Shopping: a pleasurable pastime only

For some people, call centres are absolutely going to change the way in which we live, work and, most significantly, shop. IBM's Geoff Forster is one such person. He sees the call centre, or as he calls it, the 'customer care solution' becoming the dominant way that business transactions take place. In the next five years that will mean call centres are the lynch-pin of customer service. Beyond that he's not so sure because "who knows what the customer interface will be in 50 years time?" he asks.

Retail as we know it, is living on borrowed time, according to Mr Forster. Start up operations such as Amazon.com, which is taking the book market by storm, are just the tip of the iceberg.

"As organisations realise business transformation is necessary to acquire, grow and maintain customer relationships, [call centres] will be the number one area to gain a competitive advantage in the next five years."

"Products are becoming commodities at an ever increasing rate . . . the main area of differentiation is the ability to add value during interaction . . . to add value at the lowest possible cost," said Mr Forster.

The ability to canvass, attain and grow customers becomes paramount. Call centres are the most effective way to achieve this at the moment.

"As organisations realise business transformation is necessary to acquire, grow and maintain customer relationships, [call centres] will be the number one area to gain a competitive advantage in the next five years. Once you accept these facts it drives transformation of infrastructure . . . businesses will see large numbers of employees involved in high volume customer contact," said Mr Forster.

If this becomes the case, then the importance of shop fronts will fade. "The branch network is being attacked by the [Internet] kiosk business . . . they are the next generation of automatic teller machines," he said. "Shops become more like display centres."

The Internet will become critical and as bandwidth improves and the Internet becomes as ubiquitous as telephones, the Web will take over. Perhaps this will develop with the advent of WebTV. In the meantime, the call centre is king and the Internet will play a supportive role. The two also work together, with email support generated from a call centre already a reality.

Evidence to support Mr Forster's viewpoint is beginning to emerge. A Korean car manufacturer has used IBM's VisionNet customer care solution instead of the more traditional dealerships to sell its cars in New Zealand. Cars are advertised through the media and then interested parties contact the company's call centre and a car is brought around to the potential customer for a test drive.

By not using any dealerships, the significant savings can be passed on to the purchasers.