The soft skills behind the hard figures

Telecom operators in Romania probably have it easier than in other countries when managing their customer relations, with no shortage of applicants with the right language, computer and communication skills. Lower labor costs are also a big motivator for these players, who run businesses of hundreds of millions of euros, and must keep a sharp eye on the level of customer satisfaction.

Otilia Haraga

An employee who works in a customer relations center for a telecom player needs to have certain skills such as computer literacy and knowledge of the Romanian and English languages. The candidate also needs a set of ‘soft skills’ such as communication abilities, customer orientation, organizational and activity planning skills, and team work. After joining the team, he or she will follow a training program that lasts on average one month, to learn the ropes of communication, become familiar with the company’s products, services and working procedures, and learn to work with certain applications. The scope of the training can include customer service, communication techniques, managing conflict, negotiation and sales skills.

Although telecom players do not disclose the figures, it is widely known that call centers have a high staff turnover. “Employers understand this because the work is hard – eight hours in headphones is not an easy job,” says Bogdan Dragoescu, senior business development manager at Smartree. On average, call center operators will stay in the job for one to two years in Romania.

“Working in a call center as a first job is very hard but also very good for shaping future professionals in any domain. All organizations try to retain talent and the call centers are for many of them the pool from which they ‘extract fresh blood’, especially in the case of IT&C companies where the call center is not their core business,” adds Dragoescu. But the picture is varied. “In mature countries where the average age in the call center is higher, the staff rotation is also lower. People who have undertaken professional reconversion programs following lay-offs start to appreciate these jobs and fit in there,” he says.

Vodafone, the second largest telecom player in Romania, was the first operator to open a customer relations center in Bucharest in March 1997. The company then opened a second such center in Brasov in 2001 and a third one in Ploiesti in 2006. Vodafone now remains with only the centers in Brasov and Ploiesti. The operator has invested approximately EUR 1 million in telecommunication equipment and the modernization of the two buildings. The call center in Ploiesti has four floors covering a total surface of 5,500 sqm. The center in Brasov, also comprising four levels, is smaller, with a surface of 4,500 sqm. Both facilities include training rooms, a medical clinic, dental surgery, relaxation area and a restaurant.

“Since we launched the two call centers, over 3,000 young people have over time joined the Vodafone teams in Ploiesti and Brasov. At the moment, the team in Ploiesti consists of 800 employees and in Brasov there are 500,” say company officials.

The average age of the employees is 25, and they are recruited from local universities. “In Ploiesti, 90 percent of the employees attend the Faculty of Oil and Gas,” say Vodafone officials.

Clients call mainly to request information on services, handsets, bills, how they can configure Vodafone services and handsets, and how they can activate new services and subscriptions.

The customer relations center in Brasov handles over 30 percent of the calls to this number, while the remaining 70 percent are routed to the bigger Ploiesti center. The team in Ploiesti answers 19,000 phone calls a day. Vodafone officials say that in its ten years of existence, the Brasov center has answered over 27 million calls. Five years since the opening of the Ploiesti call center, it has taken over 16 million calls.

Orange, currently the largest telecom operator in Romania, has five call centers, which are located in Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj and Brasov. Of these, two are outsourced to specialized companies. The biggest facility is in Bucharest and the company says it invested EUR 2 million in opening this unit. “A functioning call center needs modern routing solutions, call monitoring systems, a functioning CRM and applications that provide information to rapidly meet the demands of the clients. The investment also includes offices and furniture. Last but not least, a significant sum goes into the staff” Andreea Popescu, customer service director at Orange Romania tells Business Review.

The capacity of a call center is connected to the new services that are introduced by the operator. “For instance, this year the number of users of data services has increased. Of course we will allocate resources in the call center to this area as well,” explains Popescu. Though it chose not to disclose the number of employees who work in its call centers, Popescu said their average age is 26 years old. Call center jobs offer a gateway to employment in other departments, as Popescu says the company promotes internal recruitment. “Ninety-nine percent of our employees are students or university graduates. After several years of gaining expertise, each has the opportunity to be promoted or switch departments,” she says. But of course, there is selection and competition. Across the company, this year over 23 percent of employees have changed their role in the organization. “In customer service, it is about 18 percent,” says Popescu.

Cosmote Romania manages its customer relations via three call centers, of which one is outsourced. The two call centers that belong to Cosmote provide services to postpaid business and residential customers, and are located in Pitesti and Bucharest. The outsourced call center caters for prepay customers and is also in Bucharest. At the moment, 250 employees, both Cosmote staff and freelancers, manage the customer relations, taking approximately 15,000 calls a day. The average age of the operators is 24,” Roxana Gheorghiu, senior manager of the customer services department of Cosmote Romania, tells Business Review.

Recently, Romtelecom, Cosmote’s sister company which is also part of Greek group OTE, started a department of business process outsourcing that it hopes will bring significant revenues in the future. The operator also has other call centers about which it chose not to disclose information. “The main Romtelecom BPO call center is located in Bacau, but there is also a smaller such structure in Bucharest as one of our clients specifically asked for this location. Additionally, we have a back-up structure in Brasov for the call center in Bacau,” say officials.

The call center in Bacau employs 75 agents. “Being a new business line, we wish to develop it over the coming period, so we have already made sure we will have sufficient capacity to serve our clients. The maximum figure we are looking at for the staff in Brasov is 300,” say officials. The BPO center already has several clients, including a company from Italy. The client companies are active in banking, insurance, car dealing and the food industry. “We expect this business line to develop in the future, especially since our figures show that in Romania the market of call center services amounted to over EUR 100 million in 2010,” say officials.

Call center salaries start from RON 800 net and can go up to RON 4,000 net, for exceptionally skilled workers. For team leaders and operations managers, the salaries are part of tailored financial packages, explains Dragoescu.

These salaries are “clearly lower in Romania than in other countries.”

When a company develops a call center it needs “a location that meets certain standards: it needs up-to-date IT&C infrastructure, and it also takes into consideration the transportation infrastructure in the area and aid from the government, he explains.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

call centers
Vodafone Romania
Number of call centers: 2
Location: Ploiesti and Brasov
Number of employees: 1,300: 800 in Ploiesti and 500 in Brasov
Average age of operators: 25
Investment: EUR 1 million overall

Orange Romania

Number of call centers: 5 of which 2 are outsourced
Location: Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj, Brasov
Number of employees: not disclosed
Average age of employees: 26
Investment: EUR 2 million (in the Bucharest center alone)

Cosmote Romania

Number of call centers: 3 of which 1 is outsourced
Location: Pitesti and Bucharest
Number of employees: 250
Average age of employees: 24 years old
Investment: not disclosed

Romtelecom Romania

Number of call centers: one BPO center
Location: Bacau (main center), Bucharest (small center), Brasov (back-up structure)
Number of employees: 75 in Bacau
Average age of employees: not disclosed

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