Aegis Communications Group, Inc.  - Call Centers - Category Directory

(972) 830-1800

7880 Bent Branch Drive, Suite 150

Irving, TX 75063
www.aegiscomgroup.com

Sales

$140 million

Business Description

Aegis Communications Group, Inc. is a leading provider of multi-channel customer relationship management, including database management, analytical services and market intelligence to progressive companies. Our customer relationship management, or CRM service offerings include: web-enabled and telephone-based customer service, help desk, and customer acquisition and retention; multilingual communications programs; client service center facilities management; order provisioning, which is the transferring of data into our clients' billing systems and customer records; up-selling and cross-selling of products and services; and database management. Our web-enabled customer care capabilities include online customer-initiated call back, automated e-mail response, live web text chat, pushed content web sessions (in which we send, or "push", web pages to the customer from anywhere on the Internet), click-stream analysis, web self-service, fax/e-mail on demand and online management reporting. Our database service offerings include profiling and data overlay, segmentation, modeling, survey results analysis, financial analysis and customer lifecycle analysis.

Aegis Communications Group, Inc. is a Delaware corporation originally organized in that state in 1985. Our trading symbol is "AGIS". Aegis Communications Group, Inc. was formerly known as ATC Communications Group, Inc., or ATC. On July 9, 1998 ATC completed the acquisition of IQI, Inc., a New York corporation, or IQI. Effective upon the merger, we formally changed the company name to Aegis Communications Group, Inc. Our headquarters are located at 7880 Bent Branch Drive, Suite 150, Irving, Texas 75063. Our telephone number is (972) 830-1800 and our web-site address is www.aegiscomgroup.com. Unless the context requires otherwise, references to Aegis Communications Group, Inc. in this report include our consolidated subsidiaries.

SERVICES AND STRATEGY

Our objective is to become the premier high-quality, full service provider of outsourced CRM solutions to progressive companies seeking a high level of customer interaction. We believe that web-enabled services, inbound CRM services and non-voice support programs possess the greatest long-term growth potential in our industry, however those providers which demonstrate competence in outbound acquisition services will continue to have growth opportunities. For the year ended December 31, 2003, approximately 74% of our revenues were generated by inbound CRM solutions and non-voice services and 26% from outbound CRM solutions. In comparison, for the year ended December 31, 2002, approximately 81% of our revenues were generated by inbound CRM solutions and non-voice services and 19% by outbound CRM solutions; and for the year ended December 31, 2001, approximately 76% of our revenues were generated by inbound CRM solutions and non-voice services and 24% by outbound CRM solutions.

We develop and implement customized multi-channel contact programs designed to strengthen our clients' relationships with their customers while reducing or eliminating their costs to serve. Our CRM solutions consist of telephone-based marketing and customer service programs (teleservices) as well as web-based capabilities, which comprise handling a variety of customer contacts through our clients' Internet web-sites, and our phone-based customer service offerings.

We design, manage and conduct telecommunications-based CRM programs scaled to the client's needs which feature live, knowledgeable customer service representatives, or CSRs, provided on an outsourced basis to corporations in a wide variety of industries.

Inbound CRM solutions require answering incoming telephone calls or web-initiated queries and responding to customer service requests. To illustrate, when one of our client's customers requests an interaction (e.g., places a call to a toll-free "800" customer service number, sends an e-mail to our client, or initiates an online call back or text chat at a client's web-site) it is directed to one of our client service centers and answered by one of our trained CSRs. The CSR is able to handle the customer's inquiry because, in most instances, the customer's account information has been transferred, instantaneously, to the CSR's computer screen via our system's links to the client's customer database. At the end of the interaction, the customer's record is automatically updated in the client's database with any new information.

Outbound CRM solutions involve making outgoing telephone calls, usually to market a client's products or to acquire new customers for the client. We do not engage in any form of outbound calling that uses computerized voice presentations or makes unsolicited financial requests, nor are we engaged in the "900" number business.

Our operations are technology driven through our advanced data and communications systems, which permit real-time interface with our clients' host systems via the Internet or dedicated networks. We also provide a suite of web-enabled customer care capabilities that includes multi-channel capable workstations able to handle a variety of customer interactions, including those originating from the Internet. Through the web-enabled services, we can assist our clients by providing real-time, web-based data that tracks customers' interactions with a client's web-site, allows us to handle all aspects of responding to client e-mail from customers, provides a secure chat window to conduct one-on-one chat with client customers, initiates live voice conversations when a client customer clicks an icon on a client's web-site, and performs other functions.

We endeavor to establish long-term relationships with clients that utilize telecommunications and/or the Internet as important, ongoing elements in their core CRM strategies. These arrangements usually require us to develop unique software systems for the client. By offering high quality, customized, flexible and fully-integrated customer contact management services designed to improve quality, productivity and effectiveness, we can enhance and add value to our clients' existing marketing and customer service programs.

OPERATIONS

As of December 31, 2003, we operated or managed approximately 4,600 production workstations in 11 client service centers. A workstation includes a cubicle, personal computer with monitor and keyboard, a headset and an automatic call distributor console. All of our facilities are located in the continental United States.

Our current technology platform delivers custom CRM solutions based on a browser-based application environment and primarily Avaya Definity telecommunications switches interfaced with multiple servers running on UNIX or Microsoft 2000 Advanced Server platforms. The data system is based on an open architecture design supported by sophisticated relational databases. This open architecture design allows us to interface seamlessly, and in real-time, with our clients' host systems. It also provides the flexibility that enables us to deliver solutions rapidly to our clients' marketing and customer service needs. Outbound calling is enhanced through an Avaya supported dialer, our proprietary dialer technology, or an SER Services (formerly EIS) dialer. Our operations are further enhanced by the use of universal workstations that can automatically handle either inbound or outbound call activity. Such technology permits us to offer productivity enhancements associated with this "call blending" activity. During the course of 2001, we acquired technology to deliver an enhanced level of CRM solutions for an integrated solutions offering.

The quality of our people is critical to our success. Because our customer service representatives deal directly with our clients' customers and sales prospects, we place a heavy emphasis on their training and the quality control process. Our training facilities are equipped with workstations for live role-playing. We employ a large staff of trainers dedicated to teaching the details of client programs to our customer service representatives. The training curriculum includes instruction on the client's sales

or service process, study of the features and benefits of the product and service, intensive role-playing and information about both our and the client's philosophy and culture. We conduct both initial and follow-up training for all representatives that, depending on the complexity of the client program, can take up to six weeks to complete. Our training curriculum is developed by professional experts in adult learning methods and includes a "hands-on" personal computer lab experience. This attentiveness to training enables our representatives to perform an assortment of duties when handling inbound and outbound calling programs. Along with our clients, we monitor our marketing and customer service representatives to insure strict compliance with the client's quantitative and qualitative standards. In many instances, quality is evaluated and communicated on a daily basis.

INDUSTRY AND COMPETITION

Several trends continue to shape the teleservices industry. Many U.S.-based companies that have a history of outsourcing customer sales and service are moving certain portions of their business to non-U.S. locations to take advantage of labor arbitrage available in many foreign markets. Additionally, downturns in overall transaction volumes due to general economic conditions and transition of many traditional phone-based activities to the Internet have led many of these same companies to redirect transactions to existing, in-house call centers with excess capacity and away from outsourced CRM providers. We continue to believe, however, that an overall long-term focus on business fundamentals will lead companies to maintain or increase their outsourcing activities, especially when considering the favorable impact on cost structures made by moving to a variable outsourced-cost model from a fixed cost model. Client spending on technology has slowed with the economy, and outsourced providers offer a viable alternative, since the significant investment required to automate these transactions has already been made by companies in the outsourced CRM market. We believe clients will require more efficiency from their CRM partners in the form of performance-based pricing that further aligns the interests of the client and of the service provider. In addition, due to excess capacity in the industry, we believe we can continue to expect some firms to offer below market pricing of their services in an attempt to gain market share and utilize excess capacity.

We compete in a market that provides progressive companies the opportunity to take advantage of the latest advances in processes and technology across multiple communications channels to drive more effective and efficient means of customer interaction. Customer contact services are spread across a broad spectrum of competitors, including a client company's own in-house call center and numerous third-party providers like us. Our market, which is extremely competitive, ranges from very small firms offering specialized applications to larger, full-service companies with multiple, high-volume call centers, including APAC Customer Services, Inc., Convergys Corporation, ICT Group, Inc., RMH Teleservices, Inc., Sitel Corporation, Sykes Enterprises, Inc., Teleperformance USA, Inc., TeleTech Holdings, Inc. and West Corporation.

We believe we compete primarily on the basis of:

• our unique operating model that allows us to create client capabilities and deliver the appropriate means of communication with each of the end customers to drive more value in each client engagement;

• the consistency and quality of our service;

• the ability to implement advanced technology and processes, including web-enabled capabilities, predictive dialing, skills based routing, call blending and proprietary interfaces which enable real-time access to clients' host data;

• a proactive approach to changing client needs and the ability to adapt to unique client requirements; and
 

• our cost/value proposition wherein we guarantee more value from each customer engagement, as measured by a mutually agreed upon set of financial and operational metrics.
 

Ticker

AGIS