Golden firm helping transform call-center industry

By Will Shanley
Denver Post Staff Writer

Jim Ball, co-founder of Golden customer-service company Alpine Access, is helping reshape the call-center business.

Employees for privately-held Alpine Access answer inbound calls for a variety of industries. But instead of fielding calls in an office building, nearly all of Alpine's 4,600 employees, including 3,000 in Colorado, work from home.

Ball has increased revenue 45 percent from 2003 to 2004 and expanded his workforce by more than 50 percent year over year.

The business model cuts costs for rent and office equipment, increases the pool of potential workers and allows employees greater flexibility.

Alpine's approach also allows it sometimes to match its clients with each employee's interests.

"I like the flexibility and that I don't have to sit in a noisy call center," said Martha Libby, 58, who has worked off-and-on for Alpine since 1999 and fields calls for a flower company.

"I like gardening and flowers, so when customers ask questions, I enjoy it," she said.

Other Colorado call-center operators are taking a cautious approach with home-based agents.

Denver's StarTek Inc., which employs about 7,000 people in North America, including 1,400 in Colorado, handles calls mostly for telecommunications and cable companies. StarTek has considered using home-based agents, but said the current needs of its highly technical clients discourage such an approach.

"It's not that one style is better than the other, but it is linked to the type of services being offered. We handle a different degree of complexity than ordering a bouquet of flowers," said Amy Claire Wild, StarTek's vice president of marketing.

TeleTech Inc., a publicly traded Denver company with about 33,000 employees worldwide, including 506 in Colorado, will begin using home-based agents for certain clients later this year.

Brian Delaney, senior vice president of TeleTech's North American operations, said the home- based agent model will continue to grow, but some roadblocks remain.

He said companies with sensitive data often prefer the better-protected computer networks that traditional call centers offer. Home-based operations generally use the Internet to process information.

Despite some limitations, Alpine's business is booming.

The company's revenue has mushroomed since Alpine was launched in 1998. In 2004, revenue was $16 million, up from $11 million the year before. The company projects about $25 million to $30 million in revenue this year.

"The industry is saying that home-based agents work," said Jim Farnsworth, Alpine's chief operating officer.

About 100,000 people in the U.S. are home-based agents, up from 81,500 in 2003, according to technology research firm IDC.

"Companies utilizing home-based agents have the ability to access highly skilled and motivated representatives, while maintaining very reasonable costs through in-country labor pools," said Stephen Loynd, an IDC senior research analyst, in a report.

Office Depot - an Alpine client - JetBlue Airways Corp. and Staples Inc. are several companies currently using home-based agents instead of traditional call centers in the U.S. or overseas.

"It provides the best of all worlds: customer service, (lower) cost and (convenience) for the employees," said Julian Carter, director of operations for Office Depot.

Alpine estimates its employee turnover rate at about 30 percent, lower than the industry average of 35 percent to 70 percent, according to research firm Gartner Inc., based in Connecticut.

About 75 percent of Alpine's workforce has some college education, and some also work day jobs. Average age is 38, significantly older than the twentysomethings that populate most call centers.

"There's a lot of demand for the service, but there's a limited number of providers. There's definitely going to be growth in the home-based model," Ball said.

Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1473 or wshanley@denverpost.com .