High five to James of OTB, who tips me off to this neat NYTimes article about outsourcing in the fast food industry.
The order taker is in a call center in Colorado Springs, more than 900 miles away, connected to the customer and to the workers preparing the food by high-speed data lines...
Cheap, quick and reliable telecommunications lines let the order takers in Colorado Springs converse with customers in Missouri, take an electronic snapshot of them, display their order on a screen to make sure it is right, then forward the order and the photo to the restaurant kitchen.
I think this is a brilliant idea. Because the call centers handle numerous franchises, this a profitable move and the system has "cut order time by 30 seconds, reduced errors by 50 percent and saved on labor".
My only concern: Handling the mistakes that are inevitably made. Though less mistakes are made, I'm interested to see how consistent and correct the system reaction is?
By the time you get out of the parking lot an realize there a pickles on your burger, the person who answered your call would most likely be helping someone else, so will the call be reconnected to whomever answers the phone at the clearing house?
I find it aggravating and inefficient when I am on the phone with a customer service representative and I am put on hold only or am disconnected, only to have to the call answered by a different representative and forced to resume the conversation with and retrace my steps, have them find my order information again, etc... So it seems like unless they have a solid system for correcting orders, though 50% less mistakes are made customers who have mistakes in there order are 60% more annoyed.
My lack of car, disgust with fast-food, and geographical relation to Missouri, will all make it hard for me to follow up any of this, but we'll see.
The order taker is in a call center in Colorado Springs, more than 900 miles away, connected to the customer and to the workers preparing the food by high-speed data lines...
Cheap, quick and reliable telecommunications lines let the order takers in Colorado Springs converse with customers in Missouri, take an electronic snapshot of them, display their order on a screen to make sure it is right, then forward the order and the photo to the restaurant kitchen.
I think this is a brilliant idea. Because the call centers handle numerous franchises, this a profitable move and the system has "cut order time by 30 seconds, reduced errors by 50 percent and saved on labor".
My only concern: Handling the mistakes that are inevitably made. Though less mistakes are made, I'm interested to see how consistent and correct the system reaction is?
By the time you get out of the parking lot an realize there a pickles on your burger, the person who answered your call would most likely be helping someone else, so will the call be reconnected to whomever answers the phone at the clearing house?
I find it aggravating and inefficient when I am on the phone with a customer service representative and I am put on hold only or am disconnected, only to have to the call answered by a different representative and forced to resume the conversation with and retrace my steps, have them find my order information again, etc... So it seems like unless they have a solid system for correcting orders, though 50% less mistakes are made customers who have mistakes in there order are 60% more annoyed.
My lack of car, disgust with fast-food, and geographical relation to Missouri, will all make it hard for me to follow up any of this, but we'll see.
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