A customer contact centre, known as a call centre in the last decade, is a physical location using telephony and computer technology to facilitate communication between the provider of products and/or services with the potential, current, or former consumers of such products or services.

• Pizza Hut or KFC for delivery
• Ticket Master or Select-a-Seat for tickets
• The Sega help line to get to the next level
• MTS to get a phone number
• MPI to make a claim after a fender bender
• Greyhound or Air Canada to get a schedule
• 911 to report an accident
• In fact, more than 9 in 10 Canadians have called a toll-free number for service or transaction purposes in the past year.

Communication; companies talking with their customers-- impacted by technological advances in telephony & information technology

• It is one of the fastest growing industries in North America.
• There are about 14,000 customer contact centres in Canada with six or more agents, employing more than 500,000 Canadians. That is 3.4% of the entire Canadian population!
• Canadian contact centres today anticipate a 20% growth rate in both numbers of centres and agent populations over the next 3 years.

Consumers no longer fear technology; they embrace its efficiencies & capabilities 

• There are over 130 Customer Contact Centres in Manitoba.
• They range in size from 2 - 1800 employees.
• There are more than 12,000 people currently employed in customer contact centres. 

• Consumers are demanding flexible, expedient, quality service.
• Technological improvements have spurred customer contact centre growth.
• Businesses are making customer contact centres a strategic element of customer contact strategy.
• Customer contact centres are a cost-effective way for businesses to maintain contact.
• There is an evolution towards a global economy.
• There are competitive pressures to lower costs, increase revenues (sales) and improve cash flow.
• The need to manage customer relations.

Develop career opportunities in one of the fastest growing Industry sectors.
Provide employment for unemployed, underemployed, youth, physically disabled, people with 2nd language proficiency, people needing flexible hours, remote workers and students looking for part time work.
Provide excellent training in customer service, sales and technology.
Act as catalysts for economic development for all regions of the country.
Promote an environmentally friendly Industry. 
 

Salaries range from $17,000 to $80,000 per year.
 

• There are two basic types of calls
  • INBOUND - where the customer dials a local or 1-800 number to call in to a contact centre.  They provide services such as:
    • help desk (support)
    • broker / financial
    • customer service
    • orders / reservations
    • information lines
    • tele-health
    • counseling
  • OUTBOUND - where the customer contact centre calls the customer. They are engaged in:
    • telephone sales
    • consumer research
    • business to business information
    • fund raising
    • customer follow-up
    • collections
    • renewals

• There are also two types of customer contact centres:
  • In-house customer contact centres where the company sets up its own customer contact centre to manage its customer relations, and
  • Multi-service bureaus or outsourcing companies who contract to do the customer relations for other companies.

More text goes here.

Multi-service Bureaus:

• Cantalk 200
• Convergys 1800
• Skybridge Marketing Group 610
• SR&J 297
• Ipsos Reid 475
• Inspyre Solutions Inc. 425
• SHL Systemhouse 400

In-house Customer contact centres:

• CN North America 425
• CPR 265
• Revenue Canada 150
• Great West Life 150
• Royal Bank Customer Contact Centre 850
• Air Canada 460
• MTS 825

Customer contact centres exist across industries. Wherever there are companies with customers, whether for products or services, there is the potential for a customer contact centre to serve customers.

Some of the leading industries using customer contact centres are:

• Information Technology
• Transportation
• Finance
• Catalogue Shopping
• Utilities - Gas, Hydro, Telephone
• Tourism
• Research
• Others are joining in:
• Direct Medical Assistance
• Financial Planning
• InsuranceClaim and Applications
• Agricultural Advice Centres

In the early 1970's with the invention of 1-800 numbers, single line sets and multi-line sets were used. Then the telephone technology evolved to include PBX and ACD systems until the 1990's when the technology exploded to Routing Systems, Internet, Interactive Voice Response Systems, and Network ACD. Now we are moving toward increased internet routing, video customer contact centres, and sophisticated database interconnection.

The Future is Now!
Multi-media Access, Global Customer contact centres, Integrated and Electronic Commerce Functions, Skills-based Agent Selection, Linked/Virtual customer contact centres.

Yes, if you have:

• Telephone personality
• Respect for people & their differences
• Problem solving capability
• A Business orientation
• A Customer orientation
• Professional Life Skills 

The Majority of the jobs are:

• Customer Service Representative
• Technical Help Desk Support Person
• Market Research /Interviewer
• Sales Person
• Supervisor
• Customer Contact Centre Manager
  
  Additional Jobs include:
  
• Human Resource Manager
• Systems Support Specialist
• Training Specialist
• Administration Assistant
• Project Manager
• Script Writer

There are four major job categories of customer contact centre agents in Manitoba.

• 65% of the Industry workers are in Customer Service Jobs
• 14% are in Telesales
• 11% are in Research
• 10% are in Technical Help Desk occupations

• Develop customer service knowledge & skills
• Quality customer service communication
• Customer handling - problem solving techniques
• Acquire valuable computer experience
• Create opportunity for job advancement
• Take advantage of shift work - flexibility
• Obtain training 
   

Most Customer contact centres require Grade XII as an entrance requirement. If you think you have the personality and high school training to be suited to the work of an agent, you may apply directly to advertisements in the newspaper. Most companies provide in-house training for new recruits.

The Manitoba Customer Contact Centre Association is working hard to develop entry-level training programs that meet Industry-defined standards. The Association is currently working with a number of member training providers who develop and deliver diverse, innovative Industry approved curriculum to meet Industry needs. 

A number of MCCA member trainers such as Academy of Learning (North), Anokiiwin Training Institute, Patal Vocational School, and Success /Compu College School of Business offer Industry approved training. Please see the "What's New" section for current training opportunities.

The Core Curriculum includes skills common to all customer contact centre positions:

• Industry Awareness
• Communications
• Computer Literacy & Keyboard Speed
• Basic Math
• Interpersonal, Problem Solving, Life Skills
• Business Orientation, Team Skills

In addition to the Core Skills, trainers offer additional specific training in:

• Sales & Marketing, Inbound/Outbound
• Customer Service
• Research
• Technical Help Desk