Abstract
The economic sector of contact centers is growing by more than 8% a year. It is a multidisciplinary area in which information systems are decisive to organizations’ success. Contact Centers’ Information Systems deal with real time requisites and critical business information. A theory-building research shows a framework with 12 key design factors to consider, which managers might use to develop projects and researchers may adopt for further investigation in the area of Contact Center design. This work intends to provide a valuable link between the research community and practitioners in industry.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adria M., Chowdhury S. (2004) Centralization as a design consideration for the management of call centers. Information & Management 41(4): 497–507
Aksin O. Z., Harker P. T. (2003) Capacity sizing in the presence of a common shared resource: Dimensioning an inbound call center. European Journal of Operational Research 147(3): 464–483
Aksin O.Z., Wéricourt F. et al (2008) Call center outsourcing contract design and choice. Managemnet Science 54(2): 354–368
Aksin Z., Armony M. et al (2007) The modern call-center: A multi-disciplinary perspective on operations management reserach. Production and Operations Management 16(6): 665–688
AtlasonJ. Epelman M.A. et al (2004) Call Center staffing with simulation and cutting plane methods. Annals of Operations Research 127(1–4): 333–358
Avramidis, A. N., & L’Ecuyer, P. (2005). Modeling and simulation of call centers. In Proceedings of the 2005 Winter Simulation Conference (pp. 144–152).
Boehm B. W. (1996) Anchoring the software process. IEEE Software 13(4): 73–82
Cameron K., Quinn R. (1988) Organizational paradox and transformation. In: Quinn R., Cameron K. (eds) Paradox and Transformation. Ballinger, Cambridge, MA, pp 1–18
Cardoso, J. (2000). Unified customer interaction TM: Gestão do Relacionamento num Ambiente Misto de Interacção Self e Assistida. Lisboa, Centro Atlântico.
Cohen, H. S. (1980). Measuring and modeling user satisfaction with telephone switching and transmission performance. In 9th International Symposium on Human Factors in Telecommunications. New Jersey: Red Bank.
Commerce, O. o. G: (2005) Managing successful projects with PRINCE2. TSO, London
Demarco T. (1997) The deadline. Dorset House Publishing, New York
Demiriz A., Akbilek N. (2009) A framework for balanced service and cross-selling by using queuing science. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing 20(2): 249–257
Deslauriers J. P. (1991). Recherce qualitative: Guide pratique. Montréal: Chenelière Éducation/McGraw-Hill.
Economist (2005). Business: Busy signals; Indian call centres. Economist, 376(8443), 60.
Eisenhardt K. M. (1989) Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14(4): 532–550
Evenson, A., Harker, P. T., et al. (2001). Effective call center management: Evidence from financial services. Knowledge@Wharton The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania.
Ewusi-Mensah K. (2003) Software development failures. MIT Press, Cambridge
Fortin, M.-F. (1999). O Processo de Investigação: Da concepção à realização, Lusociência—Edições Técnicas e Científicas, Lda.
Gaballa A., Pearce W. (1979) Telephone sales manpower planning at Qantas. Interfaces 9(3): 1–9
Gans N., Koole G. et al (2003a) Telephone call centers: Tutorial, review and research prospects. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 5(2): 79–141
Gans N., Zhou Y.-P. (2003b) A call-routing problem with service-level constraints. Operations Research 51(2): 255–271
Gans N. (2007) Call-routing schemes for call-center outsourcing. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 9(1): 33–50
Gao, J., Yao, Y., Zhu, V. C. Y., Sun, L., & Lin, L. (2009). Service-oriented manufacturing: A new product pattern and manufacturing paradigm. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. doi:10.1007/s10845-009-0301-y.
Ghezzi C., Jazayeri M., Mandriolli D. (2003) Fundamentals of software engineering. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Graumann M., Arnold H.J. et al (2003) Call centers: A case study on the interplay between organization and information technology. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance 28(1): 111–126
Gravon H. (1966) The captive wife. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Londres
Hawkins, L., Meier, T., Nainis, W. S., & James, H. M. (2001). The evolution of the call center to customer contact center. ITSC—Information Technology Support Center. Retrieved 9 February 2008, from the World Wide Web: http://www.itsc.state.md.us/PDF/CallCenterEvolutionC4Final.pdf.
Holman, D., Batt, R., et al. (2007). The global contact center report: International perspectives on management and employment.
Institute, B. S. (2000). BS 6079-1: 2000 project management: Guide to project management: Part 1. BSI Standards.
Klein H., Myers M. (1999) A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. MIS Quarterly 23(1): 67–93
Koole G., Mandelbaum A. (2002) Queueing models of call centers: An introduction. Annals of Operations Research 113: 41–59
Kruchten P. (1996) A rational development process. Crosstalk 9(7): 11–16
Linberg K. (1999) Software developer perceptions about software project failure: A case study. Journal of Systems and Software 49(2): 177–192
Mandelbaum A. (2004) Call centers (Centres)—Research bibliography with abstracts, version 6. Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
Mandelbaum A., Sakov A. (2001) Empirical analysis of a call center. Technical Report. Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
Miles M. B., Huberman A. M. (1994) Qualitative data analysis. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California
Mintzberg H. (1979) An emerging strategy of “direct” research. Administrative Science Quartely 24: 580–589
Morris, P. (2001). Researching the unanswred questions of project management. In Procedings of the PMI Research Conference, Paris.
Moser C. A., Kalton G. (1971) Survey methods in social investigation. Heinemann, Londres
Myers M. D. (1997) Qualitative research in information systems. MIS Quarterly 21(2): 241–242
O’Sullivan, D., Rolstadås, A., & Filos, E. (2008). Global education in manufacturing strategy. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. doi:10.1007/s10845-009-0326-2.
Pandit, N. R. (1996). The creation of theory: A recent application of the grounded theory method. The Qualitative Report, 2(4). http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR2-4/pandit.html.
Pfleeger S. L. (2001) Software engineering – Theory and practice. Prentice-Hall, Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ
PMI. (2000). PMBok—A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Standards Comittee of The Project Management Institute (PMI).
Pressman R. (2000) Software engineering—A practitioner’s approach. McGraw-Hill, New York
Samuelson D. A. (1999) Predictive dialing for outbound telephone call centers. Interfaces 29(5): 66–94
Schneidewind, N. (2009). What can software engineers learn from manufacturing to improve software process and product? Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. doi:10.1007/s10845-009-0322-6.
Schwalbe K. (2002) Information technology project management. Course Tecnhology, Cambridge
Selltiz C., Jahoda M. (1962) Research methods in social relations. Rinehart & Winston, New York
Shenhar, A., Renier, J., et al. (1996). Improving PM: Linking success criteria to project type. http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/improvingpm/intro.htm. Accessed 9 February 2008.
Standish Group. (1996). Unfinished Voyages. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/unfinished_voyages_1.php. Accessed 20 July 2008.
Standish Group. (1998). Chaos: A recipe for success. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/PDFpages/chaos1998.pdf. Accessed 20 July 2008.
Standish Group. (2001). Chaos report 2001. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/chaos_2001_1.php. Accessed 20 December 2008.
Standish Group. (2004). Projects success rate. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/chaos_2001_1.php. Access- ed 20 December 2008.
Standish Group. (2006). Projects success rate. http://www.standishgroup.com/sample_research/PDFpages/q3-spotlight.pdf. Accessed 20 December 2008.
Strauss A., Corbin J. (1990) Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, California
Walsham G. (1995) The emergence of interpretivism in IS research. Information Systems Research 6(4): 376–394
Whitt W. (2002) Stochastic models for the design and management of customer contact centers: Some research directions. Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Columbia University, New York
Whitt W. (2005) Engineering solution of basic call center model. Management Science 51(2): 221–235
Wilson H. S. (1985) Research in nursing. Addison-Wesley, Menlo Park
Yetton P., Martin A. et al (2000) A model of information systems development project performance. Information Systems Journal 10(4): 263–289
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rijo, R., Varajão, J. & Gonçalves, R. Contact center: information systems design. J Intell Manuf 23, 497–515 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-010-0389-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-010-0389-0