Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Call Centers

Call centers have become really popular over the last few years thanks to the incredible number of services they can cover, and this popularity has doubled because of the quarantine.

However, a lot of people might not understand what they are, how they work, and what are actual services they can provide.

For those who want to understand them more and get to know the differences between the two main types of centers, this guide is for you.

What is a Call Center?

Back in the day, these centers could be described as offices that would function as a center where a large number of calls would be received or dialed.

Nowadays, though, a call center is not only linked to phone calls. Thanks to the internet they can also cover calls received with the help of an app or website, and even social media chats or other forms of communication. However, they still focus more on receiving or dialing calls, thanks to how common they are used to deal with the services a call center can provide.

However, with the whole situation with COVID-19, call centers have started to change their approach and essence, with more offices letting their employees work from home. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people have gotten interested in them, thanks to how they can be great options to work during quarantine.

Thankfully, working from home has its advantages, besides protecting people from spreading the disease that has taken over the world during the last year. However, there are also some disadvantages to it, mostly related to work performance and personality types.

Working from Home

Working from home for any company can be a better option for some people. It lets them have a more flexible schedule while allowing themselves to enjoy their usual environment, skipping things like commuting while reducing their expenses at the same time.

It is also better for those who are consistent and disciplined and might even boost performance on some occasions. However, not everything is perfect when it comes to working from.

Common Disadvantages of Working from Home

As stated in this article, working from home is not something that suits everyone. Some people prefer the idea of having a routine that is stable and won’t be tempted by usual activities that might distract them from working, whereas others prefer working in a professional environment that sets the mood for a productive working day.

For a company, it also becomes harder to monitor performance and productivity, and the development and training of new employees become more complicated at times.

When it comes to dealing with call centers, training is a very important aspect of the process, since regardless of the type of call center, training is what ultimately decides the performance and talent of an employee.

There’s also the fact that certain call centers require the immediate help of superiors due to the services they provide and dialing up a superior while working from home might is much harder due to the separation it brings between staff members.

That is why not all types of call centers are suited for working from home. When it comes to types of call centers, there are the inbound and outbound categories, and understanding the difference between inbound and outbound not only to know which one is better for your set of skills, but also, to know which ones are better to work from home, and which ones are not.

Inbound Call Centers

People who work for an inbound call center receive calls, instead of dialing them. They are often linked to customer service, and their main task is to solve the problem of the person calling as smoothly as possible.

The most common type of calls received is related to customer support, tech support, product support, and anything related to orders or doubts. The most important aspect of dealing with these calls is the knowledge and communicative skills to deal with the situation as gently and quickly as possible.

This is why this might not be a very good category for those who want to work from home, since training is a very important part of learning how to be an employee for an inbound call center, and at times, you will require the help of a superior to deal with a problem or situation.

Outbound Call Centers

These are the ones that dial calls instead of receiving them and focus more on trying to sell services, products, mostly related to health care, phone plans, and many other similar transactions.

The most important aspect of this type of call center is knowing how to smoothly convince the other party to hire the service provided by the company. In a way, communicative skills are probably the most important aspect of these calls.

In a way, this category is much better for working at home since there’s little to no need for superiors to step in calls since the employee is the one dealing with the whole selling process.