Strategy and Business Development

• Business analysts have a role to play in business development. Business analysts must be capable of reading and interpreting accounting, human resources and productivity documents in order to determine the difference between the call center's actual performance and potential performance. Having gauged these two pieces of information, business analysts will try to evaluate which parts of the business are responsible for any slack, and consult with the managers of the respective departments to come up with solutions. Solutions may include hiring more employees, laying off employees, buying new assets, selling old assets or changing office space.
  
  

Client Management

• Business analysts play a crucial role in client management. Customer service call centers generally pay for call center services by the hour and by the agent. For example, if XYZ telecoms is paying PQR call center to answer all the calls that come in for its customer service line within 30 seconds, XYZ has to pay for the number of agents needed to achieve that goal; the hourly rate is a constant, but the number of employees will vary. A client might get upset if he notices he had to pay a lot more this month than he did last month. At this point, the business analyst could be called in to explain that the agreement was "all calls answered in 30 seconds," and that because the call volume was larger this month than last month, more agents are needed to be on the floor to meet target.
  
  

Implementation

• When a new client signs a contract with a call center, the business analyst may be called upon to develop a plan for achieving that client's business needs. For example, if a charity signs an agreement for a call center to take care of its cold calling solicitation, the business analyst will have to decide how the company will deploy available resources to achieve the charity's goals. The analyst may recommend a number of employees, project hours of operation and daily sales objectives. Other times, the business analyst may advise the call center manager to not sign on to a project the call center isn't equipped to handle.
  
  

Information Technology (IT)

• Some call center business managers are responsible for the business' IT requirements. In many businesses, IT and business development are two separate things. However, because call centers are so IT-heavy with many interconnected phone, computer and international communications networks, call center IT development is synonymous with call center business development. Call center business analysts must know which IT resources, such as messaging software and phone call recording software, are needed for a new project, and how to integrate these resources so that they work together smoothly. The analyst may coordinate with the IT manager to develop a general IT strategy whenever a new project is ordered or when an old project winds down.