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ontinued movement to a variety of offshore locations, plus improved technology, will drive down the number of U.S.

Circles, Inc. picked Burlington, Ont., for its new customer contact center. A good labor supply and a low turnover rate were among the key factors.

call centers and jobs over the next few years. Datamonitor, one of several organizations that analyze this nomadic industry, says the U.S. will lose about 3,000 call centers over the next three years. The near-shore trend will pick up steam with Canada leading the way. However, Datamonitor notes that while Canada is the most stable and secure nearshore/offshore destination, it is also the most expensive.
     

Ontario, Canada's largest economic engine, continues to be its center of call center investment. The province has more than 3,500 centers, employing more than 255,000.
      A well-educated labor force was the clincher for Boston-based Circles, Inc., a provider of loyalty marketing services, when the firm decided to site its call center in Burlington, Ont., about 30 miles (48 km.) south of Toronto. Circles opened a 330-seat center in October 2004 in space formerly occupied by another call center.
      Hugh Merryweather, Circle's chief financial officer, says the company wanted a site in the U.S. or Canada somewhere

Leading Ontario Call Center Locations City/Region No. of centers Greater Toronto Area More than 2500 Ottawa 400 Kitchener/ Waterloo/Cambridge 60 London 50 North Bay 20 Source: Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade

east of the Rockies. The site needed to be outside of the greater Boston power grids and weather patterns from a business continuity perspective, he says. The company worked with Trammell Crow's Dallas-based call center group during the process. After narrowing the list to 24 sites, the search focused on several locations in Ontario.
      "We do very high end customer service and loyalty marketing, and because of the affluent customer base we serve, we need a very well-educated employee base with very strong written and verbal communication skills," Merryweather says. "Ultimately, we selected Burlington because of the quality of its labor pool and the fact that the market wasn't saturated with call centers. We did not displace jobs in Boston, but have built a site which will allow for growth in an area with a great labor pool."
      Merryweather says Ontario offers a much lower attrition rate than most U.S. options.
      "Our targeted attrition in Burlington is much lower than our Boston site, due mainly to the employee mix available in each community and different career path expectations," Merryweather says. "This lower attrition will result in lower hiring and training costs and higher quality as we increase the number of tenured service professionals servicing our customers."
      TSYS, a subsidiary of Synovus, is considering an Ontario location for a contact center to handle collections and inbound customer service.
      "Ontario is one of the regions we are most enthusiastic about," says Jim Gionffrido, senior director of managed services at TSYS. "We're looking at labor arbitrage, a good cultural fit, available skills and ease of access. In general, Ontario is an enthusiastic place to do business."