Call Centres Get the Right Answers

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Companies are coming home

Customer support (or Business Process Outsourcing) continues to grow with UK-owned businesses beginning to bring operations back from offshore locations based on customer feedback. High quality customer service, in the era of powerful social media, is key for businesses in both the public and private sectors.

So why Torbay?

It’s already home to a number of customer contact centres, operating successfully in both public and private sectors. There is an excellent availability of staff, combined with low rates of employee turnover, significantly lower than traditional customer service operations like Bournemouth, Bristol, South Wales and the Midlands. Torbay based call centre operators like Sutton Seeds, Emcas and Brightside all experience 6%-8% staff attrition, extremely low for this sector.

 

And when you need new staff…

Thanks to major hospitality and care sectors, Torbay already has a strong service culture amongst its skilled workforce from which new employees can be drawn.

Torbay has extra advantage due to the seasonality of the hospitality sector, which peaks in the summer and releases many staff during the off season. Any operation which experiences peaks through autumn and winter will be able to tap into a pool of employees with good customer service skills. This could be of particular interest to companies in retail, utilities and healthcare sectors or to outsource operations.

Better business support

Torbay Development Agency, via its Torbay Touchdown programme, provides free of charge specialist advice, supply key data and offer introductions to the local business community, Exeter and Plymouth Universities and local colleges.

Training and recruitment matters.

OFSTED outstanding South Devon College can offer NVQ Accredited customer service training and are happy to provide incoming investors with bespoke training packages to suit.

Torbay Development Agency can help you recruit the right people – we will host recruitment events and help with screening and profiling of your potential candidates.

Foreign Languages are no barrier

Being able to run multilingual operations is easy in Torbay. The nearby University of Exeter is one of the UK’s leading centres for research and teaching in French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian and Russian. Students can also study Greek, Japanese, Arabic, Mandarin, Chinese, Turkish and Portuguese.

Plymouth University runs combined honours undergraduate courses in French, Spanish and Mandarin.

Torbay is also home to numerous language schools including: EF, LAL, Kaplan, TIS, Riviera and Devon School of English providing English language training to many different student nationalities.

Let’s talk

From initial enquiry to investment and beyond, Torbay Development Agency will work with you to ensure your business gets off to a great start and continues to grow.

For an initial introduction to Torbay call TDA Investment Development Manager Jason Buck on 01803 208799 or email

High quality property, low cost overheads

Torbay has a number of new high quality business parks that are ideal for contact centre businesses. These include White Rock Business Park, close to technology companies and South Devon College, and the £30 million Edginswell Business Park, purpose built for the business services sector. There are also town centre office premises with excellent public transport connections. Rents are considerably lower than comparable call centre locations.

Market access

Road links to the North & South East are simple, with the M4/M5 and A303 bringing you straight to Exeter. £110 million of investment has been committed to the South Devon Link Road, making access to markets even quicker. London is 2.5 hours away by train and Exeter International Airport is only 22 miles away.

These companies made the right call

Torbay already has a growing cluster of customer call centres, which are all expanding. They cite Torbay as having the potential for sector growth, mainly due to availability in the workforce and sector offering, attractive alternative employment opportunities.

  • Part of the Brightside Group
  • Headquartered in Bristol also with offices in Southampton and Torquay
  • 90 people work in Torquay handling motor, home and taxi insurance

  • Financial claims call centre operation with back office function in Paignton and call centres in Torquay, Exeter and Taunton
  • Markets include pension, payment protection, endowments, whole of life, bonds or investment mis-selling
  • Torquay call centre operation is approx 40 seats and growing and the back office facility in Paignton with 120 staff

  • Electron Technology global manufacturer of fast-moving engineered products
  • 15 seat call centre operation handling calls from Europe, Middle East and Asian markets
  • Multilingual operations fluent in 15 languages
  • Set up in 2003, Job Centre + contact centre in Torquay is one of a network of 31 across the UK
  • Handles calls across England with a virtual network giving comprehensive coverage
  • 200 people in Torquay centre and growing
  • 20 staff handling calls from business and public covering a wide range of council services

  • French owned company (Vilmorin & Cie) operating as significant mail order programme selling packet seeds, young plants, bulbs and bushes.
  • Employ 70 operators in a 35 seat, two shift customer service centre in Paignton
  • Seasonality of products and demand fits with the Tourism sector in Torbay in terms of workforce availability