Talk:Call centre/Archives/2019

Answering service

Although answering service redirects to Call centre, there is absolutely no discrete discussion of answering services.

Answering services, as known in the 1970s, earlier and slightly later, involved a business that specifically provided the service. Probably by the use of an off-premises extension (OPX), the answering service would answer the otherwise unattended phones of their customers with a live operator, who could take messages or relay information, doing so with greater human interactivity than a mechanical answering machine. Although undoubtedly more costly (the human service, the cost of setting up and paying the phone company for the OPX on a monthly basis), it had the advantage of being more ready to respond to the unique needs of after-hours callers. The answering service operators also had the option of calling the client and alerting them to particularly important calls. GBC (talk) 02:51, 9 July 2019 (UTC)