A few weeks ago I had to make a phone call to my bank to find out whether I would be charged extra when using my VISA card abroad, in Chile, to be precise. I ended up waiting for minutes in a line in some kind of call center. I was passed from one annoyed person to another and every time I had to explain my matter again.
Not cool!
The biggest problem is probably really that we don’t feel comfortable as a client in call centers, because we feel like the person at the other end of the line is not skilled enough, little motivated and bored.
What can we do? Here’s the solution: PlayVox!
PlayVox is a people-centric call center platform developed by Arcaris, which was founded in 2011 by Oscar Giraldo, Systems Engineer from Manizales, Colombia, and Ariel Cordiviola and is so far operating in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mexico.
From the beginning on, Arcaris was considered a global company, not only because the 7-members team comes from 5 different countries (US, France, Argentina, Chile and Colombia).
Arcaris believes that call centers are not at all about technology, but about people and that is why their platform PlayVox seeks to increase agents performance and happiness, reduce staff turnover and optimize contact center operations, ultimately resulting in more sales for his clients.
PlayVox manages talent and encourages positive behavior by giving form to existing systems and processes in call centers through the use of gamification, the use of game design techniques, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts.
This way, call centers become an enjoyable place to work, on the one hand, but also to work with, on the other hand. Motivation and performance are successfully improved, simultaneously building a sense of community within the staff.
“We believe that people fulfill their potential when they’re happiest. We’re building technology that motivates and empowers people to change their behavior at work. We believe doing this will make a positive impact in the Call Center industry”,
says the Arcaris team.
How is this done?
Most of this improvement is achieved by the use of basic gamification, including achievement badges, levels and leaderboards. But the work of PlayVox also attempts to build in more complex social and psychological dimensions.
This means, that for example employees’ achievements or awards are not directly unlocked. Instead, the supervisor/manager personally sends it to the worker, together with a personalized feedback, like a compliment or a little praise.
This is real psychology, but it works, because that way it is ensured that the respective person feels recognized and additionally, the employee’s success is celebrated in a human way, valuing the work in a special way!
Further deals
After receiving an Angel investment from Grupo Crystalis, the team was focused on product development activities. Arcaris opened an development office in Colombia and they are currently piloting PlaVox with some private beta testers in LatAm.
Future plans also include expansion of the company to the United States and Canada in 2012.
