Homeshoring Industry Exploding: LiveOps Home Agents Increase 400% in Three Years
Company Predicts Number of Agents to Double in 2007
Palo Alto, CA, May 29, 2007 - LiveOps, the largest distributed contact center in the U.S., today revealed the company has seen 400% growth in the number of its home-based customer service agents, or home agents, between the beginning of 2004 and 2007.As of early 2007, LiveOps contracts with 10,000 home agents across the country and expects that number to double to 20,000 agents by the end of this year. Industry analyst firm IDC also predicts significant growth, from 139,000 agents today to more than triple that, or 320,000, by 2010. LiveOps home agents take product orders for retailers, assist with customer service, take restaurant orders and much more.
LiveOps attributes its success to U.S. companies' demand for higher quality customer care at competitive prices. The home agent model offers significant benefits to both businesses and workers: Businesses have access to highly-trained workers who are rated on the basis of performance with calls routed most often to the best-performing agents, while agents get unprecedented flexibility.
Over 80% of LiveOps U.S.-based home agents are college educated, and over 50% are work-from-home parents with small children. The annual turnover rate for fully-certified LiveOps home agents is less than 10%, compared with the 100-200% annual turnover of traditional contact centers.
LiveOps also credits the surge of home agents with demand for credible work-from-home opportunities, which offers significant earning opportunities for contractors as well as exceptional flexibility. Home agents work when they want for as long as they wish. Additionally, regular household costs like dry cleaning, day care, and gas for commuting can be minimized and in many cases completely eliminated.
"It's not surprising that the number of home agents is growing so dramatically. Independent contractors want the flexibility of working when they want. As a result, companies gain access to a new, highly skilled and effective labor pool. Home agents help us to offer better quality customer care at more reasonable prices than has ever been possible," said LiveOps CEO Maynard Webb. "The home-agent model is changing how people think about work."
Following is agent-growth data from LiveOps:
2004-2005: 50% growth (from 2,000 to 3,000 agents)
2004-2006: 200% growth (2,000-6,000 agents)
2004-2007: 400% growth (2,000-10,000 agents)
2004-2008 (projected): 900% growth (2,000-20,000 agents)
About LiveOps, Inc.
LiveOps, the virtual call center company, frees businesses from the complexity and constraints of traditional call center models. LiveOps operates the world's largest virtual call center, providing the only complete solution with on-demand applications, home agents and proven best practices that deliver breakthrough results. LiveOps on-demand call center applications instantly provide an enterprise-scale virtual call center infrastructure, while its network of 20,000 experienced home agents provides unmatched customer service. LiveOps' cost effective solutions provide greater flexibility, quality, scalability and control than traditional call center technology providers. LiveOps is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Visit us online at www.liveops.com.
