Not All Call Centers Are in Bangalore

The invisible hand at work... the relentless pursuit of efficiency.....

The next time you place an order for fast food at a Wendy's or McDonald's drive-through window, the person on the other end taking the order might be 3000 miles away at a fast-food call center.

A Massachussets company called Exit 41 has patented technology called "Order Perfect" that allows call centers to take fast-food orders in drive-through lanes. "You have people in a remote area, all they do is take orders, they're very good at it," said the founder of Exit 41, a restaurant ordering center. "Inside the store, they focus on production and delivery."

Here's how it works: You place your order like you always do, but the order is taken by specialized agents at a remote order center, possibly thousands of miles away. The order is entered in real-time and sent electronically to the restaurant as it is received. A picture is taken of the customer and it follows them along through the entire process. As soon as the order is delivered those photographs of the drivers are destroyed.

Bottom Line: Because of call centers, there is a) increased order accuracy because of specialization, b) 50% increase in drive-thru transactions because of increased efficiency (125 per hour using call centers vs. 85 per hour), and c) reduced food costs by capturing all orders at the Order Center.

Exit 41 company link.

Yahoo Finance news story.

Another News item.