Customer relationship management in call centers: The uneasy process of re(form)ing the subject through the 'people-by-numbers' approach

Alferoff, Catrina; Knights, David

Abstract

Real-time technology has the capability of symbolising both customers and call center representatives (and the moment of interaction), purely by/as numbers, or forms. The pinnacle of this data processing is customer relationship management (CRM), where the digitised data is assembled so as to reproduce a mimetic model of the customer. This could be seen as a metamyth (Adams & Ingersoll, 1990) that, in its concealed appearance within corporate databases, seems to cuts loose from any critical inquiry. In this paper, we offer an embryonic form of such a critique through the analysis of a number of original call center case studies. It seeks to analyze the nature of abstraction at the heart of IT-based CRM practices, and the contradictions that such abstraction can foster. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 8, 2019
• Journal: Information and Organization
• Print ISSN: 1471-7727
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 29-50
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2007.10.002
• Keywords: customer relationship management, IT, subjectivity
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1016555
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2007.10.002