The
industry I chose to discuss is call-center operations. I chose this industry as
I have quite a bit of experience. I have worked for Comcast for over six years
and spent that time in residential sales as well as my current role with
Comcast business. Comcast is one of the largest telecommunications companies in
the country and employ thousands of individuals from the U.S. and abroad. With
Comcast being a customer-based company, Distributive call centers are a
critical part of business operations for Comcast. Comcast utilizes call centers
for many functions such as technical support, sales and sales support,
retention, collections, and tech ops support and has call centers all over the
U.S. as well as internationally. Comcast also has many employees who work remotely
which allows for more productivity.
Every
center has a unique job function, and computers, along with technology, are
essential tools employees use to assist with their roles. According to James
Patterson, with technology being part of everyday life, companies utilizing
technology in customer service roles not only benefits the customers but helps
with business goals as well. (Patterson, J. 2015, para. 4). One specific center
we can take a closer look at is the Business Support Center where I currently
work. Every employee in this center uses a computer for everyday tasks.
Computers are an essential part of our jobs as we could not perform any
required tasks without them. We use computers to build accounts, process
contracts, communicate with other departments as well as conducting in house
training among many other tasks.
It
is imperative for individuals to be computer literate while working in these
call centers as employees will need to utilize many different programs such as
word processing and spreadsheets. Individuals are also required to understand
how to properly use email and messenger applications, as all internal
communications typically happen via email and messengers. Along with these
essential programs, employees are also required to use the companies billing
systems when processing orders. These systems require a strong understanding of
computers as these systems can be very complex.
With
the current speed at which computing is advancing, the future can be very
beneficial to call centers. Although Comcast utilizes a worldwide network for
business operations, there are still some issues we employees run into on
occasion. Some issues include problems with programs such as salesforce or the
billing systems. These issues arise periodically and usually occurs towards the
end of the fiscal month as more individuals are accessing Comcast systems than
usual. With more traffic on the network, programs sometimes crash, and the
network slows. As computing and networking advances over the years, so will the
center's operations. I have already seen advancements within my role, such as
updated computers and operating systems, as well as upgraded networks. I can
only assume that the more this technology advances, the more the call centers
will take advantage of these advancements. Computers are the backbone of call
centers, and it is crucial to keep up with advances in computing, operating
systems, and networking for these centers to be successful.
References:
Patterson J. (2015) Just how
important Technology is to Customer Service in Today’s Time. Retrieved from
http:// transcosmos.co.uk
