Corporations large and small have caught on the financial benefits of the global services revolution. Central this revolution is outsourcing of customer service call centers to places like India , Ireland and the Philippines . Despite sound business planning and advanced techol-ogy, the international call center is a measured success at best. The reason is as obvious as it is elusive: culture! All of us have been there at one time or anoth-er, trying to communicate with a call center agent somewhere and reacting, often negatively, what we feel should have been a simple exchange. Subtle reactions, often with cultural roots, are powerful enough to disrupt the flow of many call centers and to cause companies to reverse their decision to outsource customer service.

Erik Granered argues that business can now use proven cross-cultural manage- ment techniques to reduce the failure rate. He challenges the misguided idea that customer expectations are the same in Amsterdam as they are in Dallas . And those expectations are magnified over the phone, where important communication cues are lost. Global Call Centers reveals how the syntax and rhythm of a phone conversation differs from culture to culture.

The first book of its kind, Global Call centers outlines cultural impact on where you locate your call center, what customers are served from that location, and the optimal business approach to get-ting up and running. Through compelling anecdotes, real-world training tips and country-specific cultural profiles, CEOs, managers and agents alike will achieve much-needed cultural literacy- the new critical success factor in successful global customer service.

Granered explains just how fundamental culture is to good business: “In order to create a successful global call center infrastructure, you need a framework for understanding cultural differences. Why?

Because if you do not have that knowledge, you will make poor decisions. You will open up a call center in the wrong place with untrained agents talking to your best customers. If you know what you are doing, you will open up a call center in the right place, strategically train your agents with measurable positive outcomes, and ensure that they are talking to the appropriate customer segment. In this scenario, you have lowered your costs, improver customer service, and will be hailed as the customer service hero in your company.

At a time when expensive customer relationship management solutions are being questioned, corporations are ready to hear a back-to-basics message about people skill. Global Call Centers delivers the answers, enabling call center man- agers to coach their people on providing world-class customer service. lf done right, the author asserts, “nowhere do we have a greater opportunity for having a positive impact than in the call center, where technology is enabling human inter-action on a massive scale-across the globe, every minute of every houy.”

Erik Granered has over fifeen years experience managing strategic communication and learning for private businesses and organiza-tions. As a former course developer and trainer for Worldcom,s EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa ) customer service operations, he pioneered two unique training programs in cross-cultural communication and call center management specifically targeted at global call center operations. Currently, he is a consultant at Corporate University Enterprise, Inc., an educational consulting firm in Falls Church , Virginia .