales presentation from a pre-written script.

In the next article will discuss careers in Transcription and Other/Miscellaneous call center opportunities.