Technical Note: Call Centers and Rapid Technological Change

At between $120 billion and $150 billion in expenditures, the call center is among the larger services in the U.S. economy, and its 25 percent volume growth rate is fast propelling it higher on that list. Nearly 90 percent of all banks use some form of call center to perform stages of sales, delivery, and product support, making call centers more ubiquitous than the better-known tools of database marketing and just-in-time manufacturing. This case examines the nature of the modern call center, and the technology that makes it possible for call centers (and the businesses they serve) to run smoothly.