What are Inbound and Outbound Call Centers?

What are Inbound and Outbound Call Centers?

Contact centers communicate with customers in a number of ways, but who initiates the contact defines the type of contact center. If the outside world initiates contact, then the contact center is said to be an inbound contact center. Conversely, if the contact center itself is responsible for initiating contact, then the contact center is said to be an outbound contact center.
Customers contact inbound centers to buy things, such as airline tickets; to get technical assistance with their personal computer; to get answers to questions about their utility bill; to get emergency assistance when their car won start; or for any number of other reasons for which they might need to talk to a company representative.
Increasingly, companies are looking to inbound call centers for proactive customer service that could be used for cross-selling and up-selling.
In outbound centers, representatives from the company initiate the call to customers. Companies might call to notify a customer that the product ordered is now available or because the customer hasn’t paid a bill or to follow up on a problem the customer was having.
Outbound contact centers are, most often, very telephone centric because of tradition and perception. It is not unusual for a company representatives to call a customer on the phone, but it is more unusual for them to send an email to a customer. If companies send out email to customers, it is often done through some mass mailing effort, not as one-on-one contact. Perception enters into the picture because people are very quick to categorize unexpected email as spam, but less likely to be upset by unexpected phone calls.
source: www.avaya.com