The Kansas City area: A really smart place for call centers. (RE: Locations).The Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). Area Development Council, which is the economic development entity serving this 17 county, 50 community, bi-stare area of Missouri and Kansas with a population of over two million people, proudly boasts in their information that this is a smart area. After spending a few days in the area, I can attest to nor only the smartness of the area, but to the variety of intellect, brains and wit at the multiple call centers I had the opportunity and privilege to visit during my all-too-short stay. There are 75 call centers in the area, employing some 23,745 people. The Kansas City economic development service area encompasses Missouri cities such as Sr. Joseph, Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit Lee's Summit, city (1990 pop. 46,418), Jackson co., W Mo., in the Kansas City metropolitan area; inc. 1868. The city is an important trucking center and manufactures communications equipment, appliances, pharmaceuticals, and plastic and metal products. and Rayrown. Kansas communities include Kansas City, Olathe, Lawrence, Overland Park Overland Park, city (1990 pop. 111,790), Johnson co., NE Kans., a residential suburb of Kansas City; inc. 1960. There is printing and publishing, and the manufacture of apparel, aircraft parts, cement, prepared foods, salt, chemicals, marine accessories, and signs. , Topeka, Shawnee and Lenexa. This regional economic model makes it easy for call center site selection prospects to cover significant territory with just one call, I was particularly impressed with the variety of industries that had customer care, customer service and contact centers in the area. Industries such as pharmaceuticals, software, cable, telecommunications, finance, insurance, real estate, manufacturing, data processing data processing or information processing, operations (e.g., handling, merging, sorting, and computing) performed upon data in accordance with strictly defined procedures, such as recording and summarizing the financial transactions of a , government, retail, transportation and utilities are well represented, with their call centers providing services and employment in the Kansas City metroplex. This wealth of knowledge and experience in the area is nor by any means new, as one need only look at the world-renowned Midwest Research Institute Midwest Research Institute (MRI) is an independent, not-for-profit, contract research organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. MRI was established in Kansas City in 1944 to provide research and development for industry. to understand and appreciate the legacy of innovarion that permeates the area. The Midwest Research Institute (MRI 1. (application) MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2. MRI - Measurement Requirements and Interface. ) was established in 1944 to supply needed research to industry and to encourage programs using regional resources. While serving as the Research and Development arm for the J.A. Folger Company in the 1950s, MRI actually created a brewing device that became the principle behind today's automatic drip coffeemakers. MRI scientists also successfully invented the coating process that ensured that M&Ms candies "melt in your mouth, not in your hands' True story! Population The 2001 population of the Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri. It encompasses parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest in Missouri, which includes counties in both Missouri and Kansas. MSA (Metropolitan Service Area) An urban area with at least 50,000 people plus surrounding counties. There are 306 MSAs and 428 RSAs (rural service areas) in the U.S. MSAs and RSAs are used to allocate cellular licenses. is 1,803,445, which is an increase of 198,798 over the 1991 figures according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the U.S. Bureau of the Census Noun 1. Bureau of the Census - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Census Bureau . Labor Force, Employment And Unemployment As of October 2002, the Kansas City MSA had a labor force of 1,037,751, with 985,447 people employed and a 5 percent unemployment rate Employment Growth The area has successfully added 148,942 jobs since 1991, which is a rate of growth of 18,2 percent, versus the overall U.S. rate of growth, which was 14.7 percent over the same time period. Educational Attainment The area proudly boasts that 86.7 percent of its population over 25 has a high school diploma A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. , compared to 80.4% of the U.S. population. Additionally, 28.5 percent of the area's population over 25 has at least a Bachelor's degree, versus 24.4 percent of the general U.S. population. The area really is smart! Income The per capita income Noun 1. per capita income - the total national income divided by the number of people in the nation income - the financial gain (earned or unearned) accruing over a given period of time for the area is $20,374, versus $18,491 for the U.S. as a whole, with a median household income The median household income is commonly used to provide data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more. of $42,221 versus $38,365 for the U.S. This clearly, demonstrates that for the most part, there are two workers per household. Selected Mean Wage Levels In The Kansas City MSA Telemarketers $10.92 First line supervisors $18.66 Bill and account collectors $12.03 Customer service representarives $12.82 Order clerks $12.40 Information clerks $10.47 Computer operators $14.88 Data-entry keyers $10.71 As I visited with several HR managers in the area, it was apparent that starting call center wages range from $10.00 to $12.00 plus benefits, and are considered competitive. Real Estate Office market lease space ranges from a high of $21.99 in Class A central business district to $19.71 Class A in the suburbs. Class B space ranges from a high of $ 16.48 in the suburbs to $16.13 in the central business district. Colleges/Universities In The Area Contact centers, call centers and customer service operations can successfully recruit from 25 four-year and two-year higher education institutions in the area, all of which have a combined enrollment of 123,148 individuals, Four-year Colleges And Universities Name Enrollment Fall 2001 Avila College 1,644 Baker University 2,919 Benedictine College 1,348 Central Missouri Stare University 10,822 Devry Institute Of Technology 2,620 Haskell Indian Nations University 1,013 Kansas City Art Institute 531 MidAmerican Nazarene University 1,684 Missouri Western State College 5,102 Park University 1,510 Rockhursr University 2,730 Saint Mary College 772 University Of Kansas 28,190 University of Missouri-Kansas City 12,969 Washburn University 6,118 Webster University 854 William Jewell College 1,369 TOTAL FOUR-YEAR ENROLLMENT 82,915 Two-year Colleges And Universities Name Enrollment Fall 2001 Donnelly College 370 Johnson County Community College 17,116 Kansas City Community College 5,240 Blue River Community College 2,294 Business And Technology College N/A Longview Community College 5,792 Maple Woods Community College 5,045 Penn Valley Community College 4,376 TOTAL TWO-YEAR ENROLLMENT 40,233 In fact, the community colleges offer programs for customer service representative and call center management training. These classes' duration ranges from one day to six weeks, and they include topics such as critical thinking, team building and managing stress, call handling and call center management laws. The Metropolitan Community College even manages a 64-position call center to provide contract training for area businesses. Telecommunications The Kansas City area has plenty of fiber backbone and is protected with more than 60 SONET rings. According to a study entitled, "The Internet Backbone and the American Metropolis;' Kansas City also ranked eighth in the U.S. with its Internet backbone capacity. There are 13 POPS, or points of presence, in the area as well as multiple local and network providers. These providers include AT&T, Everest Communications, Qwest, Sprint (which has its world headquarters in the area) MCI (1) (Media Control Interface) A high-level programming interface from Microsoft and IBM for controlling multimedia devices. It provides commands and functions to open, play and close the device. (2) (Microwave Communications Inc. , SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. , Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications NASDAQ: LVLT is a communications and information services company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, USA. , Axon axon: see nervous system; synapse. Telecom, Time Warner, Williams, Kinet and Intermedia Intermedia - A hypertext system developed by a research group at IRIS (Brown University). , to name a few. There are almost 28,000 telecommunications workers in the area. Cal Centers There are 75 call centers in the area, with some household names such as H&R Block, Sprint, Community America, Farmers Insurance, Daimler Chrysler, Caremark and Principal Residential Mortgage Inc. I was very impressed during my visit to H&R Block, as they had just received a call from a TV station to conduct a telethon tel·e·thon n. A lengthy television program to raise funds for a charity. [tele- + (mara)thon. that evening for the area Red Cross to help tornado victims. They had all of two or three hours' notice and graciously made their facility available, staffed with volunteers. This sense of community spirit and pride was evident everywhere I visited and has to be the reason for the low turnover in the area's call centers. In some cases, turnover is under five percent! It was also a treat to learn about the formal networking that exists among the many call center executives in the area through their organization, the Professional Teleservice Management Association, or PTMA PTMA Professional Teleservice Management Association PTMA Peninsula Treasury Management Association PTMA Primary Teachers' Maths Association PTMA Passive Target Motion Analysis PTMA 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-4-yl-1-oxy. methacrylate (battery compound) . The PTMA is committed to the ongoing professional development and training for call center managers in the area and .serves as a very visible commitment to excellence in call center management. I saw several PTMA banners gracing the walls of selected call centers that had been recognized for their excellence. Learn more about this organization by visiting their Web site at www.ptmagkc.com. The area certainly has had to deal with its share of closings and downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing , as 1,646 jobs had been impacted in 2002 and 2003. However, true to their Midwest work ethic, the Kansas City Area Development Corporation (KCADC KCADC Kansas City Area Development Council ) is still aggressively pursuing more call center operations as the region has demonstrated its ability to grow and create jobs, Any expanding operation should take a long, hard look at this great area, and start by visiting the KCADC Web site, www.smartkc.com. Please send me your comments, suggestions and thoughts at jbeattyncs@ aol.com or at jbeatty@callcentersites.net. Remember to visit www.callcentersites. net, the official site for call center and back-office location information worldwide. For information and subscriptions, visit www.TMCnet.com or call 203-852-6800. |
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