Why every call center in the Philippines still use the landline

Tuesday, March 4, 2014


Every call center in the Philippines is aware that in the time of smartphones and tablets, there are customers who no longer choose to communicate with the brand through the telephone. This reality has prompted many people to think that customer service through the traditional landline is close to extinction.

However, numbers have it that traditional customer service through the phone is here to stay. And independent technology and market research firm Forrester has numbers to prove it.

Up to this very day, 79% of consumers still prefer phone conversations when directing a query or complaint to a brand, while the remaining 21% prefer email, web self-service, automated phone system and conversation, web chat, online phone call, snail mail, text, and social media.

Moreover, people choose free online phone call services like Skype and Yahoo Messenger if they do not have a landline. Customers also think that in the next two years, online call services will be the next big thing, as less and less homes prefer to not have landlines and have sturdy Internet connection instead. Email, web self service, chat, snail mail, social media, text, fax, and video conference will continue to be in fashion in that same period of time.

The multi-channeling trend will continue to change the way customer service firms, like call centers in the Philippines, interact with their market. To date, 72% of contact centers have their customer service centered on phone, 12% on self-service (Web options), 10% on email, 2% on snail mail, 2% on chat, and 1% on fax.

The call center industry will continue to flourish across the globe


Forrester says that in order to keep abreast with the flourishing contact center industry, companies must hire more talented professional to handle the many incoming calls for customer service complaints and queries, especially the ones that will be coming from the phone.

In America alone, 3.5 million professionals are working for a contact center. This number accepts over 45.4 billion inbound calls per year on average, which is equals to $5.90 per call. In the world, there are more female call center agents than male. Eighty-six percent of these agents serve local, regional, and national markets, while 14% serve international markets. A large percentage of the latter are those who are working for call centers outside America, including those working for a call center in the Philippines. Seventy-nine percent receive inbound calls, while 21% make outbound solicitations.

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