It would be thought that call centers are innovations in customer service created a little more than 10 years ago, but the reality is that this telemarketing activity has been part of marketing strategies since the 60's.
In the historical record, the first step is the creation of the telephone thanks to the inventor Alexander Graham Bell who patented it on January 14, 1876 in New York, who would later install telephone sets in New Haven connected to a central office so that several clients could use them simultaneously.
According to records, the first exchange had 8 individual telephone lines, providing service to 21 users. This allowed 86 years later, in 1962, the Ford company to carry out its first telemarketing campaign, a moment that is attributed as the start of the Call Center in the world.
However, the 1973 oil crisis that shook the economy worldwide was what motivated companies, especially North American companies, to look for tools that would reduce their costs but guarantee their income, which is why Call Centers became allies during that time. .
By the end of the 90's, the arrival of the Call Center to countries like Spain was closely related to the implementation of cellular telephony, employing more than 10,000 people.
Now, in the case of Colombia This telemarketing activity arrived in the country at the beginning of the 90's, with the financial, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and government entities sectors, to mention a few, beginning with its implementation.
#HHistory of the Call Center
The advantages of implementing a Call Center lie in the close relationship that is generated between company and client, personalizing your attention which translates into loyalty.
Continuing with the chronology of this type of marketing, for the year 2001 is created in Colombia Call Center Association, considering that at that time it generated employment for more than three million people in North America and Europe, and that being one of the countries in Latin America with advantages over the rest, it had to be strengthened for what would come with its implementation.
He rise of call centers In Colombia it is due to the quality of the infrastructure, the academic level of the population that works in that sector and the neutral accent on the part of the agents who are mostly concentrated in the interior of the country.
Finally, today Call Centers are already part of other activities that complement a company's marketing strategies such as websites, communication via IP, the use of social networks as well as Smartphone applications, transforming the environment into what Today it is known as Contact Center.
Some dates to highlight
1876: The telephone is patented.
1924: Telefónica de España, Telephone Operator (Movistar) is created
1962: First Call Center in the world (Ford company)
1985: Vodafone, Telephone Operator, is created.
1988: France Telecom is created, that year the first transoceanic telephone link is made. Europe and America are interconnected by a cable.
1990: Internet / Mobile Telephony Boom in Spain and Uruguay, the first free zone named Zonamérica is inaugurated as Business & Technology Park.
1996: The cost of long distance calls disappears with the creation of voice over IP technology.
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Content Writing by: Isabel Uribe
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