After-Call Work

Best Cake I Ever Tasted

2008-09-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

My wife recently celebrated her birthday and for food she said she wanted something different. She was craving for a certain garlic pancit sontanghon that her mom brought home one time. So she called her up asking where she bought the pancit and her mom said that she got it from BF Homes in Paranaque from a certain Conti's Pastry Shop and Restaurant. My wife immediately hit click the city and did a search for the restaurant. She then got my attention by asking me if remembered the garlic sontanghon that her mom brought one time and I said "of course" and I distinctly remembered that it was particularly yummy. She then showed me the site and asked me "what if just ordered out?" I said sure and then it hit me, the name of the restaurant sounded familiar because I remember one of my supervisor's bringing a cake at work she called choco overload and I saw a distinct green and yellow box with the name Conti's on it. I then started telling my wife how divine their chocolate cake was... Let me tell you I am not a big fan of cakes and pastries but this was definitely something that I liked and enjoyed. I suggested that we might as well try their cake.

Last Saturday I scoped out Conti's Greenhills and did my initial survey. It was a posh and quaint restaurant located in Connecticut and when I got in, the place was jammed-packed, I guess this says a lot about the food and I bet people wouldn't go of their way if they know that it was worth the trip.

We decided to try the sans rival and we definitely made the right choice. It was literally mouth-watering. This is definitely going to be a tradition in our household -- overall this is one of the best cakes I ever tasted, I can't wait to try the rest and explore their diverse entree.

Sleeping Positions and Personality

2008-09-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed yourself sleeping?... I know it's kind of hard but ask someone who can observe and tell you how you sleep, particularly what position you take. In a study conducted by sleep expert Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, suggested a correlation between six common sleeping positions and the personality traits of the sleepers themselves.

Fetal Position (41%) Curled up on your side, holding the pillow. The most popular sleeping position, this one was favored by 51% of the women in the study. The personality of these sleepers tends to be shy and sensitive, though they may present a tough exterior to the world.

Soldier Position (8%) Flat on your back with arms at your sides. Indicates a quiet and reserved personality who sets high standards.

Starfish Position (5%) Lying on your back with arms and legs outstretched. Indicates a good listener who makes friends easily, but prefers not to be the center of attention.

Freefall Position (7%) Flat on your stomach with arms at the head or ears. Indicates a brash and gregarious exterior who may inwardly be nervous and sensitive to criticism.

Log Position (15%) On your side with legs outstretched and arms at your sides. Indicates a social, easygoing personality.

Yearner Position (13%) Similar to the log, but with arms outstretched. Said to indicate a suspicious and cynical personality.

Hellboy 2 Review

2008-09-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to watch an advance screening of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army and I must admit that it was worth every penny or should I say every minute (Thanks Angel). The movie is about 110 minutes long and easygoing, funny with a lot of metaphysics and is packed with an ensemble of moods and elements. The story revolves around an ancient truce between the elves and the humans that has been broken by an elf prince (Luke Gross) when he sets a quest to seek the only artifact that can control an ancient indestructible mechanical army that he intends to awaken to bring "order" to the succumbed human world. Back at the top-secret paranormal government lab/agency where Hellboy (Ron Perlman) works, he's faced with a new boss and authority figure Dr. Johann Kraus - a gaseous entity in a containment suit (resembles a diving suit voiced by Seth MacFarlane). Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), Red's sidekick, friend and resident know-it-all returns and finds romance with the sister of the elf prince (played by Anna Walton).

Some Highlights:
** Red's love affair with the combustible Liz Sherman (Selma Blair)
** Barry Manilow's "I Can't Smile Without You"
** That elf prince has got some serious moves
** Hellboy, a baby in one hand and an oversize gun in the other, top it off with a giant, angry plant.

HELLBOY II: The Golden Army

Directed by Guillermo del Toro; written by Mr. del Toro, based on a story by Mr. del Toro and Mike Mignola and on the Dark Horse comic by Mr. Mignola; director of photography, Guillermo Navarro; edited by Bernat Vilaplana; music by Danny Elfman; production designer, Stephen Scott; creature and makeup effects by Mike Elizalde; produced by Lawrence Gordon, Mike Richardson and Lloyd Levin; released by Universal Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. WITH: Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Selma Blair (Liz Sherman), Doug Jones (Abe Sapien/Chamberlain/Angel of Death), Jeffrey Tambor (Tom Manning), Luke Goss (Prince Nuada), Anna Walton (Princess Nuala), Seth MacFarlane (voice of Johann Kraus) and John Hurt (Trevor Buttenholm).

Fancy Your Footwear

2008-09-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

You can tell a lot from a person's shoes... Believe it or not there was a research conducted in Lancaster University in the UK, whose primary concern was with how shoes function as a communication code in everyday life. The project revolves on the study of:

1. How shoes themselves can communicate aspects of a wearer's or organization's personality and attitudes.

2. how people talk about shoes and themselves using everyday language - what words they use and how these words vary from context to context and from language to language.

Areas of Research

Shoes and the communication of personality
Footwear terminology - comparative studies in a number of languages
Connotative meanings of shoe styles
Shoes and corporate image
Students' attitudes to footwear - cross-cultural study in Germany, Poland and Russia
Interaction effects of shoe styles on perception of verbal communications

Sounds as if the guys who conducted this research couldn't come up with a decent thesis proposal or just has a really huge thing with feet. I on the other hand merely narrowed my observations on the indigenous footwear of the call center industry and the psychology behind it. Just said that to sound as if there was some research done but naah, I'll give you a run down of the usual footwear I see on the floor.

First off, you have about 60-70% of your FTE wearing sneakers for the obvious reason that it's comfortable . Most popular of which include canvas shoes, cross training shoes, running shoes, basketball shoes and the like. They have a huge variety to chose from: nike, adidas, puma, reebok, vans, pony and of course the most popular, converse, Chuck Taylors in particular. I have the low-cut basic black, I admit they're one of the most comfortable shoes I have.

Second, you have your leather shoes (including boots) and loafers. Levels 5 and up usually sport this mainly because it's status quo for them. The spiffiest I see who wear these come from the Training Team (usually the best-dressed and anyone who works in the industry can attest to that).

Lastly, we have the flip flops which include slippers, happy feet, havianas, I'll include crocs here and sandals. These are not usually allowed, but hey I see them anyway. Regardless of what you wear the good thing about it is that nonbody gives a hoot about your preferences.

Evolution of the Call Center Fashion

2008-09-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

During the dawn of the booming BPO (Business Processing and Outsourcing) industry aka call center industry during the late 90's, none, if not little is known about the exact fashion sense of the type then. One can only speculate what the pioneers of the industry sported. It was assumed that they usually adapted the usual yuppie-type, stiff, business to semi formal-ish apparel. Given that the industry's usual service window revolve around US business hours which is about 10pm Manila time and extends up until the wee hours in the morning, the group did not see the relevance of donning the rigid attire. This was later justified when some wise cracks raised the fact that their customers doesn't even get to see them.

I haven't been around in the industry that long to actually give you an in depth narrative on the evolution of the call center fashion but I can tell you one thing though, you can definitely tell whether the person you run into works for the industry with the stuff he/she wears.

Outsourcing and Sarah Palin

2008-09-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

In a recent editorial from India Daily: India's outsourcing industry could be in jeopardy as McCain's vice-presidential choice, Sarah Palin is somewhat of a social ultra-conservative. Unlike US president George Bush and Senetor McCain she will put US interest first before allowing ruthless outsourcing at the expense of American well paid jobs.

Governor palin is a stonch follower of Pat Buchanan who strongly opposes illegal immigration, HiB visa and outsourcing that takes away American jobs. Palin will go after US corporations that export jobs overseas. With this said, what could it entail for the Filipino's outsourcing industry?

Call Center Employees and Sleep Disorders

2008-09-01T03:21:00.000-07:00

Sleep deprivation is probably the number one drawback of being a call center agent. Employees working in the IT call centers and BPO's can suffer from these sleep problems for the following reasons:

They keep odd hours to be able to service the US. (They are often better from a health perspective when working with companies from the UK, based on time zone differences.)
When they deprive themselves of sleep, we see several things happen -- everything from cognitive dysfunction (They answer questions poorly, and do not come up with creative solutions.) to health problems (Mainly, immunosuppression -- they get sick more easily since they cannot fight disease -- and this means higher absenteeism.)

They drink caffeine throughout the night to stay awake. This causes several problems, from autonomic nervous system side effects (the jitters) to not being able to relax once they are off of work.

Call Center Operations

2008-09-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

Call Center Operations

Operational excellence in the Call Center is like organizing and managing a successful event. Knowing the correct procedures of operations to excel and succeed to meet and exceed the customer requirements, their retention is a key to achieving operating organizational goals. By letting operational technologies unburden routine tasks, the call centers are capable of assuming any type of call campaigns at a lower cost.

Whether the need for reduced turnover, improved sales and service, or address of training and development issues, the call centers deliver the right tools to improve the quality of operations for the clients and subsequent achievement of goals.

The essential features of call center operations include :

Organization design and staff planning
Assessing organizational and personnel needs
Defining functions and creating job descriptions
Training and coaching programs.
Call Centre Managers
Different criteria for hiring supervisors
Training recommendations
Roles and responsibilities of the Managers
Professional development for Managers
Customer service representatives (CSRs)
Qualities to look for in the CSRs while hiring them
Processes for developing CSR knowledge, skills and abilities
Measuring CSR performance
Quality Assurance Programs
Defining QA measurements
Developing measurement methodologies and processes
Improving the feedback process for CSRs
Future changes and recommendations in quality monitoring
Improvement initiatives
Changes with impact on call center efficiency
Overall ranking of improvement initiatives
Future improvement initiatives
Short-term changes planned
Long-term changes planned
Outsourcing
Business reasons for outsourcing
Performance objectives
Customer satisfaction performance objectives
Ranking of performance objectives
Biggest mistakes in CRM
Customer Relationship Management
Elements of CRM strategy and its challenges
Negative and positive reactions to CRM
Work-flow systems and procedures
Process mapping and developing service agreements and procedures
Defining compensation plans
Change Management programs
This generates the positive gains desired throughout the organization

Call Center Basics

2008-08-31T05:12:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Call Center Basics

Call Centers are talked about everywhere these days - probably because they affect our lives in so many ways. Whatever product or service we may buy, on many occasions we will end up dealing with one. But first, how does one define a call center? Let's try; A call center is defined as the part of an organization that deals with inbound or outbound communications with customers. It is a centralized office of a company that answers incoming telephone calls from customers or makes outgoing telephone calls to customers. They can handle a considerable volume of calls at the same time and can also log calls. It is the focal point of customer service for most companies today. Using a variety of technologies including computer automation, call centers connect the customer and the organization to meet customer needs in real time. Call centres are critical to support the marketing and customer service functions of many large companies. Most top Fortune 500 companies has at least one call centre which employs an average 4,500 agents. More than $300 billion is spent on call centres around the world.

Types of Call Centers

Call Centers may be divided into various types according to their functions and areas of operation. Most commonly call centers are divided into inbound call center and outbound call center. In an inbound call center, agents receive calls from customers who need to obtain information or report a mal function. In an outbound call center, agents initiate a call to a customer mostly to sell a product or a service. Please click on the links to find out more on Call Center Types.

Call centers can be divided into three groups:

Those that focus on outgoing calling
Those that focus on incoming calls
Those that are established to accomplish multiple tasks

BPO (business process outsourcing) is the act of transferring some of an organization's repeated non-core and core business processes to an outside provider to achieve cost reductions while improving service quality. Because the processes are repeated and a long-term contract is used, outsourcing goes far beyond the use of consultants. If done well, BPO results in increasing shareholder value. The main difference between BPO and more traditional IT outsourcing is that BPO offers companies a way of achieving transformational outcomes much more quickly. In a typical BPO contract, a service provider takes over a specific corporate function. Effective BPO encompasses much more than just changing who is responsible for performing the process. In BPO, the outside provider not only takes on the responsibility to manage the function or business process, but also re-engineers the way the process has been traditionally done. Re-engineering includes implementing new technology or applying the existing technology in a new way to improve the process. That tends to be the hard part.