(Orlando, Florida) – 10 June 2008 – The contact center industry values insights about culture. According to Erik Granered, Leader of ITAP International’s Call Center Practice, “Culture informs the extent to which communication is considered satisfactory.” Companies leverage the impact of culture on agent-caller interaction for competitive advantage.

Speaking at the Contact Center Industry Summit in Orlando, Florida, Granered reminded industry specialists that agents’ successful interaction with customers depends on many more factors than accent. To dramatize his point, he paused, and looked at his audience. In some cultures, he explained, pauses are acceptable; they communicate respect, allowing the other person to complete their thoughts. But in the US and many European countries pauses are not acceptable. Silence is perceived as a waste of time; it is a sign of hostility and repressed anger

Erik Granered is the author of Global Call Centers: Achieving Outstanding Customer Service Across Cultures and Time Zones. At ITAP International, he helps companies to:

• Locate call centers in the right geography
• Understand the cross-cultural dynamic that underlines communication
• Train agents with the appropriate techniques for dealing with communication barriers
• Use tools that create positive interaction between agents and customers
• Manage agents across borders (country / culture)
• Upgrade the skills and leadership capabilities of call center managers

Cass Mercer Bing, Managing Director of ITAP Americas, who also attended the Contact Center Industry Summit, said, “Culture is also a competitive factor in the way call centers are managed.” Until a few years ago, Westerners drove call centers, narrowly focusing on maximizing the number of calls with the optimal number of agents. Yet rushing agents undermines the client company’s ability to retain existing customers. Enforcing the cultural logic that time equals money downstream, and having it drive the interaction between agent and customer, damages companies that rely on their existing customers for repeated business.

According to Granered and Bing, both companies and the vendors who support them benefit from ITAP’s services. Whether they rely on a vendor, or rely on their own talent, companies that offshore customer service are focused on their customers’ experience, and seek ITAP’s insight into the communication styles of their clients to improve service. From an employee lifecycle point of view, they are more focused on performance management (Stage 4 in image A). Vendors, on the other hand, seek to strengthen their market position, and attract more clients. They turn to ITAP for help in ensuring that they have the right talent on-board, and are interested in ITAP’s global competency practice, which is of particular benefit when applied early in the employee lifecycle.

At the Contact Center Industry Summit, Granered and Bing introduced industry specialists to the strategic benefits of considering all the stages of the employee lifecycle:

• Aligning agents’ success factors to the cultural preferences of the customer
• Identifying candidates who possess the desired competencies
• Imparting to agents awareness of their individual and customers’ cultural traits
• Ensuring that all training programs are culturally appropriate
• Improving the management of offshore vendors’ performance
• Identifying employees’ development needs, and readiness to assume additional challenges

ITAP Americas is a wholly owned subsidiary of ITAP International. With Regional offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia, ITAP International and its Alliance Associates and Affiliates can serve global clients from over 25 locations worldwide.

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ITAP International is a full service HR consulting firm specializing in building human capability across boundaries (functional/matrix) and/or borders (global/cultural).