CallTech, Columbus, OH, opened a call center this month in Fort Myers, FL. The 25,000-square-foot facility will accommodate 425 seats. The center, which employs 500 people, serves clients such as the Internet division of BellSouth, Atlanta. The center is capable of handling phone, fax, e-mail and Internet text chat communications.
• Frontier Airlines, Denver, will open an inbound call center near its headquarters. The 16,000-square-foot facility will house the airline’s reservation center and other customer service departments. It will employ 100 agents. Construction began in December and is scheduled for completion in July.
• Nationwide Insurance, Columbus, OH, will open a customer care center in San Antonio. The center, which will handle insurance claims, will employ 300 to 400 people. It is scheduled to begin operations in mid-March. Nationwide estimated that it will take six to eight months to completely staff the center. Nationwide selected the location because of its telecommunications infrastructure and significant Spanish-speaking work force. Workers who can speak Spanish will be offered financial incentives to join the staff. Nationwide also owns call centers in Gainesville, FL, and Columbus. Jane Fairchild, previously the training and quality assurance director at the company’s Columbus call center, will take charge of the San Antonio facility.
• Paymentech, Phoenix, a credit card processing firm, opened a call center last month at its office in Tempe, AZ. With its staff of 35, the center will serve as a help desk for Paymentech clients. The company plans to expand the staff to 100 people within a year.
• TeleHubLink Corp., Burlington, MA, announced the completion of an Internet-enabled customer care center in Montreal. The center will provide outsourced customer care services to TeleHubLink clients. The center has a staff of approximately 300 employees.
• Vectren Corp., Evansville, IN, is planning to build a customer contact center that is scheduled to open later this year. The facility will be located in Evansville. Vectren representatives will respond to customer inquiries via phone and the Internet. The center will house approximately 280 employees.
• West Teleservices, Omaha, NE, began operations this month at a new customer contact center in Beaumont, TX. The 35,000-square-foot center will create approximately 1,000 jobs with an estimated annual payroll of $16 million to $18 million.
