I've worked with call centers in Canada, India and the Philippines.  I've only once met face to face with the management of the call center I worked with.  The other night, a friend asked me how I selected the places I work with.  In the end, it all comes down to a bit of due diligence and a lot of trust.  This is a topic that will likey take up a chapter in the book.

Environment

Overlook this at your own peril!  The physical environment has to be conducive to doing business.  Does the place provide an environment that is safe, clean and comfortable for your agent?

Most modern call centers provide soundproof cubicles, but not all.   I've listened to  call recordings of my agents where it sounds like a party is going on in the background.  I've heard stories of huge open rooms where 2 people share a desk and  theft is rampant.  Would you be productive in an environment like that? 

Does the call center have facilities for meals?  A place for your agent to let off steam if they have a bad day?  Is it in a safe area of town?

People in western countries take the electrical grid for granted.  Brown outs and black outs are relatively common in developing countries.  What does your call center do to minimize the impact of power outages?  Can the agent continue to work for you if the city is without power?

Telecommunications and IT Infrastructure

If I only had a dollar for every time I was told by an agent that they can't call because  "the Internet is down." 

Think back to the shower at the university dorm that slowed to a dribble just before morning classes. It's not as likely that the Internet is down as it is that the call center doesn't have enough bandwidth to allow all of the agents to call at the same time.  That or the server is down because nobody is on staff in the middle of the night who knows how to maintain it!

Everything is going VOIP.  Which system does your call center use?   Who are the "IT guys?" (as in, "Oh, the IT guy is looking into that...")  How experienced are they?  How available are they if your agent has a hiccup?

Service Level Agreement

I must be unlucky, because I've had a lot of days from Hell.  A day from Hell is when your agent can't do their job because of some infrastructure thing or another.  Here are some of the reasons why Randy completed one (1) call today:

• his headset was acting up. 
• Skype wouldn't allow him to call me.  (but somehow I could call him?)
• there was a scheduled power outage in the building for an hour
• the server was down
• the VOIP system was acting up such that the called party couldn't hear the agent, even though it worked fine for the agent
• the CRM system was acting up.  (but it wasn't acting up for me...)
• the supervisor wasn't around

The reality is, things work until they break.  However, if things are constantly breaking, your agent isn't making calls.  If you agent isn't making calls, (s)he isn't bringing in business for you.  Whose fault is that?  How much down-time is "normal"?  Who foots the bill?

More on selecting a call center in another post...