International Call Centers(cover) Key Business Concerns Driving Call Center Growth Labor, Telecom Top List of Location Factors United States Canada Europe Asia-Pacific Request Information |
Staples Connects
"We chose to locate this center here because of Nova Scotia's highly educated work force, strong customer-service orientation and access to the community college system," says Joe Doody, president of the firm's Contract & Commercial Division. "We've been extremely impressed with the caliber of people applying to work with us."
Nova Scotia's attractive labor market helped convince Watts Communications to bring its $15 million inbound call center to Bridgewater, creating about 220 jobs. The facility will provide technical support services to computer and Internet-related companies in North America.
Ron Weber and Associates also liked what it saw in Nova Scotia. The firm, which has provided inbound and outbound teleservices to numerous Fortune 500 clients since 1980, recently chose Sydney, Cape Breton, for a teleservice facility.
"We chose Sydney as the site of our new teleservices center for a number of reasons," President and CEO Ron Weber says. "First and foremost, the area has an excellent supply of skilled, talented and loyal workers. We are also impressed by the commitment to training we recognized in the province, particularly by organizations like the Nova Scotia Community College and, of course, the assistance we received from Connections Nova Scotia, which made the decision even easier." (Connections Nova Scotia -- www.connections.ns.ca -- is a partnership between the provincial government's department of economic development and tourism and MTT, Nova Scotia's telecom provider, dedicated to attracting call centers.)
"Ron Weber is over 150 employees now, but it's getting literally thousands of applicants," reports Connections Nova Scotia Director Michael Estabrooks. "Companies are just blown away by the quality of people applying for these jobs."
Big expansions under way include Scotiabank, which is adding 300 agents at its 220-employee Halifax electronic banking center, and Minacs Worldwide, which plans to boost its Halifax employment by 250. "Minacs Worldwide is an outsourcing company," Estabrooks explains. "If you were to call General Motors and ask for a Master Mechanic, it's actually Minacs that takes the call."
Xerox, Cendant Canada
In another big move, Cendant Canada (formerly known as Hospitality Franchise Systems) is opening a call center in Fredericton. "We expect it will be around 400 jobs," Scott predicts. "The company owns Avis Rent A Car and a number of midrange hotel chains in Canada. It's actually been in New Brunswick since 1996, in Saint John." The Saint John facility started with about 50 seats, but it employs nearly 1,000 now.
New locations include RMH Teleservices, which has opened call centers in Saint John and Oromocto. "The company will employ about 1,000 people between the two centers,"
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Staples, the world's largest office supply retailer, recently opened a new call center in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, that will employ as many as 700 within five years.
"Xerox is building a new building and adding 500 jobs," reports New Brunswick Trade & Investment's Jim Scott, a call center specialist. "The company actually indicated that they will probably go well beyond those numbers. Those are very high level positions, in the upper 25 percent of call center jobs."
"The quality and dedication of our employees in Saint John and the great partnership we have with NBTel has sold us on New Brunswick," says Cendant Canada's Doug Patterson, executive vice president of call center operations. "The availability of a pool of talented and well-trained workers in greater Fredericton made it the logical site for us to set up our second New Brunswick reservations center."