Trendlines wrote this article for the Federation
of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. It first appeared in the FICC
newsletter and is reprinted here with permission.
(This version has been slightly modified from the original.)
Ancient mariners claimed the world was flat. But unlike those sailors of yesteryear who believed that when ships reached the horizon, they fell over the edge, today’s “flat world” speaks to globalization, and more specifically, the connectedness, accessibility, technologies and services that contribute to making our world a very, very small place. How has Israel carved out a niche in the flat-world arena? Through international call centers, of course.
Outsourcing Meets a Need
Did Anyone Say " Technology"?
Where there's call centers, there’s technology. And, not surprisingly,
Israeli companies are at the forefront of call center technology.
Cortal™, the flagship product developed by Internative
Solutions, is
an innovative XML-based information management platform designed to enhance
existing CRM applications. Internative offers solutions for management and
personalization of corporate knowledge in the contact center environment.
Jacada launched WorkSpace, an advanced process optimization platform specifically
for call center applications. The product meets the challenges of having
a distributed staff over many small locations, including home-based agents
VoiceSensor
from VoiceSense highlights dissatisfied customers (about 5% of calls) through
proprietary voice analysis technology for real-time, online monitoring.
Since 1993, when Kishurit Call Center, Inc. began offering Israeli
businesses an outsourced alternative to meet their customer service
and telemarketing needs, the country’s call center industry has
grown to include approximately 500 call centers. According to research
conducted by the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, approximately
200 of these centers are relatively large, with 10 or more stations
operating in each shift.
Collectively, these call centers (also known as contact
centers)
answer hundreds of thousands of calls a day, providing telemarketing,
technical support, help desk, and messaging services to hundreds
of national and international businesses. Most of the call centers
are located in the center of the country and operate in a wide range of sectors
-- banking, food, gaming, transportation, communication, insurance,
health, emergency services, and tourism. Major players, both home
grown and international — Bank Leumi, Clalit Health Fund,
America Online, Sears, and Barnes & Noble, to name just a few — outsource
their calls to Israeli call centers.
The Immigrant Opportunity
Israel offers an attractive opportunity to
multinationals looking for call center services: a melting pot society,
multilingual capabilities, highly educated and skilled workforce, lower wages
than in the United States and Europe, and advanced technical infrastructures.
A
number of entrepreneurs put Israel’s singular
strengths to work in the call center environment.
"Israel has a recruitment pool of tens of thousands of people speaking
foreign languages at mother-tongue level. This is unmatched anywhere in
the world," notes Michael Barnett, director of marketing at IDT
Global, one of the leading call centers in Israel (and the fourth
largest telecom company in the United States). At the company's contact
center in Jerusalem, 75% of the employees are college educated. "The
high education level combined with cultural familiarity makes a big difference
in dealing with customers."
Israel can provide "knowledgeable call center services
at prices lower than in North America and Europe,” observes Ron Machol,
development director of Leavi, a
non-profit organization helping foreigners transfer business activities
to Israel. Labor costs in Israel are roughly 40% to 60% less than in North
America or Europe. While Israel does not compete well against India in
the “low end type of business," (such
as basic answering of incoming calls), say Machol, it has become important
for "organizations ... that need services which cannot be met
in the low cost call center countries."
Barnett concurs: "The fact remains that Israel boasts quality, experience,
and most importantly, native speakers. Customers who genuinely care about
customer service understand the importance of quality customer service.
Speaking in unaccented, fluent English goes a long way toward easing and
fulfilling the customers' pain or dealing with their inquiry."
Interestingly, according to Barnett, drawing on the immigrant population,
is not without its problems. Working in call centers represents an excellent
opportunity for new immigrants to get started in their new country. However,
as these employees "find themselves," and as the local economy
grows, they often leave to pursue positions in their respective fields.
Employee retention can sometimes be a problem. Human resources departments
in call centers around the country have introduced incentives from flexible
shift times to bonuses to retain employees.
Calling All Government Incentives
The need for outsourcing will increase in our flatter
world. Israel represents a dynamic outsourcing alternative to India and the
Far East. Government money can help Israel maintain its competitive edge.
Just as the Israeli government set up a number of different funds to encourage
R&D, it has decided to stimulate employment in the western Negev by opening
call centers in Sderot and neighboring communities.
As reported in Globes[online],
the Israeli government will provide NIS 1,000 of the salary of each local
employed by entrepreneurs in the area. IDT’s Barnett explains that
"the Jerusalem municipality has committed to providing significant property
tax breaks and support for land development for new and expanding businesses,
including call centers."
Ancient mariners claimed the world was flat. But unlike those sailors of yesteryear who believed that when ships reached the horizon, they fell over the edge, today’s “flat world” speaks to globalization, and more specifically, the connectedness, accessibility, technologies and services that contribute to making our world a very, very small place. How has Israel carved out a niche in the flat-world arena? Through international call centers, of course.