Call centre startup pitching Sault jobs to displaced Agero reps

If you're one of the hundreds of Sault-based Agero agents whose jobs are being out-tasked to Tennesee and Arizona next spring, Frank Muzzi wants you to connect with Employment Solutions right away.

"With the closing of Agero, we would like to take on as many displaced employees as we can," Muzzi, managing partner of technology and call centres at CX Solutions, tells SooToday.

A Sault native, Muzzi's currently looking for a location here for a new call centre location and 150 to 200 awesome, talented Saultites to fill it starting late in the first quarter of 2020, or early in the second quarter.

He's in talks with a financial institution and is optimistic he'll close the deal by year's end.

CX Solutions is a marketing/ technology consulting/ professional services startup based at 250 University Avenue in Toronto.

The lion's share of its employees work in Sault Ste. Marie, many of them at a small call centre at 875 Queen St. E.

It's definitely a family company: Frank Muzzi, his brother Aldo and their three sisters all sit on the board of directors.

Aldo is vice-president of customer success.

By the end of this month, the startup hopes to have 22 employees working in the Sault.

The company is focussed on customer support, customer experience capability, technology assessment, technical architectural design, managed services and digital transformation.

Clients include grocery/ freight/ logistics giant Loblaw Companies Ltd., Sun Life Financial and Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).

In the case of CMHA, CX's current services include a technology help desk.

The firm is in the midst of launching a national mental health practice and e-customer support for CMHA programs, including chat and text support and a multi-channel programs enablement hub.

CX Solutions local hiring is handled by Employment Solutions on the fourth floor of 421 Bay St., 705-945-0705.

The 150 to 200 expected new jobs will be full-time equivalent, with some agents working both part-time in the call centre and part-time consulting.

The company's benefits package includes 20 hours a year of paid volunteer work as well as mental health days.

The CMHA assignments are especially prized because they are day jobs with the earliest shift starting at 8:30 a.m. and the latest ending at 6 p.m., Muzzi said.

Agero announced Oct. 28 that it will transition all of its 300 Sault jobs at the end of April, 2020 to Clarksville and Tri-Cities, Tennessee and Tuscon, Arizona.

The company commenced call centre operations here in October, 2004 as Cross Country Automotive, providing 24/7 roadside assistance to distressed motorists.

The decision was attributed to the prohibitive cost of technology upgrades needed in Sault Ste. Marie, as well as travel difficulties posed by our “remote“ location and the company’s wish to consolidate its personnel management.