What Does a Call Center Certification Really Certify?

Aug. 30, 2011 - PRLog -- In the aviation industry, pilots undergo a thorough certification process administered by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). The process is broken down into two main certification areas: the type of service license (private, commercial, and airline transport license), and the type of aircraft (turbojet engines, jet engines, multi-engine, etc.). The meaning and value of the FAA certification is  straightforward: for every flight, there is a pilot certified for the specific type of service using that particular type of aircraft.  In many other industries, as well, certifications are necessarily broken down to address both the service outcome and a level of expertise or authority.

Certifications assure others that a person is qualified to perform a job or task. In today’s economy, having a professional certification is of value, not just to the organization, but to the individual as well. “The growth of certification programs is also a reaction to the changing employment market,” explains author Phillip Barnhart, in his book The Guide to National Professional Certification Programs. “Certification provides an impartial, third-party endorsement of an individual's professional knowledge and experience.”  

Professional certifications are particularly valuable in service-driven environments where having a qualified person managing aspects of the customer support strategy can make or break a company’s image in the eyes of customers.  

RCCSP (http://www.the-resource-center.com/about.htm), the industry’s accreditation and certification body designs and updates its call center certification portfolio to keep pace with the needs of a fast changing, communications-driven business environment. RCCSP has based its certification portfolio on the Call Center Business Process Framework™, an innovative call center management model that uses accounting-, engineering-, and business-based principles to help call center managers make proactive decisions that lead to improved performance in the future.

Like the FAA, the call center industry’s professional certification credentials are specific to functional areas and to job levels and levels of expertise.  RCCSP currently offers four job-level certifications (professional, supervisor, manager, and director) and three functional-area certifications (engineering, workforce management, and quality); and will be expanding to include multiple service-specific management certifications as well, beginning with collections.

“Certification is not a sales pitch, it’s an attest function,” says Nina Kawalek, CEO for RCCSP. “A certifying body assures an employer and its customers that a professional or a management team has demonstrated their knowledge of state-of-the-art service techniques and has been evaluated by a competent industry accreditation body.”

“Our job as a certification body for the call center industry is to encourage cutting-edge thinking and progressive practices,” adds Kawalek. “If you sit still for five years, the whole world can change around you, like the economy did, or like smart-phones and social media have. These things change the way people live, and communicate. Here's a best practice: keep current with your customer's life experience.”

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RCCSP is a progressive industry-supported and industry-recognized accreditation and certification organization, maintaining and coordinating the most comprehensive portfolio of certification credentials available to contact center and IT professionals.

To learn more about RCCSP Professional Education Alliance programs and the range of professional certifications, visit the RCCSP Alliance’s National Training Schedule at http://www.the-resource-center.com/index/seminars.htm.