Call Center News

Lack of Skills Cloud Philippine Call Center Boom

In a sprawling office in the Philippine financial district of Makati, rows and rows of Filipinos sit in front of computers answering calls made by Americans. Although answering calls from the other side of the world may sound too simple, call centers have become a "sunrise industry" in this country. The government sees it as the growth driver of the economy. The emergence of BPOs (business-process outsourcing) is one of the reasons our economy is holding on despite a lot of difficulties. The BPO industry opens up a whole new world of employment opportunities for Filipinos, generating millions of pesos for the country’s economic stability.

more of this story

Solid Cactus Now Offers Call Center Services

WILKES-BARRE, PA -- June 22, 2006 -- You just opened your first e-commerce store, the orders are coming in, but you're too busy picking and packing to answer the phone and reply to customer email. It's a common scenario for many business owners, but there is a solution. Introducing Call Center Services from Solid Cactus.

The latest product offering from Solid Cactus is designed for the small to medium size business looking to add a customer service department to their operation while not taking on the expense and hassle associated with hiring, training and managing employees.

New Fidelity Call Center in Jacksonville to Employ 1,200

Fidelity Investments has announced that it will open a call center this fall in Jacksonville. The contact center -- Fidelity's fifth in the U.S. -- will eventually employ 1,200 employees; 400 will be hired by yearend. Their average salary will be $50,000. Fidelity, which manages $1.2 trillion of assets, will target recent college graduates for the customer-service positions. It will spend $27 million to renovate the office.

more of this story

New Call Center to Open in Deland, FL

Deland FL, -- Stamford, Conn.-based Citizens Communications Co. will open a customer service call center here in August that will result in up to 500 jobs by the end of next year, the company announced this week. Citizens' Frontier unit, which provides local telephone and related services in rural and small- to medium-sized markets, will open its call center on Aug. 1 and be fully operational by Oct. 1, spokeswoman Karen Miller said.

more of this story

Labor Shortages Plague Philippine Call Center Industry

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), which claims to have the biggest call centers in the country as members, said industry projections far outnumber the estimated number of workers qualified to work in call centers. "The contact sector accounted for 112,000 employees in 2005.This is expected to increase to 179,200 or a 60% growth by the end of 2006. The problem lies because there is so much demand for contact center workers, while the talent pool continues to dwindle," said Raffy David, a director of the CCAP and director of call center firm Pilipinas Teleserv.

more of this story