Employment Discrimination Lawyers and Labor Law Lawyers

Bilingual Services in Call Centers

The global nature of products & services and the rise in purchasing power of developing countries have increased the customer base of an ordinary business. Imagine a scenario. A prospect or customer calls up a business to ask for clarification or information but is unable to communicate due to differences in language. This peeves the customer as he feels unimportant and his problems are resolved. He leaves your business or worse moves to your rival business

 

How do smart businesses tackle such problems? Simple. They ensure that the call center they hire offer bilingual services at their call center.

 

So now if you are the business who has hired an ordinary call center for customer support, remember you just lost a prospect or a customer. And I’m sure that in these hard times you feel like I do- Each and every customer is important.

 

Changes in demography along with change in State policies have increased the need for efficient models of providing language services to people with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The sharp rise in the Latino community in the US has increased the need for Spanish language Customer Service Support. There is a steep demand for bilingual employees in all industries – healthcare, education, finance, sale and marketing. Employees with knowledge of English and Spanish are sought after. Other languages sought out are –German, Japanese, and Russian.

 

Since the world has become a global village using the vehicle of internet, it’s very important for the companies to target customers from all over the world. It would mean to be well versed in their language.

 

There is a need for bilingual customer service support system in call centers. This has led to formation of bilingual teams by Managers. The job description states the criteria of knowledge a minimum of two languages. It is deciding factor in selecting staff members. The business class or companies seeking customer are responsible for language assistance. They cater to the needs of the clients such as providing interpreters and translators. Telephonic services use bilingual staff to cater to the needs of LEP. Shortage of bilingual staff and trained professional interpreters are considered to be a resource constraint. In order to be successful the language needs of the customers are identified and steps are taken to introduce language access at the first points of client contact, for example at the front desk.

 

The bilingual staff performs multiple roles. Individuals with conversational proficiency in a second language may provide limited telephone assistance at the front desk while those with greater proficiency may interpret during interviews with the clients. In the field of medicine or other clinical needs assistance in the language of the patient is a must, even more so if the patient or person seeking information is LEP. The bicultural translators who act as cultural brokers provide accurate translation in a clinical sound culturally relevant manner.

 

Making any Organization bilingual I not one day’s job. Like any process of change, the actual implementation needs meticulous planning. The process differs with different organizations having different needs. The growth should be reviewed and the advantage should be assessed.

 

In the State of California there is a Law, Dymally Alatorre Bilingual Services Act which provides for bilingual staff in State offices and departments. It states its objective as, “Employment of bilingual persons in public contact positions to ensure the position of importance and service to the public in language of the non-English speaking persons.” Even in Canada commercial leases have to be drafted in both English and French, which are the official languages. The Canadian Heritage funds various organizations under official language support programs. These funds are used to create linguistic duality.

 

Bilingual community is a reality. Government offices were quick to realize it and smart businesses do the same. Keep the options for your customers open. When  customers are asked about their language preference and get to talk in their preferred language they are at ease and are more relaxed. Now the chances of closing the order and making him a loyal customer increases.

About the Author

Randall J. Harmat is the President of Ansafone Communications a full Service Call Center located in downtown Santa Ana, CA. Some call center services include bilingual inbound/outbound telemarketing, third party verification, seminar reservations and appointment setting, database management, order taking, voice mail and customized customer service operations. During his tenure, Ansafone has succeeded in its quest to recruit and retain a premier management team to carve its course into the 21st century.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Labor Law Lawyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.