Call centres combine the use of highly effective and empowered company representatives with a service framework that relies heavily on state-of-the-art communications and information technologies. A call centre is sometimes defined as a telephone based shared
service centre for specific customer activities and are used for number of customer related functions like marketing, selling, information dispensing, advice, technical support etc. .

Thus, a call centre is a service centre which has adequate telecom facilities, trained consultants, access to wide database, Internet and other on-line information support infrastructure to provide information and support to customers. It operates to provide round the clock and year round service i.e.24 x 365 service.

The use of call centre is undergoing enormous growth due to importance attached by companies to customer care, telemarketing for product offerings, telebanking, concept of direct response television and home shopping, market liberalisation of utilities, growth of direct marketing etc.

In addition, telemarketing is growing and information lines are forming part of many product service offerings. Telephone banking has led to call centre growth in the financial services sector, while in retail the increase in direct response television and home shopping have driven call centre growth. Market liberalisation of utilities has also been a key driver of call centre growth. Finally, the growth of direct marketing has also contributed to the popularity of call centres as a means of reaching targeted customer bases.

Call Centres provide large and small international enterprises with the unique ability to establish a presence in foreign markets without the expense and complexity of owning and managing their own infrastructure. A call centre with good metrics and good data capture abilities represents a credible marketplace intelligence system. A call centre can be seen as a window to the marketplace and is also a window to the client organisation allowing call centre operators to see weakness in client organisations which could represent business opportunities in future.

Call centre originally conceived as a separate and individual distribution channel of customer care system has been transformed into integrated customer management system.

With the enabling of integration of call centre and Internet technology, call centres of future will handle telephone, fax, web, internet and interactive TV enquiries on 24x7 basis. These combined Internet Call Centres or ‘Customer Contact Centres’ will shape the future of call
centre design .