SCHAUMBURG IL (August 25, 2003) - The 15th Annual International Call Center Management Conference and Exposition, the largest global gathering of contact center and customer management professionals, begins Monday, August 25th  at the Lakeside Center in McCormick Place in Chicago.  The show's host, Advanstar Communications, has invited Robert Camastro, President of Virtual-Agent Services (www.vagent.com) to present a session on "Productivity and the Human Factor." 

"Traditional initiatives to improve productivity, such as office consolidation, relocation, cross-utilization of agents, and automation, are often the actual cause of labor issues and lost productivity," said Camastro in outlining the session.   "The impact of our actions on the human beings involved in this equation is often underestimated. This presentation explores ways to manage the human factor related to efficiency initiatives while setting realistic expectations for what could be accomplished." 

Virtual-Agent Services (VAS) provides a variety of contact center support options including inbound sales and customer service, customer account maintenance, credit management, and travel reservations to a wide range of industries including financial, retail sales, travel and hospitality, and utility services. Utilizing the Distributed Workforce Concept, VAS establishes fully functional community transaction centers in untargeted and highly skilled labor markets, where there is minimal competition for quality manpower resources. Networking the individual centers together as a virtual operation under a common telephone system and management structure maintains the economies of scale associated with large consolidated operations. VAS is then able to bring employment to an abundant and skilled workforce located in rural or even remote areas rather than requiring them to travel long distances or relocate to secure a good job.

Camastro and VAS have won attention for their innovative approach to contact center management.  Virtual-Agent Services has been honored with both a ContactCenterWorld.com Members Choice Award for Best US Outsourcing and a RealMarket Users Choice Gold Best-in-Class Award for Contact Center Tools.  Camastro and his team have also been recognized this year as one of Fast Company magazine's "Fast 50 Innovators."

The Distributed Workforce Concept's approach to the human factor issues in productivity has resulted in some of the lowest absenteeism and attrition in the industry.  "Virtual-Agent Services experiences attrition rates of less than 15%, while much of the contact center industry reports turnover upwards of 60%," said Camastro. "The result is a high quality, cost effective solution for companies utilizing these services."

VAS is also one of 150 call center exhibitors participating in the ICCM Exposition. For more information, visit Virtual-Agent Services at Booth # 1133 or online at www.vagent.com.