This article originally appeared in the March 2011 issue of Customer Interaction Solutions
At the end of the first 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 Outbound rankings (as always, the Inbound rankings will follow in the April 2011 issue).
Our “Top 50” rankings are based on extensive detail gleaned from an exhaustive application process, in which outbound 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.
Reading the Rankings
The ranking of Outbound “Top 50” agencies is a numerical ranking, with 1 indicating the largest (highest call volume). While we strive to compile as comprehensive listing as possible, several factors, including consolidation in the teleservices industry, resulting in 29 agencies meeting minimum requirements for billable minutes for this year’s rankings.
Category A comprises of U.S. teleservices agencies; Category B consists of international teleservices agencies, along with international components of U.S.-based agencies (e.g., ranking the international billable minutes of those agencies). Agencies that appear in both domestic and international rankings are marked with a dagger (†).
Category A – U.S. Domestic
1. GC Services Limited Partnership (Houston, TX) *
2. LiveOps (News - Alert) (Santa Clara, CA)*
3. DialAmerica (Mahwah, NJ) *
4. Teleperformance (News - Alert) Group (Paris, France/Salt Lake City, UT)
5. Alorica, Inc. (Chino, CA) *
6. PCCW Teleservices (Hong Kong) incl. Influent (News - Alert) (Dublin, OH) * †
7. TCIM Services, Inc. (Wilmington, DE) †
8. TMS Health (Boca Raton, FL)
9. Cross Country Automotive Services (Medford, MA) †
10. Teleservices Direct (Indianapolis, IN) †
11. Thomas L. Cardella & Associates (Cedar Rapids, IA) *
12. Callbox, Inc. (Encino, CA) †
13. Synergy Solutions, Inc. (Scottsdale, AZ) *
14. The Results Companies (Dania Beach, FL) * †
15. 121 Direct Response (Philadelphia, PA)
16. Ameridial, Inc. (North Canton, OH)
www.ameridial.com
17. AnswerNet (Willow Grove, PA) *
18. American Customer Care (News - Alert), Inc. (Bristol, CT) *
19. Sitel Operating Corporation (Nashville, TN) * †
20. InService America (Forest, VA)
21. Affinitas Corporation (Omaha, NE) *
22. VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, CA) * †
23. Greene, an RMG Direct Company (Lincolnshire, IL)
24. Telvista, Inc. (Dallas, TX) *
25. Telerx (Horsham, PA) *
26. The Connection (Burnsville, MN) *
Category B — INTERNATIONAL
1. Teleperformance Group (Paris, France/Salt Lake City, UT)
2. Sitel Operating Corporation (Nashville, TN) * †
3. PCCW (News 
- Alert) Teleservices (Hong Kong) incl. Influent (Dublin, OH) * †
4. VXI Global Solutions (Los Angeles, CA)* †
5. Teleservices Direct (Indianapolis, IN) †
6. TCIM Services, Inc. (Wilmington, DE) †
7. Cross Country Automotive Services (Medford, MA) †
8. VOXDATA (Montreal, QC) *
9. 24-7 Intouch (Regina, SK)
10. Callbox, Inc. (Encino, CA) †
11. The Results Companies (Dania Beach, FL)* †
12. Listen Up Espanol (Portland, ME)
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
