When do you need a bureau?

Contact centres are very good at delivering what their name implies.  A point of contact.  Repetitive, information based processes are ideally performed in a contact centre.  The agent delivers a verbal conveyor belt of customer service.

Call centre agents handle a predictable product.  The agent fields calls within their scope of training and expertise.  Managers can accurately predict call handling times, operating costs and customer satisfaction levels.

Help desks are a perfect example.  Qualified staff members offer callers immediate access to assistance.  Electronic account payment processing, is another service function cost effectively performed by a contact centre.  Reservations, service call-outs, data base management, sales campaigns are all tasks well suited to a call centre environment.

When is a contact centre not the solution to our service delivery requirements?  When do we need a dedicated agency or bureau to deliver customer satisfaction?

There are two key determinants.  When the task moves from basic to complex.  Or when face to face interaction is required.

The key question is: When is the predictability of service delivery no longer apparent and interpretative action necessary?

World wide airline reservations are managed by call centres utilising powerful technological platforms.  The systems keep track of every bottom booked on every seat.  They maintain the contact details of passengers, their dietary requirements and their itinerary as they traverse the globe.

However, what task do the airlines require a centralised, co-ordinated bureau or agency to perform?  What is it the all knowing, high tech reservation system cannot carry out? 

Ticketing: the flimsy piece of red carbon-backed paper that details who the passengers are and where they are going.

The issuing of paper tickets requires manual labour to ensure accuracy, security and co-ordination of printing and distribution.  The issuing of tickets is complicated, critical and fraught with procedural technicalities. It is a ten-times more costly option than electronic ticketing.  But until paper tickets are totally phased out, the airlines maintain teams of dedicated, local agency staff. 

Handling of cash is another instance where a secure agency environment may be necessary.  Electronic banking is eliminating many such shop front agencies, however many organisations will continue to require walk up, face to face cash handling facilities.

Continuity and quality of service may demand a dedicated agent in an accessible location.  Government departments dealing with welfare, medical or legal issues often need sole and ready access to client information.  Privacy and confidentiality necessitates a secure environment.  The client, too, needs face to face access to their case worker.

The cost of running an agency structure may be offset by a “shared services” structure.  The services delivered by the agency may also be required by other businesses.  Economies of scale can be achieved, particularly if the service is administrative or human resource based and can be shared with non-competitors or other departments.

A bureau is necessary when the human intervention factor is required.  In complex procedural tasks the left hand must know what the right hand is doing.  When data or financial security is imperative and personal accountability is necessary.  If your customer requires face to face contact then you need to consider an agency structure for service delivery.