Customer Inter@ction Solutions[R] magazine's twentieth annual Top 50 outbound Teleservices...

This is the twentieth year Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine brings you its "Top 50" Teleservices Agencies Ranking. In this issue, we're presenting the "Top 50" outbound portion of the ranking. (The inbound portion of the ranking will be highlighted in the April 2005 issue.) Since its

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Ranking Basis

Because the basis of our ranking is company size, Customer Inter@ction Solutions uses a measurable, third-party-verifiable aspect of teleservices to arrive at our list of the "Top 50" agencies: the number of minutes each agency was billed by each of its phone companies for telephone service for 12 months, encompassing November 2003 through October 2004. We have found this to be an accurate and reliable reflection of the amount of teleservices each agency does, and therefore, provides a true reflection of its size.

Qualification Criteria

To qualify for inclusion in this year's "Top 50," the agencies were required to answer a questionnaire detailing the nature of their business and listing their number of billable minutes between November 2003 and October 2004. The questionnaire had to be verified with the signature of each agency's president/CEO. In addition, each agency had to submit a letter of verification from each of its telephone service providers certifying the number of minutes for which it billed the agency during the designated period. (Our sincere gratitude is extended to all the carriers for their thorough and expeditious provision of these data.)

Exceptions

Agencies that did not supply this third-party verification were disqualified, with the exception of three circumstances: 1) a client of the service agency was billed directly for its telephone service and would not provide a letter of verification for anonymity reasons; 2) part of the billable minutes were with a foreign telecommunications carrier that could not provide the data by the deadline; 3) legitimate business situations prevented an agency from obtaining verification from certain of its carriers or a certain carrier. For each of these circumstances, we allow the company to certify a small portion of the missing minutes with a letter of explanation and signed verification of billable minutes pertaining to the explanation from the president/ CEO of the agency. You will find an asterisk next to the names of all "Top 50" agencies that supplied a portion of their verification from their president/CEO due to one of the three circumstances identified above.

In all cases, from the questionnaires to the letters of verification, the agencies were warned that should falsification be detected, they would be disqualified from this and all future "Top 50" rankings. And indeed, Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine's editorial staff carefully verified calculations, discrepancies and other aspects of the supplied information to ensure that this ranking is of true value to you.

Understanding The Listings

You'll notice that for the first time, we have included a ranking of aggregate minutes, inbound and outbound, domestic and international, to provide readers with a picture of how the largest teleservices providers measure against one another on a global basis. This ranking follows the domestic and international outbound lists and is marked as Category C.

Second, as you read through the list of outbound "Top 50" agencies, you will notice that we have provided a numerical ranking of 1 through 39 (1 being the largest), but have not revealed the number of billable minutes used to arrive at this ordering. This was done out of respect for the confidential nature of this information to the many agencies included here that are privately held corporations. This year, only 39 companies met with our minimum criteria of billable minutes to be included in the domectic outbound ranking.

You will notice that the outbound ranking has been divided into two categories: A and B. Category A is composed of U.S. service agencies whose primary business function is the provision of telemarketing services for outside firms. If you are considering an international teleservices campaign, Category B consists of international teleservices agencies. Again this year we have separated out all international teleservices done by U.S. agencies and ranked those companies' international minutes in the International category, Category B. Domestic companies that are also ranked in the International category are marked with a dagger ([dagger]) in their domestic ranking.

We hope you will use this "Top 50" feature, both inbound and outbound portions, for your outsourcing needs throughout the year, and be sure to tell the companies you found the information in Customer Inter@ction Solutions.

Companies with enhanced listing are regular advertisers in Customer Inter@ction Solutions.

For information and subscriptions, visit www.TMCnet.com or call 203-852-6800.

RELATED ARTICLE

CATEGORY A

1. Millennium Teleservices LLC [dagger]

www.mmtel.com

2. DialAmerica Marketing, Inc. *

www.dialamerica.com

3. ICT Group, Inc. * [dagger]

www.ictgroup.com

4. InfoCision Management Corp.

Ph: 330-668-1400; Fx: 330-668-1401

www.infocision.com

Year began providing teleservices: 1982

Size of projects accepted: Minimum 500 hours

Type of calling: B-to-B: 25%; B-to-C: 75%

Outbound: 83%; Inbound: 17%; Interactive Inbound: 1%

Specialization: non-profit and religious fundraising, commercial sales and customer care, volunteer recruitment

5. Americall Group Inc. (part of the SR. Teleperformance Group)

www.americallgroup.com

6. APAC Customer Services, Inc. * [dagger]

www.apaccustomerservices.com

7. SITEL Corp. * [dagger]

www.sitel.com

8. Convergys Corp. * [dagger]

www.convergys.com

9. GC Services Limited Partnership * [dagger]

www.gcserv.com

10. ClientLogic * [dagger]

www.clienlogic.com

11. Access Direct

www.accdir.com

12. Teleperformance USA (part of the SR. Teleperformance Group) * [dagger]

www.teleperformanceusa.com

13. TCIM Services, Inc. * [dagger]

www.tcim.com

14. NCO Customer Management Inc., (a division of NCO Group) * [dagger]

www.ncogroup.com

15. NOVO 1, Inc.

(formerly Call_Solutions) *

www.novo1.com

16. Influent Inc. [dagger]

www.influentinc.com

17. ChoicePoint Precision Marketing

www.cp-pm.com

18. Epixtar (formerly Innovative Marketing Strategies, Inc.)

www.epixtar.com

19. Charlton

www.tcgcorp.net

20. The Heritage Company, Inc.

www.theheritagecompany.com

21. Technion Communications Corp. *

www.technion.com

22. Synergy Solutions, Inc. *

www.callsynergy.com

23. Teleservices Direct [dagger]

www.teleservicesdirect.com

24. Cross Country Automotive Services, Inc.

www.crosscountry-auto.com

25. LiveBridge, Inc. *

www.livebridge.com

26. OKS Ameridial * [dagger]

www.oksameridial.com

27. Creative Marketing Services, Inc.

Ph: 856-384-111; Fx: 856-853-6859

www.cmsgrp.com

Year began providing teleservices: 2000

Size of projects accepted: Minimum 250 hours

Type of calling: B-to-B: 40%; B-to-C: 60%

Outbound: 85%; Inbound: 15%

Specialization: financial, telecommunications, insurance

28. Vision-X, Inc. *

www.vxiusa.com

29. MSA Solutions

www.msasolutions.com

30. TeleSpectrum, Inc. * [dagger]

www.telespectrum.com

31. Advanced Data-Comm, Inc.

Ph: 800-582-9501; Fx: 800-829-9780

www.advanced-data.com

Year began providing teleservices: 1988

Size of projects accepted: Minimum 20 hours

Type of calling: B-to-B: 71.5%; B-to-C: 28.5%

Outbound: 48.23%; Inbound: 51.77%; Interactive inbound: 5.76%

Specialization: third-party verification, sales, publishing

32. Answernet Network

www.answernetnetwork.com

33. Merkafon International (part of the SR. Teleperformance Group) [dagger]

www.merkafon.com

34. Greene & Associates, Inc.

www.greeneassoc.com

35. Microdyne Outsourcing, Inc. *

www.microdyne.com

36. Interactive Response Technologies *

www.callcenter.com

37. AFFINA -- The Customer Relationship Company *

www.affina.com

38. The Connection *

www.the-connection.com

39. Center Partners

www.centerpartners.com

CATEGORY B -- INTERNATIONAL

1. SR. Teleperformance

www.srteleperformance.com

2. MsourcE Corp. *

www.msource.net

3. NCO Customer Management Inc., (a division of NCO Group) *

www.ncogroup.com

4. SITEL Corp. *

www.sitel.com

5. Xentel DM Inc. *

www.xentel.com

6. ICT Group, Inc. *

www.ictgroup.com

7. TeleSpectrum Worldwide *

www.telespectrum.com

8. ClientLogic *

www.clientlogic.com

9. Convergys Corp. *

www.convergys.com

10. eTelecare Global Solutions *

www.etelecare.com

11. Atesia S.p.A.

www.atesia.it

12. Teleperformance USA (part of the SR. Teleperformance Group) *

www.teleperformanceusa.com

13. PCCW Contact Center Business *

www.pccw.com/contactcenter

14. TCIM Services, Inc. *

www.tcim.com

15. GC Services Limited Partnership *

www.gcserv.com

16. Teleservices Direct

www.teleservicesdirect.com

17. Influent Inc.

www.influentinc.com

18. Millennium Teleservices LLC

www.mmtel.com

19. APAC Customer Services, Inc. *

www.apaccustomerservices.com

20. OKS Ameridial *

www.oksameridial.com

CATEGORY C -- GLOBAL TOP 50 RANKING, AGGREGATE INBOUND & OUTBOUND, DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL

1. SR. Teleperformance

www.srteleperformance.com

2. Convergys Corp. *

www.convergys.com

3. SITEL Corp. *

www.sitel.com

4. ClientLogic *

www.clientlogic.com

5. NCO Customer Management Inc. *

www.ncogroup.com

6. GC Services Limited Partnership

www.gcserv.com

7. ICT Group, Inc. *

www.ictgroup.com

8. APAC Customer Services, Inc. *

www.apaccustomerservices.com

9. MsourcE Corp. *

www.msource.net

10. Millennium Teleservices

www.mmtel.com

11. LiveBridge, Inc. *

www.livebridge.com

12. DialAmerica Marketing Inc. *

www.dialamerica.com

13. eTelecare Global Solutions *

www.etelecare.com

14. InfoCision Management Corp.

Ph: 330-668-1400; Fx: 330-668-1401

www.infocision.com

Year began providing teleservices: 1982

Size of projects accepted: Minimum 500 hours

Type of calling: B-to-B: 25%; B-to-C: 75%

Outbound: 83%; Inbound: 17%; Specialization: non-profit and religious fundraising, commercial sales and customer care, volunteer recruitment

15. Excell Services *

www.excellsvcs.com

16. Xentel DM Inc. *

www.xentel.com

17. TCIM Services, Inc. *

www.tcim.com

18. Technion Communications Corp. *

www.technion.com

19. PCCW Contact Center Business *

www.pccw.com/contact center

20. Telespectrum Inc. *

www.telespectrum.com

21. ATESIA S.p.a. *

www.atesia.it

22. Access Direct

www.accdir.com

23. Cross Country Automotive Services

www.crosscountry-auto.com

24. Influent, Inc.

www.influentinc.com

25. AFFINA *

www.affina.com

26. NOVO 1 (formerly Call_Solutions) *

www.novo1.com

27. Archway Marketing Services

www.archway.com

28. The Connection *

www.the-connection.com

29. Vision-X Inc. *

www.vxiusa.com

30. Hispanic Teleservices Corp. *

www.htc.to

31. Teleservices Direct

www.teleservicesdirect.com

32. ChoicePoint Precision Marketing

www.cp-pm.com

33. Center Partners, Inc.

www.centerpartners.com

34. Interactive Response Technologies *

www.callcenter.com

35. Epixtar (formerly Innovative Marketing Strategies, Inc.)

www.epixtar.com

36. Telerx *

www.telerx.com

37. Synergy Solutions, Inc. *

www.callsynergy.com

38. Charlton

www.tcgcorp.net

39. OKS-Ameridial, Inc. *

www.oksameridial.com

40. Microdyne Outsourcing Inc. *

www.microdyne.com

41. Advanced Data-Comm, Inc.

Ph: 800-582-9501; Fx: 800-829-9780

www.advanced-data.com

Year began providing teleservices: 1988

Size of projects accepted: Minimum 20 hours

Type of calling: B-to-B: 71.5%; B-to-C: 28.5%

Outbound: 48.23%; Inbound: 51.77%; Interactive inbound: 5.76%

Specialization: third-party verification, sales, publishing

42. The Heritage Company, Inc.

www.theheritagecompany.com

43. MSA Solutions

www.msasolutions.com

44. AnswerNet Network

www.answernetnetwork.com

45. Creative Marketing Services, Inc.

Ph: 856-384-111; Fx: 856-853-6859

www.cmsgrp.com

Year began providing teleservices: 2000

Size of projects accepted: Minimum 250 hours

Type of calling: B-to-B: 40%; B-to-C: 60%

Outbound: 85%; Inbound: 15%

Specialization: financial, telecommunications, insurance

46. InService America

www.inserviceamerica.com

47. Alert Communications *

www.alertcom.com

48. Hamilton Contact Center Services

www.hamiltontm.com

49. Global Response *

www.globalresponse.com

50. Greene & Associates, Inc.

www.greeneassoc.com