Call Centers for Dummies: Your Guide to Profitable Call Center Management

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Call centers are the rapidly rising stars of the service sector
revolution that is changing the nature of work in industrialized
countries. This comprehensive guide points out that a call centre,
whether stand-alone or part of a business, is a microcosm of a business.
It needs a mission, vision, business plan, financial and service goals,
human resources, and IT strategies, as well as a physical plant. It is a
blend of people, processes, and technology. The guide takes a look at
each, with an emphasis on how to increase effectiveness and success. The
question of offshore operations is explored. The detailed explanations
include relevant technology, the art of scheduling, continuous
improvement strategies and measurement, recruiting and training,
effectiveness, and profitability measures.

Bergevin approaches call centres from the manager’s or owner’s
perspective, which also makes it useful to job applicants who want an
understanding of the field they’re entering. For employees, it will be
a direct, hard-hitting lesson on what managers/owners value, as it
leaves no question that this is a workplace in which the emphasis on
accountability is very high.

The text is characterized by a clean, direct style that uses humour to
lighten the tone whenever possible. Icons are used for tips, warnings,
important bits to remember, and so forth; these facilitate skimming and
the utility of the guide as a reference. Checklists, point-form lists,
charts and graphs, a glossary, and an index add to the value of the book
as a practical how-to guide.