Outsourcing: Rick Ferry, COO of C3 (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Let me clarify a few things. Universities are not known to train call center reps. What are you talking about?

Rick Ferry: Not so much training the call center rep per se, but training the student with a desire to matriculate in a related field. So, maybe in computer engineering, computer sciences, marketing, sales and marketing management, that type of thing. For example, take a specific vertical, hotel/motel management. There are many universities around the world, ranging from Ivy League universities like Cornell in Ithaca, New York, to the University of Glasgow, that have degree-oriented programs in hotel/motel management. They place very highly educated people throughout the world. Well, one of our core verticals is hospitality management.

It’s self-serving for the company, the university, and the client that we might represent to do something in concert with us. The other attraction for the university is when we’re dealing internationally, to have a United States–based university pulled into a relationship, with C3 as a mediator, to a university housed in the Philippines or in Bulgaria, there is some attractiveness to that. So, it is something that is self-gratifying for us.

Twin Falls, Idaho, is a wonderful case study because it is small-town America. It’s representative of more than of 40% of the population concentration in the U.S. The College of Southern Idaho is based there. It is a junior college that offers associate degrees. It’s a feeder college into the rest of the University of Idaho system. The student population, to me, was staggering. It’s more than 8,000. The administration at CSI is extremely forthcoming, cooperative, and engaged in building the local economy.

SM: For your kind of business to pair up with community colleges to do field development that flows directly into jobs is fantastic. That should be a core strategy for the United States.

RF: I could not agree more. I’ll tell you, the absolute perfect example of that is the CSI, College of Southern Idaho. When we originally had our startup in Twin Falls, we were hiring somewhere just shy of 1,000 people. So, we only had so much training space, even though it’s a large facility. There’s only so much training space available. CSI offered us the training space. They offered us the support of the faculty. That support was not only offered in program content development, but also instructional assistance. We are discussing with them now, putting parts of our training curriculum into their overall curriculum, and then offering at least a certificate-level program. It really helped out the community, and they are a tremendous partner.

SM: As I listen to you, I’m thinking what I would really like to understand is what are the verticals where there are specialized cultural nuances that favor U.S. call center reps.

RF: A good question. The first thing that pops to my mind would be health care. Navigating through the complex and nuanced U.S. healthcare system really does require a lot of knowledge that has to be somewhat a part of the people coming into the workforce. It is unique to the U.S. Many of the large health care providers have attempted to go offshore. Some have been successful, most have not. There are also some regulatory issues that requirements of certain states to have the health care formats serviced here in the U.S.

Although the financial services industry has enjoyed a great deal of international and offshore support, there are products in the industry that have a great deal of local nuance to them, especially the meltdown on the mortgage side since 2008. There are many mortgage providers, mortgage underwriters, and banking institutions that feel compelled to keep business in the U.S. because of the cultural issues.

With certain academic programs, there’s a feeling they need to be kept here as well. They are part of the local culture.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Outsourcing: Rick Ferry, COO of C3
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