Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Many organizations rely on the research of others to gain an understanding of a particular market in order to determine if that market offers a viable location for business operations. This is especially true when organizations are examining locations for establishing call centers.

 

The Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development commissioned a survey on the call center industry to provide insights on the structure, the operational issues and preferences, as well as the statewide economic impact of the call center industry.

 

At the time of the survey, 874 surveys were sent out, of which 377 were returned for an overall response rate of 43 percent. When asked whether or not they considered themselves to have operations which supported call center functions, 155 of the 377 respondents, or 41 percent, identified themselves as a call center facility. This indicates that 18 percent overall were confirmed to have call center activity.

 

The 155 respondents identified a total of 184 call centers in Minnesota as some respondents operated more than one facility in the state. The average respondent had operations established before 1990; facilities evenly distributed between business to business and business to consumer and between inbound and outbound facilities; annual sales between $1 million and $20 million; and employment size between 20 and 100.

 

There were six industries identified as ones in which respondents operated or provided support. These industries included financial services, sales, insurance, fulfillment, consumer products and high technology. Each of these industries was used as a basis for analysis of several operational issues such as annual sales volume, starting salary range, tenure and employment plans.

 

As is true with every call center market, the Minnesota respondents face challenges in their everyday operations. Respondents identified finding workers with adequate skills and labor availability as primary operation issues. Although this continues to be an obstacle, most respondents did indicate that they plan to increase employment levels over the next 12 months.

 

Turnover is a consistent issue in the call center industry as many companies continue to explore ways to keep employees more satisfied and in place. Wages can be one tool to use to try and maintain the agent base, although many organizations can only offer an employee so much while trying to maintain a budget.

 

Throughout the Minnesota industry, wages varied slightly, with the highest wages in the technology industry. The organizations analyzed also indicated that their customer service representatives and sales representatives had the shortest tenure among occupations that were analyzed.

 

The call center industry in Minnesota presents many of the same issues as those in other parts of the country. Areas that may need further attention are that of agent motivation, wages and further examination of customer service and sales representatives to determine what drives the higher turnover.

 

 

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.