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Major Contact Centres in the GTA
Labor ForceThe GTA offers an abundant labor force to the Canadian and
U.S. contact centre market Several colleges in the GTA have developed contact centre specific programs. Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
The full-time program accommodates 25 students per year and runs in conjunction with the 3- year Financial Planning Program. During the students’ third year, there is a co-op job placement option where the students work in the contact centre industry for a 14-week period. The part-time program offers five contact centre specific classes such as Introduction to Contact Centres, Contact Centre Communications, Situational Selling and Contact Centre Lab. Centennial College School of Business This is a one-year full-time program with a 16-week paid work placement. The placement gives students product specific training in the industry and employers often hire the students upon graduation. Centennial College also offers a Contact Centre Management Program, a part-time program tailored to those currently working in the contact centre industry. Additional Contact Centre Programs offered in the GTA:
Sheridan College School of Computing and Information
Management This is a specialization course in management designed for professionals already in the related workforce. The program focuses on courses for contact centre managers and supervisors. Companies locating in the GTA can benefit from job training
and hiring programs.
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Benefit |
Median Amount
in CDN Dollars |
%of Total |
Base salary |
$28,300 |
86% |
Bonuses |
$707 |
2% |
EI/CPP |
$2,108 |
6% |
Healthcare |
$566 |
2% |
Time off |
$1,415 |
4% |
Total |
$33,096 |
100% |
Total compensation (base + bonuses + benefits) - CSR Manager
Benefit |
Median Amount
in CDN Dollars |
%of Total |
Base salary |
$64,934 |
86% |
Bonuses |
$2,922 |
4% |
EI/CPP |
$3,896 |
5% |
Healthcare |
$1,299 |
2% |
Time off |
$2,600 |
3% |
Total |
$75,651 |
100% |
State-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure and price
“Overhead costs in Canada are cheaper because our prices for Internet access and land and mobile phones is lower than leading OECD countries”, says the Conference Board of Canada’s 2004 Connectedness Index.
Source: KPMG Competitive Alternatives Cost Model, 2004.
*Costs include telecommunications and electricity. Index (US=100.0) CND $1.00 = US $0.80
For information on telecommunications service providers in the GTA, go to: Telecom & Utilities
•Access to public transit
and availability of skilled labor were cited as the most important
considerations in selecting a contact centre location.Source:
PricewaterhouseCoopers, GTA Contact Centre Study, July 2001
The reasons for the GTA’s attraction of international
contact centres are clear.
We’ll let some of our contact centre industry leaders tell you why.
AIR CANADA, GTA CENTRAL
“Greater Toronto provides us with qualified call centre agents who have specialized language capabilities.”Lori Boyd, Contact Centre Manager, Air Canada
| Number of Contact Centres in the GTA/Ontario/Canada | 1 |
| Years of Operation in the GTA | 28 |
| Primary Industry Sector | Travel and Tourism |
| Contact Centre Type | Pre and Post Sale
Customer Service Handling of Customer Complaints and Inquiries Orders and Reservations |
| Total Number of CSR's | 600 |
| Hours of Operation | 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. |
| Calling Pattern | Inbound |
| Languages Spoken | English, Mandarin, Japanese, German |
AMEX, GTA NORTH
“We use the full spectrum of Greater Toronto's modern telecommunications infrastructure to seamlessly integrate our high quality services to a discerning membership base across our world wide member service network.”George Tsafaridis, V.P. International Call Centre Engineering, Amex Canada Inc.
| Number of Contact Centres in the GTA/Ontario/Canada | 3 |
| Years of Operation in the GTA | 21 |
| Primary Industry Sector | Financial Services |
| Contact Centre Type | Pre and Post Sale
Customer Service Handling of Customer Complaints and Inquiries Order/Reservations Providing Technical Assistance/Information Order Entry |
| Total Number of CSR's | 1,500 |
| Hours of Operation | 24/7 |
| Calling Pattern | Inbound calling, 50% from the US |
| Languages Spoken | English |
GSH SHAREHOLDERS, GTA CENTRAL
“Among many other reasons, we came to Toronto because we saw the opportunity of operating from a competitively priced, premier location that’s consistent with our corporate culture and customer care requirements. Our Toronto call centre is the ‘hallmark centre’ we use to benchmark our call centres in New York City, London, Rome, Sydney and Johannesburg.”Glenn Keeling, President & Chief Executive Officer, Georgeson Shareholders
| Number of Contact Centres in the GTA/Ontario/Canada | 1 |
| Years of Operation in the GTA | 3 |
| Primary Industry Sector | Financial Services |
| Contact Centre Type | Pre and Post Sale Customer Service |
| Total Number of CSR's | 400 |
| Hours of Operation | 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. |
| Calling Pattern | Outbound calling, 95% to the US |
| Languages Spoken | English, French |
IBM, GTA CENTRAL“There are 13 colleges and universities within an hour and a half of our call centre. We've been extremely successful at retaining our Toronto call centre staff. Our attrition rate here is 4.8%, well below the industry standard. Year to date, out of 1,682 call centre agents, we've promoted 59 within the company while only 10 chose to pursue other personal or employment opportunities.”
Bruce McIntyre, Business Strategies, IBM.COM Centres
| Number of Contact Centres in the GTA/Ontario/Canada | 1 |
| Years of Operation in the GTA | 7 |
| Primary Industry Sector | Technology and Telecommunications |
| Contact Centre Type |
|
| Total Number of CSR's | 1,700 |
| Hours of Operation | 24/7 |
| Calling Pattern | Inbound calling, 25% from the US |
| Languages Spoken | English |
ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE INSURANCE, GTA WEST
“We looked at 35 sites before we selected a Greater Toronto Area commercial mall where our CSRs enjoy shopping, restaurants and other super amenities. We found very competitive lease rates and the small premium we pay to be in a commercial mall is a fraction of what call centres in more remote locations pay to retain staff.”Jim Lord, Manager Administration and National Real Estate, Royal & Alliance Insurance Company of Canada
| Number of Contact Centres in the GTA/Ontario/Canada | 3 |
| Years of Operation in the GTA | 6 |
| Primary Industry Sector | Financial Services |
| Contact Centre Type | Pre and Post Sale Customer Service |
| Total Number of CSR's | 150 |
| Hours of Operation | 24/7 |
| Calling Pattern | Inbound calling |
| Languages Spoken | English |
TD WATERHOUSE, GTA NORTH
“As the third largest financial centre in North America, Greater Toronto provided us with access to a securities industry labor pool of certified, multilingual customer care staff, state-of-the-art financial sector information technology and the latest telecommunications systems.”Peter Gribbin, VP Operations, TD Waterhouse
| Number of Contact Centres in the GTA/Ontario/Canada | 4 |
| Years of Operation in the GTA | 12 |
| Primary Industry Sector | Financial Services |
| Contact Centre Type |
|
| Total Number of CSR's | 230 |
| Hours of Operation | 24/7 |
| Calling Pattern | Inbound |
| Languages Spoken | English, Cantonese, Mandarin |
Innovation
Industry-leading customer contact solutions providers such as Nortel Networks and Siemens Canada, both located in the GTA, have the technology and expertise to outfit any contact centre looking to locate in the GTA.
Local providers offers and array of solutions including customer contact and voice portal, self-service, and advanced speech recognition. Their products and features are designed and tailored to support everything from basic to highly advanced applications, providing a consistent contact center appearance even when your contact center operations are widely dispersed.
Examples of products and services available include:
Centrex ACD
Centrex Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) provides call routing,
advanced agent and supervisor features without the trouble
and expense of other contact centre solutions.
CC MIS/Mini MIS
The Call Center Management Information System (CC MIS) increases
the efficiency of contact centre operations.
ICM Link
Intelligent Call Management (ICM) link provides a CTI Interface
between a central office switch and a contact centre’s
host computer.
RT-1000
The RT-1000 is a Management Information System integrated
with Networked Centrex-capable ACD in-bound contact centres.
Symposium TAPI Driver for ICM
Symposium TAPI Driver for ICM is software that provides translation
services between a Windows NT telephony server and a DMS Centrex
system.
HiPath ProCentre Suites
Packaged software applications that improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of contact centre operations - multimedia skills-based
routing, extensive agent and management tools, comprehensive
reporting and integration with existing CRM front-office systems.
Source: Nortel
Networks
Trango
Software, a division of Seimens Canada
