Government contracts ringing success for call centre group

Thursday, July 29, 2010

JOHN Watkinson has had contact with every person in Australia - statistically speaking. Over the past year, Watkinson's Excelior has dealt with more than 24 million successful "customer contacts'' - with a large proportion emanating from Australia's business innovation hub at Robina on the Gold Coast.

Excelior is a division of the listed Skilled Group, and has cracked one of the hardest nuts in commerce - how to do business with government. The company operates call centres nationwide, with a range of clients from the energy, government, telecommunication and environmental industries.

"Security, speed, quality and a can-do reputation are the keys," Watkinson, a geology graduate, said.
Robina's 155-seat contact centre, along with the three others managed by Excelior, have been causing a stir in the industry by providing services to major government departments using the firm's Design Build Operate and Transfer, or DBOT, approach. Watkinson won't talk about the exact nature of his clients, but government organisations figure prominently in the group's make-up.

"This is a clear case of government leading innovation,'' Watkinson said."Our clients can choose to take control at any phase in the process - or to leave the responsibility with us.

"Uniquely, we have the experience and track record for being able to consult - and deliver - in the contact centre industry. We expect business to follow suit when they see the benefits from DBOT being delivered to government,'' he said. Excelior Robina boasts a hi-tech, high security, fingerprint-entry only contact centre dealing with sensitive government information - all part of a $1 million fit-out finished recently. Mr Watkinson said one of the benefits of operating at Robina was the company's access to a highly educated and motivated workforce.

Article by James McCullough - The Courier-Mail