Canada’s call center industry has changed but it continues to thrive. The strong Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. currency has led to many American customer-serving programs and centers being pulled back across the border, but this volume is being replaced by those generated by domestic programs and centers.

Canada’s economy has arguably outperformed that of its far-larger neighbor to the south thanks to a strong resource sector and financial prudence. Canadians are risk-adverse, which means the country has not grown as it might have been otherwise and its economy is dominated by foreign-owned firms but it has not fallen to the same extent as the U.S.

This relative boom has meant that Canadian centers must compete against each other and against retail and other sectors for staff. It is not unusual for example to see portable billboards being used for recruitment.

At the same time Canadian call centers must also keep their performance up; for them too the specter of offshoring looms with Asia-Pacific for English-language- and Africa for French-speaking- programs.

Canadian call center professionals then are eager to learn how to make their call centers be the best. And that means strong interest and participation in training and certification.

Nina Kawalek, CEO of the Resource Center for Customer Service Professionals (RCCSP) reports that the three-day Call Center Manager Training and Certification program, run in 11 U.S. cities in 2010 to date, arrived in Canada this year to rave reviews.

As a result of the positive reaction RCCSP Professional Education Alliance schedule boasts ten professional training courses in Toronto, Ontario, in July 2011. Toronto is Canada’s largest city and the nation’s financial and transportation hub. The line up includes preparatory training courses for call center manager certification, call center director certification, workforce management certification, service engineering certification, and the call center-specific six sigma black belt program.

“Management professionals throughout the U.S. and Central America have had in-country access to the CCCM prep courses since 2006,” says Kawalek. “Professionals in Canada, on the other hand, had to travel to the U.S. to complete training and certification requirements. No more. The Canadian attendees in Toronto loved the training.”

The claims are not exaggerated. “Overall, this was an excellent course,” said Lindsay Toffli, supervisor at Dufferin Concrete in Concord, Ont. “There was a lot of good information that could be brought back to the call center to improve it. RCCSP has very good information and knowledge of the subject matter, and is well organized.”

Donna Humbert, senior manager at Eastlink in Halifax, N.S. agrees. “This course was a ten out of ten. I would absolutely attend a RCCSP training or certification program again. RCCSP made a great first impression. It was my first session, and I hope not my last.”

Christine Simard, now president of Pro Coach Training in Quebec City, Que., made sure her first RCCSP program was not her last.  In 2009 and 2010 Simard pursued her call center management certification (CCCM), call center engineering certification (CCCE) and six sigma black belt designation.

Simard, a 25-year industry training and consulting veteran, helps companies set up operations and trains French-speaking customer service and telemarketing agents in global call centers across Canada, France, and North Africa.

“As a trainer, a coach, and a courseware writer, I must say these are the best courses I have attended in years,” commented Simard, “because of the quality of content and the trainers. There’s more material, good animation, precise answers to questions, lots of templates to work with, and excellent quality." 

RCCSP is also formalizing relationships with the provincial call center associations to bring professional management certification training directly to their members through its By Association program. RCCSP’s Alliance-wide discount program allows Canadian IT, telecom, call center, and networking professionals to save on over 600 ITIL, call center and technical training courses in the US and Canada through their own local chapters.

“This is the first time we’ve had Canadian associations, chapters, and industry organizations joining the By Association program,” says Kawalek. “We’re delighted. It’s a huge savings and can easily justify the cost of a membership.”

RCCSP has also responded to the Canadian welcome with immediate support for Canada’s call center events and professional associations, christening a new multi-year relationship with IQPC (News - Alert) by making registration discounts for the 4th Annual Call Centre Week Canada event in Toronto, September 13-16, available to CCCM-certified call center managers.

 “Call Centre Week Canada is one of the most important forums in North America for sharing progressive management ideas and practices”, says Kawalek. “We are encouraging every Certified Call Center Manager to attend and to investigate new approaches for dealing with the challenges created by today’s world economy. This will be a focus of the 2010 event.”

RCCSP is the accreditation, examination and certification body for the call center industry's most comprehensive suite of professional certifications for individuals. Recognized internationally by government agencies across the Western Hemisphere, this organization has been a catalyst for furthering 21st Century call center management methods and applications of call center science.

Industry subject matter experts, professional training organizations, and industry advisors form the RCCSP Professional Education Alliance. The product of the Alliance's collective effort is an organized set of progressive industry created and supported certifications and certification paths. Certification training courses for call center supervisors, managers, directors, operations engineers, workforce management professionals and six sigma designers are taught by RCCSP Professional Education Alliance members year round.

A composite schedule is posted at www.the-resource-center.com/index/seminars.htm.

Contact RCCSP: www.the-resource-center.com/contact_us.htm