I'm not sure that most call center managers really have much opportunity to think strategically. They are commonly viewed as a purely "production" function (if not "overhead") and driven by executive management to do more with less, and then do it again. It can often be a real struggle to convince the powers that be that the call center has a strategic role, and that by playing it, it can contribute to the bottom line (i.e., revenue growth, expense reduction) performance of the entire enterprise.

The call center manager who finds him/herself caught in this scenario might do well to begin by using some of the strategic product and or customer information that they amass in the daily course of doing their job and provide it to other organizations (sales, marketing, manufacturing, etc) who can put it to use. This way they begin building alliances with external groups who, hopefully, will see the value of this information and become an advocate for bering the call center to the strategic planning table.