subject: The Best Call Center Backup Plans [print this page] Call centers have become a useful business option to many companies, small and large. These call center services provide businesses with a variety of options to help a company flourish while reducing operating costs. Many companies outsource to open 24/7 communication channels with their customers. Others outsource to cut costs. Whatever the reason for outsourcing, the job of the call center is to professionally represent your company around the clock, no matter what. In the eyes of the customer, the phone answering service is not allowed to go down. So how can call centers stay on line?
More and more businesses are realizing the power of outsourcing to call centers. With the popularity of call centers comes an increased demand, and often an greater strain on the call center itself. Managing a few hundred customers is easy; managing calls for a few thousand becomes difficult. There is more strain on personnel, management, and the technology that is delivering the service. What would happen if your call center were to lose power and shut down? Your customers would suffer. They would turn to a competitor that may have a better backup system. Your customers are counting on you to be there so don't let them down.
If a call center were to lose power, either from a natural disaster or other similar misfortune, every company you answer for would be hurt. The rising popularity of call center outsourcing creates business opportunities for other companies that exist to support the call center industry. Many companies are now emerging that offer setup and maintenance of emergency power solutions specific to call centers. It is important for call centers to remain active, even when a disaster may strike. Power generators can offer outstanding reliability and performance. For data failsafe plans, redundant internet lines from multiple carriers offer a redundancy against data line interruption. Other call center backup protocols involve multiple telephone lines from different VoIP carriers including backup analog lines to keep the call lines open in case of disaster.
Power loss in call centers is something that is protected against the most. A power generator on standby for these call centers is a necessity to keep the call center from, well, shutting down. For call centers contracting with industry specific power solution companies, most will visit your site each month to conduct tests to assure everything is working properly. Having a generator or emergency power solution installed is a detailed task that must be done by certified engineers. Translation - it's better to let qualified professionals handle this as opposed to having a generator parked in your utility closet thinking that will suffice.
Another popular redundancy is having other call centers in your network available to answer telephone calls should you go down. If you are fortunate enough to have a call center network, make sure everyone is using a shared software platform that is hosted offsite and has multiple redundant backups. Part of rolling your calls over to a "sister center" means they already have your clients information programmed in their computers and are able to answer your calls. Please note that if this is part of your backup plan, your customers need to be forwarding to toll free lines, not DID lines. If they are forwarding to toll free numbers, each can be easily redirected to the DID number at the other call center. Unfortunately, if your customers are forwarding direct to the DID, they are stuck until you get your service back up.
