Virtual-Agent Services High Quality Contact Center Solutions

Virtual-Agent Services Continues Strong Growth with New Contact Center Location

April 3, 2006 (SCHAUMBURG, IL) – Virtual-Agent Services, high quality customer care service provider, announced today that it has established its 16^th North American location. Established in the Town of Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Canada, the center will be added to the company’s other sites located in Illinois and New Brunswick. The company also operates a contact center in Milan, Italy. The new center in Bouctouche is expected to create 50 jobs for local area residents within the first-year of operation.

“This testament by VAS to open another center in our province is another concrete example of how we are working along with the customer contact centre industry to bring the knowledge industry and the opportunities they represent to New Brunswickers in all parts of the province, not just in our larger cities,” said New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord. “We have enjoyed a great partnership with VAS since 1999 and our government is pleased to continue to support the company through its expansion efforts.”

Pictured from left to right:

Claude Williams - Education Minister, New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord, Néri Basque - Virtual-Agent Services, Ivan Toner – Aliant, Aldéo Saulnier - Mayor of Bouctouche

VAS’ Distributed Workforce Concept allows the company to network together a series of fully functional transaction centers using an advanced technical infrastructure. This allows VAS unlimited capacity and reach to an abundant supply of high quality labor while still maintaining the economies of scale associated with having one large center. With this unique business model, VAS is able to bring the work to skilled local people without requiring them to travel long distances to obtain work. This creates a wonderful opportunity for those in the area with limited career prospects leading to a dedicated workforce assuring VAS' clients that they are receiving superior service from experienced employees. In an industry where attrition rates average higher than 60%, VAS posts agent turnover rates of less than 15%.

All VAS voice and data systems are designed and supported by Aliant, Inc., a world-recognized leader in communications, based in Atlantic Canada. “Aliant is proud to support VAS’ strategy of expanding business in rural New Brunswick,” said Ivan Toner, Aliant Chief Information Officer. “Aliant’s ongoing collaboration with VAS has resulted in the development of a next-generation contact centre technology. This new solution will enable VAS to leverage new technology such as Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and skills-based routing. The solution also provides VAS with a solid technology backbone to help them to continue to focus on their business operations and support future growth as one virtual contact center.”

“VAS' continued success and healthy growth creates the wonderful opportunity for our expansion to the Bouctouche area,” said Neri Basque, VAS Executive Vice-President of IT and Strategic Development. “We look forward to providing the same professional, caring services for which we have become known in the industry.”

VAS currently provides inbound voice services to a number of high profile clients including CenterPoint Energy Minnesota Gas, LXR Luxury Resorts, CVS Pharmacy, TravelCLICK, Passkey International, Morgans Hotel Group, Dolce International, and Luxe Worldwide Hotels.

About Virtual-Agent Services
Virtual-Agent Services (www.vagent.com), a privately held company headquartered in Schaumburg, IL, is a unique provider of contact center solutions for today's demanding customer care industry. VAS services a wide range of industries including logistics, retail and catalog sales, travel and hospitality, and utility services. VAS provides a variety of support options that include inbound sales and customer service, customer account maintenance, credit management, and reservation services. VAS' efforts have earned the company numerous accolades, including recognition from both Entrepreneur and Inc. magazines and a number of prestigious awards.