A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

Research Studies Project Report (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001

The Internet has not only changed the way people shop, communicate, and live, but it has also changed the way companies do business. Since the Web removes geographic and time-zone baniers, the smallest online merchant becomes a global enterprise and must be able to compete effectively with larger, more established corporations. The Internet provides a new, flexible, and effective channel for marketing, sales, service and distribution functions. The Web also gives rise to a number of powe1ful customer contact opportunities and is, by its nature, interactive. For these and other reasons, many companies are looking to combine the Internet and the call centre into a rich - and potentially lucrative - new means of interacting with customers. Integrating the call centre with the Web gives rise to exciting new possibilities for customer interaction, including e-mail and online chats. Whether a business Web-integrates its call centre, or call centre-integrates its Web site, doing either affords numerous benefits. A Web-enabled call centre allows a business to differentiate itself from competitors by providing new and useful services. In addition, efficiency improvements can help boost company performance through reduced costs, or higher revenues for equivalent expenditures. A call centre is thus a possibly useful and powe1ful addition to the information system of any organization or business. It cannot function in isolation, but is situated where the various modern communication technologies flow together. Its operation is designed in such a way that it delivers the coITect information to the caller in the shortest possible time - independently of the technology used to request the information.