The Call Center is a bridge of communication between companies and their customers. Thanks to Call Centers, companies strengthen customer relations, increase customer satisfaction and create customer loyalty.
Call Centers are the centers that consist of software, hardware and qualified work force where the companies or organizations provide communication with the people or organizations they communicate with by means of telephone, fax, e-mail, SMS, instant messaging and similar access methods.
Call Centers were first established at the end of 1960 with the aim of receiving customer requests and complaints. In general, customers could call the Call Center free of charge in the first applications. Call Center service was seen as a part of the service provided by the companies. Establishing the first Call Center close to today's practice, the company became Continental Airlines in the early years of 1970. Establishing a Call Center in those years created a competitive advantage for the companies in terms of creating a point of contact with their customers. But today it has become almost a necessity for organizations.
With the establishment of Call Centers, companies created significant cost savings compared to other distribution channels. First, it has become widespread in the financial sector and retail channel. With the introduction of new technologies, companies began to integrate with existing business processes. In this way, organizations have achieved significant financial savings. In the next phase, rapid development has started in the outsourcing market and the number of employees working in Call Centers has increased significantly. This has brought a more professional understanding of customer service. By transferring customer relationship management to outsourcing companies, organizations have focused more on their core business.
What Call Centers Brought to Firms
With the expansion of the Call Centers and the more professional management of the call centers, organizations have achieved great gains. The benefits of Call Centers may vary depending on the sector and system in which they are used. On the other hand, Call Centers provide the following benefits to organizations:
• It acts as a communication bridge between the organization and its customers
• Effective in increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Contributes directly and indirectly to the organization's sales and marketing activities
• The organization provides communication with its customers from a centralized and controlled, quality and reportable manner.
• Decreases customer solution time
• Therefore, customer satisfaction increases
• Regular and continuous data flow is created
• If there is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) installed within the organization, information flow is provided to this system.
• Strategic information for the organization is produced in a fast and reliable way
• Provides tools to measure the organization's sales and marketing activities
• It enables the sales and marketing activities of the organization to become effective
• Provides feedback to improve the organization's products and services
• Reduces costs and increases productivity
• The image and reputation of the organization increases
• Plays an effective information center for the organization in times of crisis
• Increases effectiveness of campaigns
What is ISO 15838 Call Center Quality Management System?
The ISO 15838 Call Center Quality Management System standard was published by the European Standards Committee in 2009. While the ISO 15838 standard meets the management requirements of Call Centers, it defines the technical conditions required for the Call Centers to provide reliable services. The most important feature is to improve the performance quality of the relationship between customers and organizations' Customer Service Center or Call Center. In this way, relations between organizations and customers are strengthened and customers become more loyal and happy.
As mentioned above, establishing a Call Center has become a necessity for organizations. However, the important thing is not to establish a Call Center, but to operate this center in a correct, reliable and healthy way. ISO 15838 standard has been prepared to provide this.
The ISO 15838 standard is a form of ISO 9001 Quality Management System, ISO 10002 Customer Complaint Management System and ISO 27001 Information Security Management System standards designed for Call Centers. Organizations that implement one of these systems in their businesses can install and operate ISO 15838 standard much more easily and in an integrated way.
What is the Scope of ISO 15838 Call Center Quality Management System?
The fourth article of the ISO 15838 standard titled management strategy and policy is concerned with the duties, powers and responsibilities of employees of human resources, information and communication technology, quality assurance system, training, operations management, planning and control and responsible organization management functions.
The fifth article of the standard titled Call Center employee is concerned with the duties and functions of Call Center employees, technical and specific knowledge and skills of Call Center employees, recruitment process, training, performance, satisfaction and confidentiality.
The sixth article of the standard titled Infrastructure concerns communication channels, communication management, working environment and backup system.
The seventh article of the standard, processes, deals with agreements between the organization and customers, service statistics, control of deviations, process quality monitoring, labor management, access channels, complaints process, confidentiality and business continuity plans.
The eighth article of the standard is titled as customer satisfaction and the ninth article is social responsibility and has the conditions related to these issues.
What are the principles of the ISO 15838 Standard?
While designing the ISO 15838 standard, which meets the needs of customer-oriented organizations, the following principles are targeted:
- It is important to understand customer demands and expectations. Customer demands and expectations must be taken in a complete, accurate and clear manner. This is necessary to improve the service quality of the organization.
- It is important to establish an appropriate infrastructure. In order to meet customer demands and expectations in a quality way, the right infrastructure must be established.
- It is important to monitor customer perceptions. In order to maintain mutual cooperation and exchange of information with customers, it is necessary to measure, evaluate and monitor the perceptions of customers about the organization. Customer feedback on the quality of the product or service offered and the satisfaction level of the organization in resolving complaints should be followed.
ISO 15838 Standard for which organizations?
In Call Centers, only incoming calls are not answered. External calls are also made. It is an important promotional, sales and marketing channel for organizations as it can establish mutual communication with customers. For this reason, especially the institutions that provide technical support to their customers, insurance companies, banks and financial institutions, tourism companies and agencies, hospitals and such customer-oriented organizations can establish ISO 15838 Call Center Quality Management System and obtain ISO 15838 Certificate.
Call Centers, whose first examples only serve to collect complaints and demands, are now seriously alternative sales channels. Trained and expert people work in these centers. Call Centers account for a significant portion of the operational burden of the organizations. In this way, organizations greatly reduce their operating expenses. Since Call Centers can work independently from time to time, organizations continue to serve their customers on weekends and public holidays. Even in these dead times, organizations can provide many customer services such as appointment services, ordering services, customer support services, sales and marketing services.
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc.Is ready to help with any doubts about ISO 15838 Call Center Quality Management System and ISO 15838 Certificate.