October 1999

Dear C@LL CENTER Solutions™,
In "From Paris With Love" ("Publisher's Outlook," August 1999) you had a valuable chart showing "Cumulative Growth in Top 50 Billable Minutes, Inbound Plus Outbound." Could you give me a ball park figure of what a minute was billed at so that this chart could be converted into dollars? We are planning a new call center, and the investors are asking us lots of questions. We love your magazine and find it the best in the business. We are using it as the bible for our startup.

One other question: What article deals with overcapacity in the industry and how serious it is?

Thank you.
Arthur Hughes

Rich Tehrani responds:

Dear Mr. Hughes:
Thank you for the e-mail. Ball park figures for per hour outsourced teleservices are $18 to $30, depending on many factors. Specialized tasks that require a higher skill level are even more expensive.

The information on overcapacity was mentioned in Nadji Tehrani’s “Publisher’s Outlook” in our March 1999 issue.

It was an observation by Mr. Tehrani, gathered from many conversations with our various contacts in the industry, of the effects of the many mergers and acquisitions that have recently taken place in the industry, especially during 1997 and 1998. It seems that many acquisitions were based on what short-term effect they would have on the stock price, not on what strengths or weaknesses the acquired company would bring to the enterprise making the acquisition and how these attributes would affect the reformulated company in the long-run.

For more ideas on business strtegy for teleservices agencies, you should also refer to Mr. Tehrani’s June 1999 Outlook, “Why Teleservices Companies Fail Or Succeed."

Sincerely,
Rich Tehrani

Hello!
I am currently writing an article on Toronto as a call center city and the opportunities that are here. I understand your magazine provides annual awards, some of which have gone to Toronto-based firms. Also, I was wondering what “the word on the street” is about Toronto as a place to “set up” and the fact that it is one of the largest local calling areas in the world.

I look forward to your insights or comments (especially the awards to service bureaus, many of which include Toronto-based firms).

Regards,
James Pasternak
Pasternak & Associates

Dear Mr. Pasternak:
We have heard that Toronto is indeed a good market for call centers, as is evidenced by the number of award-winning teleservices agencies to be found there. Many have won awards from C@LL CENTER Solutions™ magazine in the past year alone.

These Toronto-based companies can be found this year in our annual “Top 50” awards, which rank the largest teleservices agencies based on the volume of their long-distance transport minutes over a one-year period: Marusa, S&P Data Corp., Watts Communications and Xantel DM. You can find their rankings in the March (Outbound) and April (Inbound) issues of C@LL CENTER Solutions™. These companies are all in the Group C category, which is the International category.

SITEL Corporation Canada was a 1998 Gold Award winner of our annual “MVP Quality Award,” which is given for excellence in quality procedures and can be found in the January 1999 issue of C@LL CENTER Solutions™.

Watts Communications and Optima Communications Canada were also on our annual “Rising Stars” ranking of the fastest-growing teleservices agencies, which measures the growth in long-distance transport minutes from one one-year period to the next. The 1999 “Rising Stars” rankings appeared in our August 1999 issue and can also be found at.

For more information on the call center climate in Toronto, you can contact the City of Toronto Economic Development Office at 416-392-7571; or contact the Ontario Investment Service at 416-360-4647.

Sincerely,
The Editors
Executive Group Publisher
Nadji Tehrani (ntehrani@tmcnet.com)

Group Publisher
Richard Tehrani (rtehrani@tmcnet.com)

Editorial
203-295-2000 (ccspress@tmcnet.com)
Editor, Erik D. Lounsbury
Editorial Director, Linda Driscoll
Managing Editor, Tracey Roth

TMC™ Labs
203-295-2000 (tmclabs@tmcnet.com)
Executive Technology Editor/CTO, Tom Keating
Technology Editor, Evan Koblentz
Technology Editor, Adam Altman
Technology Editor, Christopher Capelle