ADELINA IS THE MARKET LEADER ONCE AGAIN

According to the study of the Ukrainian Contact Center Association for 2015, Adelina Call Center continues (the fourth year in a row!) to go ahead of the curve, and we are frankly pleased and proud. 

First, we suggest you to check out the above-mentioned study conducted by the Ukrainian Direct Marketing Association (UDMA) in cooperation with the Ukrainian Contact Center Association (UCCA), or together with us have a look at several points which may catch your interest.

We grow and flourish

So you say, the economic crisis in Ukraine continues to feed the outsourcing contact centers (OCCs) with customers. In 2015, the percentage of Ukrainian customers increased to 60% – companies continue to streamline their workflow resorting to OCCs services and more actively draw new customers ordering telemarketing projects in priority. During 2015, the market grew by 21% or up to $26 million (UAH 563.8 million) in money terms compared to the year of 2014. “Overall in Ukraine, for the time being, at least 116 OCCs are operating, with the number of jobs reaching over 12,5 thousand, excluding the jobs in assistance companies. In 2014, there were 109 OCCs and 8,5 thousand jobs (including around 1 thousand jobs in assistance companies) in our country. In general, at least 50 thousand people are involved in the industry, which is 2,5 times more than in 2013”, – it is said in the study.

Not all Ukrainian OCCs participated in the event, unfortunately. UCCA explains the reason for such behavior in its presentation:

23 companies out of 88 (Ukrainian OCCs) filled in the questionnaire, which accounts for 26%. The researchers consider that the low percentage of participants indicates the lack of understanding by the market players of the importance of such studies, non-transparent competition with a company’s lasting PR playing a minor role, and false expectations of single market players, who deem that such studies must bring them a certain amount or clients.

Nevertheless, the fact that almost all market leaders submitted information about themselves shows that as the Ukrainian OCC market develops and matures, it will become more transparent and open for such studies, and the number of participants will grow.

The largest and most self-reliant contact centers, which are the main backbone of the market, still provided information. However, when you view the following map you should remember the unrecorded contact centers in the regions.

Geography

107 – Ukraine 31 – other countries

As you can see, Kiev, Kharkov, and Lvov have the greatest number of contact centers. Spectacular battles for staff are held in these cities. And Vinnitsa is gaining momentum.

No changes and discoveries in the channels of staff search are observed except the attempts to draw the attention yet during the school studies. Moreover, a severe competition for staff, leading to wage increase and rising cost of outsourcing services, is observed.

Another interesting slide is about how employees are lured and retained. However, the researchers notice that in 2015 the industry experienced a significantly increased turnover of operators – they know better, of course. But we will quietly rejoice that in Adelina the average lifespan of the contact center agent is much higher than the market average 🙂

What exactly contact centers offer to the market and who uses the OCCs services the most?

Security guarantees

One should remember that besides offering the customer a wide range of required services companies should ensure a high level of security and confidentiality. In fact, businesses give us the most sacred thing they have – all their customers, and entrust us to work with them on their behalf. That is why serious OCCs have such a strict security system: mandatory pass entry, turnstiles, video surveillance, conversations and screen recording, “clean tables” policy (see the picture for more details).

To ensure the highest level of information security, we adhere to the standards and recommendations of the ISO and PCI DSS. Despite all the strictness of requirements, the employees perceive the rules with understanding and responsibility. The most important is to explain everything clearly and to build a system of objective control.

About outworkers

The use of home agents is widely practiced in the West. It is more convenient for the employees, and that is why we carry out pilot projects using outworkers. But so far, in terms of information security, such practice is not applicable to all projects, unfortunately (see the point above).

And we’re moving on to the most interesting part – the salary of employees and outsourcers’ pink dreams.

We have nothing to add.

The size of the employee wage by 70% depends on how much the client pays us. The client is trying to save money and pay less. Especially since many are convinced that “the country is in crisis”. But we do our best, explain, and insist that quality can be ensured only by a well-motivated professional employee who enjoys his or her workplace.

Adelina Call Center CEO Oleg Chornobrivtsev:

“I believe and I will never stop repeating: the goal of our business is to build an effective system of service and sales. And profit is a consequence of the successful implementation of the ideology, goals, strategy, and, of course, it is the means for a new development. But money is not an end in itself or value. People are the value.

We appreciate the fact that we give people a chance to realize their talents, an opportunity for personal growth; we give people an interesting job, for someone their first, for others – a saving and stable one. Moreover, we give them family. For most employees Adelina is a second home. And it’s important for us to create a world of positive emotions. That is the main thing”.