| 西非获利于电话呼叫中心-1 In his private life, Senegalese Moustapha Diallo is known by his given name. But when he is answering telephone calls at a call center in downtown Dakar he uses a different identity. Today, Diallo is Frédérique Maillard. And he is not the only one. We are all Frédérique Maillard today, he says, referring to his male co-workers. He says the customers in France feel more comfortable when he uses a familiar-sounding name. Diallo and his colleagues provide telephone marketing and customer service for corporate clients. And with low-cost internet telephones and inexpensive labor, they can do it for less money than a call center in Europe. Call center operators in France are paid far more than us, says Agnes Bassène, who works with Diallo. But, she says, I tell myself that it is because their cost of living is much higher. Sitting in front of a computer, with a headset , Bassene, Diallo and their colleagues use the computer to make phone calls to France. They are doing a telemarketing campaign. At call centers that take calls directly, the customers in France dial a French telephone number and are re-routed over the internet to an operator in Senegal or elsewhere. Call centers also use fax machines and e-mail to follow-up with customers. The first call centers came to Senegal about five years ago. Other call centers have opened in Mali, Benin, and elsewhere in West Africa. Senegal's largest call center now has more than 500 employees. But the current trend is for smaller enterprises. With a minimum of equipment, a few computers, headsets, and fax machines, and a high-speed internet connection, even a private house can become a call center. "It is coming. I hear about a lot of new call centers that want to start," Zohar Zeidan founded the Way2Call call center with a French partner less than a year ago, in a commercial space above Dakar's bustling downtown Sandaga market. |
