ocean call- Telemarketing Contact center delivering high quality B2B outbound projects to its US and UK based clients from a Caribbean location

History & Background

In 2001, the Frequente Industrial Park said farewell to a 12-year data processing company and welcomed a new telemarketing company, ocean call. With an initial investment of US $1.3 million, the company started with 50 telesales employees; having doubled its employees within the first six months ocean call's plan to employ more than 250 Grenadians within two years was achieved in March 2003.

ocean call targets the US market. Its long-term goal is to use the funds generated from the operation to develop similar businesses in the Caribbean as well as expansion of its existing facilities. Already it has earmarked St. Lucia, Trinidad and Dominica as locations for expansion.

Telemarketing is proven to be the most successful business-to-business communication and selling tool. Over the past few years many large corporations who had in-house telemarketing centers have recognized the need for greater sophistication in their marketing and research plans and have outsourced their operations to specialist companies known today as call centers. These companies have been successful but have been subjected to increasing labour costs. Assisted by much improving global telephone networks there has been a trend to move these Call Centres to countries where the labour market offers more competitive employment costs, such as in the Caribbean.

ocean call's client is a world leader in publishing and is currently moving 12 million calls per annum from the USA to the Caribbean where there is a marked reduction in labour costs complimented by an English speaking labour market of over 80% literacy. The Caribbean accent is considered much softer than the harsher American accent making it more pleasant and welcoming and is an added bonus in telemarketing. This is backed by advanced telecommunications infrastructure, and regular European, North American and inter-island flights.

The initial contract that will be managed by the new call center is from Cahners in the US. This company is part of Reed International, one of the largest publishing houses in the world. Cahners decided to move its Call Centre business to the Caribbean after it tested the viability of doing so through its own data centre RDS based in St. Kitts. Cahners handles more than 240 publications and all marketing and research campaigns for these publications are outsourced to independent Call Centres in the US and Caribbean. Cahners strategy is to move this business to the Caribbean area; currently they intend to move more than four thousand seats into the region.

The majority shareholder of ocean call is 21C Management Services Ltd. 21C has won a number of contracts in this field of expertise. Its client base includes not only e-commerce companies but also sports stadium. The Company has its own IT department that has enabled it to invest and install the very latest state of the art "Contact Management" databases and leading edge Lucent telephone systems. The use of its integrated data-telephony system has enabled 21C to provide an efficient and cost effective service to its clients.

The company employs sales professionals who deliver to its clients a range of sales and marketing activities that include: telephone selling of advertising, corporate hospitality services, employment and management of sales personnel, telephone based research marketing, database management and event management services.

Managing Director of ocean call, Mr. Melvyn Mills says coming to Grenada was purely by accident, albeit a good one. Initially intending to start operations in another island but becoming frustrated with the lengthy procedures, Grenada seemed to be as good an option as any, so they decided to give it a try. The process started in July and within 5 weeks ocean call was ready to start business.

Mr. Mills attributes this to the support of the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation and has high praise for the speed and efficiency with which they assisted, commenting that bureaucracy didn't stand in the way unlike in some of the other islands. "The more we are here, the more we like it" says Mr. Mills.

Telemarketing is an investment in people and Mr. Mills is quick to point out that Grenada is well suited for this kind of investment, citing the people's favorable attitude towards investors, high literacy rates and high performance as some of the positives to investing in Grenada.

He also says that the Grenadian accent is softer and more pleasant than many of the other Caribbean accents and finds that many of the clients react well to the CSR's, even seeming to have a calming effect on them.

At present ocean call offers Business to Business data management and market research services and runs a one shift system based on American Time. Mr. Mills has high expectations to see the company grow organically with 250 seats each on a double shift taking advantage of both the US and European market and also moving to a Business to Consumer service. He points out that the Business to Consumer service will require a different employee profile who is more aggressive and trained in sales, whereas the current Business to Business service, CSR's simply need to have good communications and telephone skills.

ocean call is also working with the GIDC to set up a training centre for underprivileged school leavers. The Centre will be linked to Cambridge. ocean call's philosophy is "Manage the investment by investing in the biggest asset which is the people." He believes that once a call centre is managed for good commercial reasons it can be viable for at least 12 years. He therefore cautions that the labour force should be trained not only for the telemarketing industry but see it as a stepping-stone to the next wave in technology which will offer employment and career opportunities that will enable them to become specialist in the chosen IT fields in Grenada.

As for the future in telemarketing and the impact the down turn in the world economy will have on the industry, Mr. Mills is excited and sees it having some positive effects. He anticipates it will make it better for ecommerce and telemarketing, as more people refrain from travel, reduce their use of the mail service, and increased preference to deal with a quick 3 minute phone call rather than fill out a form be it on paper or via the internet. Mr. Mills sees the shift in user attitudes as a result of the changing environment being very advantageous to telemarketers.

GIDC's Investment Services Manager, Mr. Carlton Frederick says, "The GIDC is pleased to open its doors to ocean call. The Corporation recognizes the tremendous impact such operations can have on employment and the transfer of technology, which are the two main priorities of the GIDC".

General Manager Mrs. Sonia Roden reiterates GIDC's support in the development of the industry, "The GIDC is committed to the growth of the ICT sector, and ocean call is one of many such companies Grenada will welcome to its business sector in the near future".

Source: Grenada Industrial Development Corporation

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