The Role of Inbound Call Centres in Facilitating Access

Every educational institution wants to give as many students as possible equal access to education and an opportunity to improve their chances in this world. Effective communication lies at the core of achieving this mission.

However, many educational institutions face challenges with managing inquiries from parents and students across multiple communication channels.

In this blog, we explore the role of educational call centres in managing academic inquiries and how they can transform a school’s student-parent communication.

Challenges in Educational Communication

The traditional methods of handling inquiries via emails and in-person visits are becoming increasingly outdated and difficult to manage. Parents and students are demanding timely responses to queries, whether they concern admission processes, academic programs, or financial matters.

Often, the volume of inquiries can be overwhelming, leading to delays in response times and sometimes, misinformation. The complexity of administrative processes makes the situation worse. Staff find it challenging to provide accurate and prompt answers, creating a communication gap that leads to frustration and dissatisfaction.

Parents and students can reach out across multiple channels like phone, email, live chat, social media, and others. This further adds pressure on staff to be on top of all these communication channels and provide timely, accurate answers.

With a diverse population, language barriers exist when parents and school staff struggle to understand each other. This leaves parents grappling for the right information as staff try to translate the information provided.

The Role of Call Centres in Student and Parent Inquiry Management

Educational call centres are becoming increasingly important information hubs for parents and students. Instead of navigating through a maze of automated messages or waiting for email responses, callers can have real-time conversations with knowledgeable individuals who can address their specific concerns. This human touch fosters a sense of trust and engagement, enhancing the overall perception of the institution.

Working with a call centre is having an accessible, efficient, and welcoming virtual front desk. Call centres offer omnichannel support so they can answer queries from various platforms like chat, email, social media, and more. This is particularly helpful for tech-native students who prefer to contact schools via modern channels.

What’s more, a bilingual call centre will encourage non-English speakers to reach out since they know someone will understand them. Call centres can also be entrusted with answering calls from the emergency hotline so that no calls are left unattended.

Call centres operate 24/7 and can cover the hours when there’s no administrative staff present. Agents can help busy families, whose only time to call would be after office hours, get the information they need.

Easy-to-Implement Tips When Adapting an Educational Call Centre

Here are three tips to help you get started:

  • Invest in comprehensive training programs for call centre staff. Equip them with in-depth knowledge about the institution, its programs, and administrative processes to provide accurate information.
  • Leverage technology to streamline call centre operations. Implement customer relationship management (CRM) systems to track inquiries, monitor response times, and gather valuable data for continuous improvement.
  • Establish a feedback mechanism to continuously assess the effectiveness of the call centre. Use feedback to identify areas for improvement and address any recurring issues.

Conclusion

To pursue empowering education, integrating call centres into your daily operations is a transformative solution. Educational call centres address the challenges mentioned above by providing a centralized and efficient platform to manage inquiries and concerns.

Combined with the personal touch provided by trained agents, parents and students can enjoy a positive education experience, which fosters trust and satisfaction.

At On Call Centre , we deliver exceptional customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year—sometimes 366. On Call Centre has been providing tailored, fluently French/English bilingual answering services and call centre services to small business owners (professionals, trades) and customer support departments (government, high tech, property management, healthcare, emergency clients) serving Ottawa , Montreal and Toronto —and all over Canada —for almost 50 years.

Get the eBook