How Operations Normally Works?

Operations (Ops) is the core of the BPO business. It is where the action actually happens and how the industry generates revenue: Without agents handling customer interactions for clients, there is no business at all.

As we learned in our first sections (What is a Call Center or a BPO? and How does a Call Center Work?), a call center can handle customers from multiple companies (also called Clients, Logos, or Accounts).

Each account is assigned an entire structure to handle "the business." This structure consists of a hierarchical matrix of positions as follows:

1. Agents (Associate/Rep): They handle the interactions with the customers.
2. Team Leaders or Team Managers (TL/TM/Supervisor):
1. Span of Control (ratios): Usually 1:15 or 1:20 (1 Supervisor for every 15 Agents).
2. Role: They do not take calls (usually). Their job is to coach, motivate, track attendance, and ensure their team hits their metrics.
3. Operations Manager (OM): They manage the ins and outs of their assigned client.
1. Span of Control  (ratios): Usually manages 3 to 5 Team Leaders (approx. 60-100 agents).
2. Role: They look at the "Big Picture." They analyze trends, talk to the client, and handle high-level issues.
4. Site Director / Account Manager: They manage the entire site or a big Operation that requires more support.
1. Span of Control: Usually manages operations managers (OM) directly and can have shared management over other areas (verticals) and their managers. 
2. Role: Responsible for the Profit & Loss (P&L) of the account(s). They ensure the BPO is making money and the Client(s) are happy.

We know that Ops does not work alone; they need to work with other verticals to ensure they run smoothly and their agents are doing the work with precision. As we learned in the section "What are the Departments or Verticals?", here are some of those verticals and how Ops works with them:

1. Workforce Management (WFM): They tell Operations when to work. If WFM says "We need 5 people at 8:00 AM," Operations must ensure 5 people are there. They also manage agent daily scheduling.
2. Quality Assurance (QA): They tell Operations how well they are working. They score calls and provide data to Team Leaders for agent coaching.
3. Training: If QA and Ops find that the whole team is failing a specific topic, Training creates a "refresher course" to fix it. Training will also ensure those topics are reviewed in detail in future new hire classes.

In the majority of cases, the OMs are the ones responsible for managing the relationship with their direct client, with the support of the Site Director. The OM will maintain constant communication with the client to ensure the client is receiving performance updates and initiatives, but also that the operation gets updates and feedback.

Such direct communication and reporting can be done in several forms:

1. WBR / MBR / QBR (Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly Business Reviews): These are high-stakes meetings. The Ops Managers present a slide deck (think of a PowerPoint or similar presentation) to the Client showing the metrics. If targets were missed, they must provide a "Get Well Plan" (Action Plan). Other areas as QA or Training, can also be included to provide other updates.
2. Calibration Sessions: A meeting where the Client, QA, and Ops listen to the same call together to agree on how to grade it. This ensures everyone is on the same page. Training can also be included in these sessions to enhance that alignment.
3. Real-Time Escalations: If a major issue happens (e.g., the website crashes), the Client contacts the Ops and WFM immediately (or vice versa) to change the phone messages.

Operations vary in size and complexity, so they can adapt their structure to make sure they maintain control and visibility across their accounts and lines of business (we are learning about this in the next section).

Imagine an operation so big (a thousand agents), and it manages different sets of processes for the same client, that TLs and OMs are not enough. This is why additional intermediate positions appear within the structure:

1. Senior Team Leaders (STM): They manage a group of Team Leaders and report directly to an OM.
2. Senior Operations Manager (SOM): They manage a group of OMs and report to the Site Director or Account Manager.

This same structure can be extrapolated to other areas as Training and QA.

In the next section, we will learn about Lines of Business (LOBs), which are "areas" or processes inside an Account.