At the start of the second quarter of each year since 1986, Customer Interaction Solutions has delivered its “Top 50” Teleservices Agency Ranking. True to form, for the 26th time, we present our Inbound rankings (please refer to the March 2011 issue for our Top 50 Outbound Teleservices ranking).
Our “Top 50” rankings are based on extensive detail gleaned from an exhaustive application process, in which inbound teleservices vendors quantify their service delivery in terms of minutes’ usage in their various call center locations. Through more than a quarter century of consistency in processing and evaluating applications, the Top 50 ranking has become the benchmark for businesses seeking high-capacity teleservices agencies.
Ranking Criteria
Because the primary factor in our rankings is agency size, based on annual call volume, Customer Interaction Solutions has always relied on measurable, third-party-verifiable data to determine our rankings of the “Top 50” agencies. More specifically, we ranked these agencies based on the number of minutes each was billed by each of its phone companies for telephone service for 12 months, from November 2009 through October 2010.
Qualification
Qualifying teleservices agencies in this year’s “Top 50” were required to submit responses to a detailed questionnaire, indicating the nature of their operations and listing the number of billable minutes for the 12-month period. Verification, in the form of the signature of each agency’s president/CEO was required, in addition to submitting a letter of verification from each telephone service providers used, certifying the number of minutes for which the providers billed the agencies during the evaluation period.
Exceptions
Agencies that did not supply the required third-party verification were disqualified, with three exceptions: 1) a client of the service agency was billed directly for its telephone service and would not provide a letter of verification for anonymity reasons; 2) part of the billable minutes were with a foreign telecommunications carrier that could not provide the data by the deadline; 3) legitimate business situations prevented an agency from obtaining verification from certain carriers. In these situations, we have traditionally allowed providers to certify a portion of the missing minutes with a letter of explanation and signed verification of billable minutes pertaining to the explanation from the president/CEO of the agency. You will find an asterisk (*) next to the name of all agencies that supplied a portion of their verification from their president/CEO.
Understanding the Listings
The Inbound rankings have been divided into three categories, ranked by size, beginning with the largest. Category A lists U.S. teleservices businesses; Category B consists of international teleservices businesses, including international components of U.S.-based agencies. Agencies that are ranked in both Category A and B are indicated with a dagger (†). Category C ranks the interactive services (i.e., no live operators) of these teleservices agencies. The growth of this category reflects the increasing demand for automated self-help services. Companies that are ranked in the Domestic and/or International lists, and also in the Interactive category, are marked with a double dagger (‡). And because we have already ranked the Outbound services provided by these firms in the March issue we also include Category D, the Overall Global Ranking, which aggregates global outbound, inbound, and interactive minutes to provide a view of the size of these businesses on global level.
As always, we provide these rankings with the hope that they will benefit you as you look to fulfill your teleservices outsourcing requirements. Please be sure to let your teleservices providers know you found them through the Customer Interaction Solutions “Top 50” Rankings.
CATEGORY A — U.S. DOMESTIC
1. Teleperformance (News - Alert) Group (Paris, France/ Salt Lake City, Utah) † ‡
2. Sitel Operating Corporation (Nashville, Tenn.) * † ‡
3. Alorica, Inc. (Chino, Calif.) * ‡
4. LiveOps (Santa Clara, Calif.) * ‡
5. GC Services Limited Partnership (Houston, Texas) † ‡
6. TCIM Services, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.) †
7. DialAmerica (Mahwah, N.J.) * ‡
8. The Connection (Burnsville, Minn.) * ‡
9. VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, Calif.) * † ‡
10. Cross Country Automotive Services (Medford, Mass.) † ‡
11. The Results Companies (News - Alert) (Dania Beach, Calif.) * †
12. Telerx (Horsham, Pa.) * † ‡
13. USA 800, Inc. (Kansas City, Mo.)
14. American Customer Care (News - Alert), Inc. (Bristol, Conn.) * ‡
15. Synergy Solutions, Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) * ‡
16. AnswerNet (News - Alert) (Willow Grove, Pa.) *
17. PCCW Teleservices (Hong Kong) incl. Influent (News - Alert) (Dublin, Ohio) * † ‡
18. Affinitas Corporation (Omaha, Neb.) *
19. Telvista, Inc. (Dallas, Texas) * ‡
20. Ameridial (North Canton, Ohio)
21. Thomas L. Cardella & Associates (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) *
22. TMS Health (Boca Raton, Fla.) ‡
23. InService America (Forest, Va.)
24. 121 Direct Response (Philadelphia, Pa.)
25. Callbox, Inc. (Encino, Calif.)
26. Teleservices Direct (Indianapolis, Ind.)
CATEGORY B — INTERNATIONAL
1. Teleperformance Group (Paris, France/ Salt Lake City, Utah) † ‡
2. Sitel Operating Corporation (Nashville, Tenn.) * † ‡
3. PCCW Teleservices (Hong Kong) incl. Influent (Dublin, Ohio) * † ‡
4. VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, Calif.) * † ‡
5. The Results Companies (Dania Beach, Calif.) * †
6. Listen Up Espanol (Portland, Maine)
7. Skybridge Marketing Group (Greenfield, Minn.)
8. 24-7 Intouch (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada) ‡
9. TCIM Services, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.) †
10. Voxdata (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) *
11. Cross Country Automotive Services (Medford, Mass.) † ‡
12. GC Services Limited Partnership (Houston, Texas) † ‡
13. Telerx (Horsham, Pa.) * † ‡
CATEGORY C — INTERACTIVE INBOUND
1. XO Interactive (Beaverton, Ore.)
2. PCCW Teleservices (Hong Kong) incl. Influent (Dublin, Ohio) * †
3. Dialogue Marketing (Auburn Hills, Mich.) *
4. Teleperformance Group (Paris, France/ Salt Lake City, Utah) †
5. Sitel Operating Corporation (Nashville, Tenn.) * †
6. GC Services Limited Partnership (Houston, Texas) †
7. LiveOps (Santa Clara, Calif.) *
8. 24-7 Intouch (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada)
9. TMS Health (Boca Raton, Fla.)
10. Telerx (Horsham, Pa.) * †
11. Cross Country Automotive Services (Medford, Mass.) †
12. Synergy Solutions, Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) *
13. The Connection (Burnsville, Minn.) *
14. DialAmerica (Mahwah, N.J.)
15. Alorica, Inc. (Chino, Calif.) *
16. American Customer Care, Inc. (Bristol, Conn.) *
17. Telvista, Inc. (Dallas, Texas) *
18. VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, Calif.) * †
CATEGORY D —GLOBAL AGGREGATE RANKING
1. Teleperformance Group (Paris, France/ Salt Lake City, Utah)
2. Sitel Operating Corporation (Nashville, Tenn.) *
3. XO Interactive (Beaverton, Ore.)
4. Alorica, Inc. (Chino, Calif.) *
5. PCCW Teleservices (Hong Kong) incl. Influent (Dublin, Ohio) *
6. LiveOps (Santa Clara, Calif.) *
7. GC Services Limited Partnership (Houston, Texas)
8. DialAmerica (Mahwah, N.J.)
9. VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, Calif.) *
Brendan B. Read is TMCnet’s Senior Contributing Editor. To read more of Brendan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
