Call center crimes & misdemeanors: There’s no place like home…

Sometimes, getting at the truth of what’s going on with a call center supplier requires a lot of detective work. It may take multiple meetings – and even a change in management – to get a straight answer about a persistent issue, as in my story about the supplier who was giving all the best call agents to another client.

But just as often, a few simple questions will reveal critical problems with a supplier.

A few years ago, I was visiting suppliers as part of an RFP process. One of the basic IT questions we had for every supplier was about security and tape storage. At one site, I confirmed that tape storage was, indeed, off premise – but the storage location left me shaking my head.

The problem? The supplier’s storage “facility” was the home of an IT technician!

The supplier wasn’t lying when they claimed to have off-site tape storage, but obviously this storage location was completely unacceptable. It would have been easy to assume that “off-site” meant somewhere secure and up to industry standards and check it off the list. Simply asking “where?” got at the truth and saved us from partnering with a supplier who would have put our data at risk.

Even if 99 out of 100 suppliers give you the right answer to basic questions, you have to keep asking. The 100th answer may be very surprising, and what you learn could save you a lot of grief.

Do you have a call center story to share?
If you have experience working with call center suppliers or internal support teams, you probably have your own “I can’t believe they really said that” stories. I hope you’ll take a few moments to leave a comment and share your experience.

–Bryan Digiorgio