A new report that links call center performance to geographic location...Phoenix, Ariz. (April, 2002) A new report that links call center performance to geographic location was released this week and was co-authored by Jim Trobaugh and Mark Seeley of CB Richard Ellis's Call Center Solutions Group, along with Dr. Jon Anton of Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality and John Chatterley of BenchmarkPortal, Inc. The paper, entitled Improving Call Center Performance through Optimized Site Selection, was published by the Purdue Research Foundation. The study takes a comprehensive look at how choosing the proper geographic location for a call center affects its successful operation. Believed to be the first time location and performance have been looked at together, the study used demographic information, combined with statistical data from call centers throughout the country. The conclusion is that proper site selection will, in fact, have a positive impact on a call center's performance. Some of the paper's findings include:
- Call centers in cities with high household incomes are more likely to have a higher cost per call and higher turnover rates.
- On average, call centers in cities with smaller populations tend to have higher quality and productivity.
- In general, call centers located in areas with older populations have lower productivity and higher cost per call ratios.
- Call centers in locations with higher unemployment perform better.
- The Southwest had the highest ratings for call center quality and productivity, while the Northeast had the lowest.
Trobaugh and Seeley lent their expertise on the contributing factors that are involved in finding the proper location to set up a company's call center. As members of CB Richard Ellis' Phoenix Call Center Solutions Group, - which Trobaugh helped found in 1989 - they have more than 21 combined years of experience in the call center industry. The white paper, which took 6 months to complete, is part of a larger research project by the Center for Customer Driven Quality, which aims to find the demographic profile of the ideal U.S. city for locating a customer contact operation. The Center for Customer Driven Quality at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. was founded in 1989 and began its research functions by focusing on the call center industry. Today the center's research has expanded to include such topics as e-commerce, customer satisfaction and lifetime value of customers. The center also promotes educational training for professionals by offering seminars both at Purdue and at company sites. BenchmarkPortal is a source for customer relationship management (CRM) best practices information for call centers. Founded in 1995, BenchmarkPortal provides data to call center managers via a series of actionable reports. Through these reports, as well as leading-edge research, BenchmarkPortal aims to contribute to the continual improvement processes of individual customer call centers and ultimately to improve the performance of this vital sector worldwide. Visit the company's web site at www.benchmarkportal.com. CB Richard Ellis is the world's leading real estate services company. Headquartered in Los Angeles with 10,000 employees worldwide, the company serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through nearly 250 offices in 44 countries. Services include property sales and leasing, property management, corporate services, facilities management, commercial mortgage services, investment management, appraisal/valuation, research and consulting. CB Richard Ellis had 2001 revenues of $1,170.8 million. For more information about CB Richard Ellis, visit the company's website at www.cbre.com.
