Call Center News

EMEA Call Center Outsourcing Growth Expected to Continue

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India - Fuelled by positive economic movement in central and eastern Europe, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the call center outsourcing market is likely to grow at a steady pace. The vast majority of large, medium and small businesses in EMEA continue to seek cost reductions, focus on building core competencies and gain economies of scale through smart investments in outsourcing. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, EMEA Contact Center Outsourcing Market, reveals that the market earned revenues of $11.20 billion in 2006 and estimates to reach $16 billion in 2012.

"While the UK outsourcing market is very mature and has almost reached saturation, there are significant opportunities in other European nations," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Michael DeSalles. "The Netherlands along with Central and Eastern Europe hold tremendous promise for new outsourcing contracts, especially in financial services, communications and information technology."

OneLink Announces Call Center Sale and First International Contract Offer

San Fransisco, CA - OneLink Corporation announced today that the company had officially sold the Call Center, Inc. for relief of approximately $200,000 in debt, and would be realizing further value from the transaction through the decrease of the company burn rate by approximately $20,000 per month.

"We are happy the Call Center sale has gone through and given us the ability to move back into our market with a renewed focus on OneLink," stated Bill Guerin, President and CEO of OneLink. "Over the past few weeks, we have been talking to several interested parties looking to use OneLink for purposes of booking and paying for travel packages at competitive discount rates, not to mention the most popular feature that guarantees commission payments at the point of sale, not weeks or months later as per the industry standard. "As of today, one of our strongest prospects has made us an offer that we intend to accept. Once completed, we will be setting up over 10,000 additional users on the OneLink system, with an estimated account value of approximately $6 million for the company."

Convergys to Open 500 Seat Call Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM - Convergys is opening a customer care center in Albuquerque after having purchased the assets of America Online's call center. The facility is owned by Chant Associates in Albuquerque and Convergys will assume the AOL building's lease, at 6301 Jefferson Street NE. The city of Albuquerque announced last month that Convergys might be opening up a customer care call center here and hiring 250 employees immediately and more than 250 within a few years.

It is no surprise that Convergys had its sights set on the AOL facility. AOL announced last November it was closing the call center and eliminating 900 customer service jobs that paid $30,000 in average annual salaries. Many of the former AOL employees have already been recruited by Convergys and many more are expected to take positions there. As well, several area firms have already absorbed another 300 to 400 AOL workers whose jobs went away last month.

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Kansas Call Center to Come Under New Ownership

Lawrence, Kansas - A private-sector employer is getting a new owner as part of a $600 million deal designed to speed the company's existing plans for growth. Pearson Government Solutions, which has a call center operation in the East Hills Business Park, is being sold to Veritas Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm.

Veritas announced Monday that it would pay $600 million for the company, which has more than 5,500 employees in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela. The Lawrence center has 1,600 of those employees, ranking it among the company's two largest operations. The deal, which awaits regulatory approval, is expected to close Feb. 15.

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New York Times Cites Rapid Call Center Growth in the Philippines

The New York Times last month wrote an article about the rise of call centers in the Philippines because of lower cost, employee loyalty and cultural similarities with the United States. D. Greenlees of the NY Times said that as India moves up-market in outsourcing, the Philippines is quickly gaining a share of the call center business. It may be a low-end, low-margin business, but for the Philippines it has been an employment boon.

He said "evidence of that sharp growth is on display early in the evening in the lobby of the RCBC Plaza building in Makati City, the main financial district of Manila. Clutches of young men and women, Starbucks coffee and McDonald's bags in hand, head to work at more than a dozen call centers serving the United States, just as other workers are heading home."

On a recent trip to Hong Kong to drum up investor interest, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo noted that there were barely 2,000 people in the so-called business process outsourcing industry when she gave her first State of the Nation address in 2001. "Today, five years later, it is 100 times bigger - we have 200,000 workers there," she said at a news briefing. "And every call center company that I meet is looking to double their work force."

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