call center design

[jljones]

I am the manager of a growing 24 hour Emergency Response Center. We respond to alarms activated by elderly subscribers. We are moving our response center to allow for expansion and growth. I am interested in getting some feedback/ good ideas about design and layout. We need to accommodate for sound control----we often have to raise our voices---and in turn have to strain to hear their soft voices. Any recommendations??

[mikael]

Given your requirements (That your agents have to be able to hear soft voices over the phone, and have to be able to raise their voices), you're going to have to isolate them to a pretty high degree.

The incoming volume can be addressed by the agent headsets -- use double speaker headsets with a volume control. You may also be able to get a headset rig that allows you to set the outgoing volume as well, which would help your agents to be heard by your clients withoug having to shout.

Apart from the incoming/outgoing volume, you'll need a white-noise generator and lots of acoustic dampening panels to make sure that the general noise of the center isn't picked up by the headset mics.

Acoustics can be tricky. While I've done some gigs that involved this issue, I'd recommend that you get a specialist for this one as your requirements are going to be pretty tight.