In recent years, the customer service industry in Singapore has huge growth in the development of the demands for better quality of services are getting higher and higher. This leads to a better development as more and more companies have decided to integrate and outsource their customer support department to BPO (business process outsourcing) companies that are specialized in offering tailored services such as call centres. This is also the reason that setting up a call centre in Singapore has become more and more profitable nowadays.
Other than customer support and customer service, these types of BPO companies also offer their services in terms of sales support or helpdesk services.
It is to note that the basic activities of operating a call centre in Singapore are separated into two main functions which are taking inbound such receiving phone calls and receiving e-mails and making outbound phone calls and replying emails accordingly. These companies can offer and supply their clients with various types of services such as their telephone, e-mail, websites or Live chats services which is the reason that before setting up a call centre in Singapore. The clients need to decide on the type of services they will engage in order to understand the required licenses and permits they will need to obtain.
In general, to initiate the setup process will require the business owner to prepare the documents of incorporation and filed with ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Singapore). For foreign business owners, a local representative which is usually a Singaporean must be appointed in order to complete the procedure. There are also additional requirements when starting a call centre business in Singapore which the premises where the activity are carried out must be approved by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore.
The final step to setup a call centre in Singapore is to apply for the relevant license with the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) which depending on the activities and requirements of the call centre, the company can apply for either the facilities-based operator license or the services based operator license. Also to note that the company must also get acquainted with the IP Telephony Law from IMDA in order to offer support over the phone to the company’s client.
Once the above licensing is approved by the relevant government agencies in Singapore, the company can decide whether to adopt the on-site premised call centre or to use the Cloud-based call centre which the latter is more technology driven and is less costly to set up than the on-site premised call centre.
A cloud-based call centre is also easier to maintain, faster to deploy and set up, has the scalability and flexibility to meet their client’s demands and business requirements plus other benefits which are not found in the traditional on-site call centre.
Regardless of using the Cloud-based call centre or on-site call centre, it is important to understand the requirements and the licensing involved before any companies in Singapore wish to set up a call centre whether for their own department or a business to cater for their client’s needs.