October 2003

By James Beatty, NCS International, Inc.

Let's say I need a place to locate a 500-person customer service center. Where should I look? Offshore, where labor costs are lower than the U.S.? Maybe I should look at the larger MSAs with a population of at least 500,000 to 1 million. Perhaps I'll look in the Southeast, where call centers have been multiplying at astounding growth rates. Or maybe I'll look Northeast, where customer service centers have been successful. There's still the Midwest, where the industry was born and is now at a mature age. What about the West coast, which has millions of people available?

I surely won't look at smaller areas in remote places in the Northwest with populations of less than 250,000. These locations are just too small to be realistically considered. I will have a heck of a time recruiting workers and managers, and clients won't visit a small place because it isn't showcase quality.

Right?

Wrong! Yakima, Washington may be my answer. Conventional wisdom sometimes has to be set aside and companies and site selectors have to dig below the databases and find the diamonds in the call center location hunt. This is what happened in Yakima, a diamond that is being polished as you read this. It's a diamond that has been discovered and just might create a rush for CRM operations to review this and other locations like it.

Let me share some facts about Yakima and let you determine the rest.

Population
The City of Yakima is located in south central Washington State and is the tenth-largest community in the state. Yakima County has a population of 222,581 and Yakima, the city, has a population of 79,120.

The population by mile radius is as follows:

5 miles: 106,492

15 miles: 157,194

20 miles: 177,200

30 miles: 188,925

The population by call center age is:

Age Range Number

20 ' 24 14,873

25 ' 54 87,852

55 ' 64 17,177

Median age overall is 32.41.

Median age for men is 31.43.

Median age for women is 33.43.


Population by race in Yakima County is as follows:

Caucasian 146,005

African-American 2,157

American Indian/

Alaska Native 9,966

Pacific Islander/Asian 2,327

Hispanic 79,721


Educational attainment statistics are as follows:

68.80 percent of the population has graduated high school;

15.40 percent of the population has a Bachelor's degree or higher;

5.9 percent age 25 or older has an Associate's degree;

9.7 percent age 25 or older has a Bachelor's degree; and

5.8 percent age 25 or older has a graduate degree.

Household Income Distribution

Less than $15,000 20%

$15,000 to $24,999 17%

$25,000 to $34,999 15%

$35,000 to $49,999 17%

$50,000 and over 30%


Mean Household Income

Male $31,620

Female $24,541

Family $48,169

Per Capita Personal

Income Year 2000 $22,022

Labor Market Information

The unemployment rate for the County was an average of 10.0 percent for year 2002. In January 2003, unemployment was 12.7 percent and in May 2003, it was 10.0 percent.

The total workforce in year 2002 was 115,200 for Yakima County. The number of men employed was 63,187 for 54.85 percent. The number of women employed was 52,013 for 45.15 percent. The average commute time in the county was 18 minutes. The average commute time in the city was 14 minutes.

In year 2002, employment by selected occupations 18 years and older was:

Managerial and administrative 7,012

Professional 17,114

Sales and marketing 10,663

Clerical and admin. support 13,225

Services 16,983

The Yakima Training Center, a military base that serves as a hub for domestic and international military exercises, employs 415 personnel.

Employers such as Costco, Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer have indicated that it is reasonable to expect 7 to 10 applicants per job announced.

Education

More than 16,000 people are enrolled in higher education in area colleges and vocational-technical schools.

Institute Enrollment
Central Washington University 8,233

Yakima Valley Community College 6,153

Heritage College 1,400

Perry Technical Institute 400

City University 100

Telecommunications

The Yakima area, which is comprised of several smaller incorporated and unincorporated communities, is served by Verizon, Qwest Communications, ATG Communications and United Telephone of the Northwest. ATG and AT&T provide local service. Sprint, AT&T, Global Crossing, Qwest Communications and ATG provide long-distance services.

Fiber optics are in place for the communities in the region. According to the 2001 City of Yakima telecommunications study, there are state-of-the-art switches in the area including two Nortel DMS switches and a Lucent 5ESS switch. The City was the recipient of a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to carry out a Telecommunications and Technology Planning Project. This demonstrates the forethought and leadership in the community. I would encourage more communities of this size to do the same.

Taxes on telecommunications are:

' State and occupation tax of 1.5 percent;

' City of Yakima utility tax of 6.0 percent, capped at $4,000; and

' Sales tax on 800 lines and WATS lines of 7.9 percent.

The Chamber of Commerce even sponsors a seven-part technology series geared to gaining a clearer understanding of new and emerging technologies and how it can benefit businesses in the area.

Call-Center-Related Wages

Position Mean Wage Median Wage

Telephone $8.37/sales rep hour $7.98/hour

Team $15.78/manager hour $13.56/hour

Data entry $9.25/operator hour $9.42/hour

Computer $19.83/programmers hour $20.94/hour

Systems $25.01/administrators hour $25.61/hour

Computer $12.02/operators hour $13.11/hour

Secretaries $13.27/ $13.32/hour

Customer Service Operations In Yakima

ClientLogic has a center with 500 employees. That's it. This is why there is room for other centers if they are smart and wish to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this region.

I want to thank the staff and Board of Directors at New Vision, The Yakima County Development Association, the group responsible for economic growth in the region. They arranged for my tour and provided great hospitality and insights during my stay, which was too short. They can be reached at www.ycda.com.

Please send me your ideas for new stories, comments and questions at [email protected]. Also, keep checking in at the official Web site for call center and back-office location information at www.callcentersites.net. The site is receiving about 50,000 hits and 30,000 page views per month. Continue to use it! We will be adding call center information on many countries in the coming weeks.

For information and subscriptions, visit www.TMCnet.com or call 203-852-6800.

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