A call center is the focal point of customer service for most companies today. Using a variety of technologies, call centers connect the customer and the organization, in real-time, to provide customer service. Call centers take on different forms. A call center can provide pre-sales, sales and sales support or a variety of other types of service.

The definition of call center is changing in our opinion, but the core fundamentals of a customer making a call (via a phone, email, web site, IVRS or fax) to a center (point, area, person or thing (e.g. IVR)) will remain constant because the customer views the call as an important or pivotal activity to themselves. Call center, contact center or customer interaction center - by whatever name you give it (we still call it a call center) - operate on near identical principals of meeting customer needs in real-time or near real-time.