What's ahead for call centres?

A higher loonie and ongoing technological advancements are shaping the evolution of call centres in Canada.

So says Statistics Canada in a report released today.

In a paper titled Trends in the Telephone Call Centre Industry, the authors claim that Canada’s higher dollar has eroded the our advantage as a preferred location for call centres.

Strong competition is coming from other countries, including China and India.

In response, the author say, Canadian call centres "should move beyond the lowest labour cost phase of the industry life cycle. It is becoming important for telephone call centres to offer higher value-added in terms of skills, both technical and linguistic, and technology.”

Assuming greater importance are proximity to post-secondary institutions and a skilled labour pool to support advanced infrastructure and newer technologies.

Besides looking ahead, researchers examine the industry's recent history.

They note that “telephone call centres experienced an annual average increase in revenue of nearly 28 percent between 1998 and 2006.”

Revenues soared from just over $400 million in 1998 to almost $2.8 billion eight years later. Call centres contributed to almost half of all employment growth in the business support services sector.

The report Trends in the Telephone Call Centre Industry is available by clicking here.