In an Orwellian sense, a clear distinction is being created between the gold collar worker and the white collar slave. The Communications Workers of America, the largest telecom union, will turn its attention to call center agents when there is no longer the need to look after the interests of people who string wires from pole to pole. The Internet is creating an explosion in call center traffic, not fewer calls. Hire for intelligence because agents are handling customer knowledge, the currency of the information age. The real data diamonds lie within conversations with customers.
Evolved companies obtain deep insights from conversations at the customer interface.
What the Internet really enables today is customer conversations about promises companies are making or breaking. The natural exchanges between customers and agents cannot be scripted, and attempts to do so result in dumming down conversations. Hire intelligent conversationalists, because the very best call centers in the world just might be a roomful of Web-literate grandmothers who love to chat. No one grows up wanting to be a call center agent. They want to work in small groups and be part of every decision.