Teleservice Industry News

April 2009

Alston Tascom Hosted Solution Shines in 2008

Alston Tascom's Hosted Evolution System provided alternative business solutions for eleven additional telemessaging companies in 2008.  The new businesses range from two seats to ten seats, handling a few hundred calls a month to over 120,000 calls.  The businesses are all located in North America, ranging from California to Florida and from Toronto to Texas.

"When it seems like this economic environment is closing in on you, there is a way out," said Alston Tascom president Wayne Scaggs.  "Alston Tascom has a solution."

For more information call 866-282-7266.

ATSI Awards Gold Call Center Certification to ABA

A Better Answer, Inc. of Plano, Texas has been awarded the prestigious Gold 24/7 Call Center Certification by the Association of Teleservices International (ATSI). 

A Better Answer Call Centers (ABA), founded in 1971 by Dee Hawkins, is nationally recognized for its excellence as an award-winning bilingual teleservice call center.  ABA has also earned ATSI's annual Award of Excellence for the past ten years for excellence in response time, accuracy, courtesy, and customer service.  It is the only call center to receive ATSI's International "Miss Emily'' Trophy Award for courtesy and professionalism above and beyond.  The company serves business professionals' messaging and order entry needs globally, nationally, and locally.

This certification indicates that ABA has met or exceeded high standards in the following areas: business practices; life safety, operations, including normal and emergency procedures; and personnel hiring, training, and ongoing evaluations through a peer review program focusing on 99.9 percent annual run time.

ATSI is an international trade association serving the teleservices industry.

TUNe Hires Executive Director

Debbie Bibber, president of the Telescan Users Network (TUNe) announced the board's decision to retain the services of Dan L'Heureux as executive director.  "I know we can make TUNe an excellent organization, "said Bibber, "and we are pleased to have been able to get Dan to help us.  For many years," she continued, "TUNe has been run by volunteers, and while that has gotten us to where we are, it's time to move forward.  Our board made the decision based on various board members' positive experiences in working with L'Heureux on other organization boards and his willingness to be flexible to our needs."

TUNe is a user's group for telemessaging call center owners that utilize the Telescan systems.  Telescan, LLC, is based in St Louis and designs hardware and software solutions for the telemessaging industry, call centers, and answering services.

TUNe's annual meeting will be held in St. Louis September 9-11, 2009 at the Lumiere Place Hotel and Casino. 

For further information, contact Dan L'Heureux 763-473-0210.

Amtelco Conference Update

The National Amtelco Equipment Owners 2009 Conference was held March 1-4 in Cancun, Mexico.  The conference provided educational presentations, and Kevin Beale, Amtelco's director of R & D software, presented information on the following new releases:

Infinity Intelligent Dashboard: Graphically monitor the Infinity Intelligent Series system that constantly refreshes its information display to give a current snapshot of important system information, including Infinity call traffic, average time to answer, agents, system waits, and port usage.  Dashboards can be displayed on a flat screen LCD or on numerous models of popular smart phones.

VoIP Technology: Reduce telephony costs by adding native VoIP services to the Infinity system with Amtelco's XDS VoIP Board.

Client Management Intelligence (CMI): Integrate Amtelco's Intelligent Messaging with CMI to automatically build a contact database for your customers as you take calls for them.

Intelligent SMS Text Messaging: Sending SMS text messages is now an integral component of both Infinity message dispatching and Intelligent message contact dispatching.  Both support sending and receiving SMS text messages with all cellular carriers, which are sent directly from the Infinity server via wireless cellular modems or Internet-based SMS aggregators. 

For more information, contact Amtelco at 800-356-9148 or info@amtelco.com.

Center Partners Chooses to Standardize Solutions

Center Partners, a provider of contact center outsourced solutions within call center and eLearning, has named OnviSource its strategic partner and sole provider of call recording and quality monitoring solutions throughout its multilocation enterprise.

"As a trusted technical advisor and partner, OnviSource is forward looking in bringing new technologies with revenue-bearing features to us.  Thought leadership makes them a great strategic partner," explained Michael Alden, director of information technology at Center Partners.  "More importantly, proven and affordable solutions, quick responsiveness, and proactive issue resolution is what sets OnviSource apart from other vendors and why we chose to standardize on their platform."

Kimberly Moore Joins TAS Source

TAS Source announced that Kimberly Moore has joined the team to head up their business brokerage group.  Kimberly is a certified merger and acquisition advisor and brings an extensive network of contacts looking for purchase and sale opportunities in the business center, telephone answering service, and other service businesses.  Kimberly has many years of experience and has recently sold her multiple business center locations and telemessaging business based in Colorado.  Kimberly's reputation and contacts will prove to be an invaluable resource to TAS Source clients.

TAS Source's service is centered on the need to build trust and preserve confidentiality at all costs.  "In addition to working as a trusted intermediary, we have developed a systematic approach to preparing a business for sale to help ensure that it will generate the most interest and bring the greatest return for your investment," stated Chuck Boyce.  "When working with sellers, we are able to discreetly approach potential acquisitions and determine if there is any interest in selling a business."

Ameridial Worldwide Receives Outsourcing Award

Ameridial Inc. has received a Top Outsourcer award from ContactCenterWorld.  The global support organization for contact center professionals has ranked Ameridial as one of the top outsourcers in the industry.  Ameridial was named number two in the blended category for outbound and inbound.  The information was compiled from data supplied by outsourcers around the world.

"It is both an honor and a privilege to receive such an award.  A thanks goes to our family members here at Ameridial and to our client partners.  Ameridial is committed to continually providing valuable resources to enhance business relationships locally and globally," remarked Jim McGeorge, chairman of Ameridial Inc.

Ameridial is a global provider of contact center services, direct mail, and business processing outsourcing services.  With over twenty years of experience delivering quality solutions in the U.S. and India, Ameridial handles over 100 million calls per year and employs 1,500 agents.

ATA Experiencing Continued Growth

The American Teleservices Association (ATA) reported steady growth and solid event attendance despite the country's difficult economic atmosphere.  ATA continues to experience success in retaining its membership, particularly in comparison to similar membership-based trade organizations.  ATA also remains on track with an initiative to improve digital offerings and enhance local events, as well as continuing its contact center compliance seminars.  These free full-day seminars will be offered in six cities during 2009.

"It is humbling to watch ATA's member companies renew their membership at higher than average rates.  And in the face of tough times, new members continue to join our association," ATA CEO Tim Searcy commented.  ATA expects consistent event participation in 2009 as indicated by higher than average early registration rates for the upcoming Washington Summit, ATA's annual legislative conference to be held April 26-29.

Additionally, ATA announces staff changes to continue its support of members and industry professionals.  Kim Brandt will expand her role as director of marketing and member acquisition, and Lisa Nye Ford has been named director of member services.  ATA also welcomes two new staff members, Jeremy Thompson, member development associate, and Marquisha Bridgeman, marketing communications specialist.

TAS Marketing Updates Web Site

After twenty-some odd years, Steve Michaels announced that he has finally upgraded his website tasmarketing.com.  He will also be initiating an email service called TAS Tips, where recipients will receive the latest hot tips, jokes, businesses and accounts for sale, and industry news.  If you would like to be on this informative new list, please forward your email address to tas@tasmarketing.com.

TAS Marketing can be reached at 800-369-6126.

Finger Lakes Acquires Answer Bay Area in Florida

Gard McLean from Finger Lakes Business Services, located in Auburn, New York, has acquired Answer Bay Area, Inc., owned and operated since 1992 by Pete Ritchie in Tampa, Florida.  The transition was almost seamless, according to Gard.

"We're happy to add Answer Bay Area to our list of acquisitions," said Gard, who is also happy to now own a call center in sunny Florida.  The transaction was handled by Steve and Chris Michaels from the brokerage firm of TAS Marketing, located in Trout Creek, Montana.

For more information, contact TAS Marketing at 800-369-6126 or tas@tasmarketing.com.