“New Zealand contact centres are dynamic, productive and exciting, and very well regarded in the global customer service and sales community.”
That statement is on the back of the cover of the DVD 'NZ Contact Centre Industry Profile', and you will find no argument to that claim in this blog. But, I do have a query about the title of the DVD – in particular the use of the word ‘industry’. Can we really describe contact centres in this way? Isn’t an industry about a product or service – for example, the meat industry, wine industry or telecommunications industry?
After all, contact centres are a part of an organisation they don’t stand alone outside it. Contact centre staff are professionals in the same way that accountants are, but you don’t hear accountants talk about the ‘accounting industry’.
This is to take nothing away from this excellent DVD* which has been put together by Giles Potter from Great Outcomes. It features interviews with contact centre and company managers, as well as from TUANZ chief executive Ernie Newman. It’s simply to ask the question – are contact centres an industry or a profession?
* TUANZ members wanting to purchase the DVD as a training tool receive a special discount, which you can find out about here.