Business in Japan just became affordable Miyazaki helps call centers slash costs - Advertisement

Japan, Inc., Jan, 2003 by Kyoko Fujimoto

A call center used to be just a place where operators answer questions from customers, handle orders and complaints and do sales on the phone. But in recent years, call centers have become important tools in overall corporate strategies.

When a call center was just a center with lots of phones, most companies were focusing only on getting customers and sales. But they slowly started to realize that retaining customers and increasing customer satisfaction were the real keys to long-term success. With new technologies such as OTI and CRM, it now is possible to have more effective call center operations and better customer relations. In fact, questions and complaints from customers can be excellent information sources for understanding market demand and developing better products, and that's why call centers are now regarded as important keys for the success of a company.

Now companies look for well-managed call centers that don't cost an arm and a leg. According to Shigemi Sasaki, Design Division Manager of the major office equipment manufacturer Okamura Corp., personnel expenses make up about 70 percent of the whole cost of a call center. Okamura has a lot of experience in designing call centers and offering total support, and Sasaki says the company has learned that a good call-center environment leads to a happier, more productive work force.

"Many call centers now have a lounge where the staff can rest," says Sasaki. Some are designed quite nicely like a showroom to provide a comfortable working environment for employees as well as to attract customers." He adds that it is important and economical to offer incentives to keep trained employees longer.

Sasaki also says that recently call centers have bigger booths with several people in one team. "It is easier to train new people with open booths. New staff can see how the experienced people deal with problems, and the experienced ones can also give advice easily when there are no walls between them." He says that smooth communication is the best way to train new people and to have them stay longer.

Having an open-booth system also provides flexibility. Most companies have peak business times when they receive more calls, and the open-booth system can help a company respond to those changes. Take the example of telecom giant NTT: It has more calls than usual in the spring, at the start of the fiscal year, and needs to hire temporary staff. By using the open-booth system, these temps can smoothly pick up the training they need by watching the veterans around them.

Some call centers have had luck finding staff because they are located in residential areas, where there are no other call centers around. Sasaki says that housewives and students are the gold mine of human resources. "A call center usually require lots of people, and since it is a center that customer don't have to visit, it doesn't have to be located in a metropolitan area, says Sasaki. "If there is a big university or a residential town nearby, that can be a good spot for a call center. If the staff doesn't have to commute a long way, it also helps a call center operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

But Yoshinori Hirabayashi, Executive Director of call center solution provider HowCom, warns companies operating worldwide to not just locate their call centers in the cheapest place. Since the company was established in 1995, HowCom has been providing help desk operations for IT-related matters to various companies as well as advising companies on call center operations and staff training. Hirabayashi has seen some companies focus solely on cutting cost and decide to locate their call centers in cheaper markets such as China or Singapore. "It is of course true that having a call center in Japan costs more than having it in other Asian countries," he says, "but I wonder if people in other countries can provide the best support for Japanese customers." He warns that support systems and customer satisfaction levels are quite different in different cultures, and just being able to speak Japanese is not enough to provide suitable service.

SEEKING THE BEST LOCATION

Companies that are serious about raising the level of customer satisfaction among Japanese consumers often opt to locate their call centers in Japan. But where in Japan? Many companies focus on Tokyo, the nation's economic engine, but it is also the most expensive location in the nation -- if not the world.

LINC Media, a company offering bilingual support for foreign-affiliated companies in a variety of IT fields, including setting up call centers, recently analyzed a call center with about 40 employees in Tokyo. Costs were roughly JPY17 million per month, and salaries and rent accounted for more than half of the total. But once a company decides to locate a call center farther afield in a less bustling prefecture, costs often plummet.

Many local governments are well aware of the advantages of running a call center in their jurisdictions, and they've been doing their best to lure business. Call centers can create new employment, lead to an increase in office demand, and since operating a call center requires knowledge of computers and networks, it can have a good economic effect for local IT venture companies. Because of these reasons, many local governments are willing to offer various incentives and subsidies to companies looking for call-center space.