The Global Perspective
One of the fastest growing industries in North America is the customer contact industry. Customer contact centres, which evolved from the call centre concept, utilize telephone and web-based technologies to enable companies to increase customer contact, consolidate operations, provide more efficient service, increase marketing efficiency, and expand market coverage. Customer contact centres may be in-house (i.e., companies that establish centres to market and service their products and/or services) or be independent companies which represent and provide these services on behalf of other companies.
Customer contact centres are classified as inbound, outbound, or both. Inbound centres include customer service, ordering systems, help desks and technical support. By contrast, outbound centres are used for conducting activities such as market research, direct selling and post-sales calls.
Industry surveys indicate that customer contact centres account for over 3% of total employment in North America and over US$1 trillion in sales. Customer contact centres are used by over 85% of Fortune 500 companies.
A variety of skill levels is needed by these centres, depending on the complexity of the job. Employees may require university degrees or technical diplomas, while others may require only a high school diploma. All occupations, however, require certain fundamental skills including strong oral communication and solid interpersonal skills.
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The Provincial Industry
The local customer contact industry has recorded significant growth over the last several years with 16 centres (i.e., minimum 15 seats) operating or planned for opening in 2001. Nearly 2,000 new jobs have been created in the Province since 1995 bringing total industry employment to nearly 3,000. Total wages and salaries are estimated at over $55 million annually and the industry currently accounts for about 0.5% of provincial GDP.
Customer contact centres in the Province are operated by local firms, the federal and provincial governments, and by U.S.-based multinational companies. Local centres provide telecommunications, financial, insurance, medical, hospitality, retail, government and other services. For example, Anthony Insurance and Johnson Insurance utilize in-house centres to market their products and Human Resources Development Canada maintains a centre to respond to EI queries. Employment opportunities are broad-based and include sales and customer service representatives, market researchers, and technical support staff, as well as management, human resources and administrative support positions.
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Photo:NETWORK Newfoundland and Labrador
NewTel, an Aliant company, employs almost 200 agents |
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