Modern Technology has offered today’s business owner and customer massive flexibility in how they are able to do business.  Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) technology, which refers to the linkage and interdependent relationships between computers and telephones, has given rise to the ability to move telephone centered business operations offsite, even as far as across the globe (the rise in customer service and technical support operations of English speaking companies being relocated to India is commonly known).  Additionally, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology’s emergence allows for traditional telephone line service to be eliminated altogether within a business, since telephone operations can be handled with a computer with a broadband connection.

Anyone who has ever called customer or technical support for a product or service, or who has shopped online, or even who has received a collections call, sales call, or political message call, has likely been in contact with someone working at what has come to be known as a Call Center.  Call centers are, quite simply, offices set up solely to manage telephone interactions between businesses and their clients.

CTI technology permits call center employees to be linked to the business they represent via computer, allowing these employees the ability to check stock, research help-desk solutions, and answer questions while not being located at or even employed by the business they represent (call center employees are frequently employed by the call center’s owner, an independent entity).  In fact, a call center employee is able to manage incoming and/or outgoing calls from/to multiple different companies during a work day.

How the call center’s technology works will depend on what kinds of call center solutions the company chooses to use. There are numerous different models, software, and hardware available. Employees use features such as automatic dial, where the computer dials all calls for them automatically.  Other features permit storage of phone interactions, and interactions between telephone and computer to provide quick solutions and answers to consumer questions.  These call center solutions, as they are termed in the industry, can permit a call center employee to address many issues without ever having stepped into the manufacturing plant or main office of the business they represent over the phone.