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 "In the highly competitive world of outsourced call centres, we've carved out a niche for ourselves. Our company offers an innovative, affordable and reliable service that targets the medium-sized market," says Jeff Fettes, executive vice president and chief information officer of the company. He runs 24-7 INtouch with his brother Greg, CEO.
Their operation, which started out as a small 10-seat call centre serving the local market in Saskatchewan, now numbers between 300-500 employees working from offices in Regina, Winnipeg and Toronto. The company provides inbound call centre services via voice, chat and email. Most of its clients are based in the U.S; the companies range from Internet retailers and catalogue companies to automotive and restaurant chains.
Answering a market need
"We had grown up in the telephone answering business, which was run by our parents. When we started out, there was a wide gap between that business and call centre services, which were only available to very large companies with massive budgets," he explains.
The company decided to close that gap by applying Internet technology to the call centre concept. "This meant that we wouldn't have to charge so much and could make the service available to more companies," he adds. To stay in the innovative front, the company also continues to provide up to date technologies, ensuring the highest quality and most efficient solutions available in the market. "Our technology is generally better than that of the most small and medium players in the business and also better than the largest who are stuck with high updating costs," he emphasizes. Innovative HR
Innovation goes even further than technology at 24-7 INtouch. The company distinguishes itself in the marketplace with the belief that "people make a real difference", a philosophy reflected in its boutique contact centre concept. "By keeping all centres to a maximum of 200 seats, we maintain our friendly, family-style corporate culture," says Greg Fettes. "Our agents really have an affinity with the clients they're working for. This helps us create accountability and a higher level of quality," he believes.
The company also gives its employees extra perks such as a day care centre, a squash and basketball court. "This differentiates us from other companies," he says. The senior team also makes sure that employees there are given visibility and feel appreciated. For example, there's a photograph of many actual employees on their website.
As well, 24-7 INtouch does try to be innovative with its recruitment practices. "We use conventional means such as newspapers and websites. But recently, we did something where you actually use the social network in Facebook as a way to find employees," he says. "You create Facebook fliers which target a demographic in a specific large city," he says. The right financing
24-7 INtouch has worked closely with BDC in order to finance this innovative company. "We've been working with them for over a year. We've provided a couple of rounds of working capital, which helped them expand their facilities. As well, we provided a loan for quality management software, which enables them to track customer service levels. Customer service is really their distinguishing feature," says Ryan McLean, Account Manager, Regina. "It's a quickly growing company and we feel we've certainly helped them manage that growth well," adds Ryan.
Future plans
24-7 INtouch is not a company to sits on its laurels. The firm is also currently working with BDC Consulting on a strategic plan to help them see what's down the road. "We plan to expand in the industry and have 7 to 10 facilities across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. The company also plans to enter new markets outside North America, starting in the United Kingdom," says Greg Fettes.
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