Virtual-Agent Services Celebrates its 5^th Anniversary in Town of St. Andrews

MONCTON, NB (August 16, 2006) – Virtual-Agent Services, a high quality customer care service provider, announced today that it will be recognizing its St. Andrews location’s 5^th anniversary with a celebration featuring presentation of agent gifts, a BBQ, and other special events. The festivities will take place on Wednesday, August 23^rd.

Virtual-Agent Services (VAS) provides inbound voice services to a number of high profile clients including CenterPoint Energy Minnesota Gas, Luxury Resorts, Admiral Insurance, Concorde Hotels, Roadside Protect, TravelCLICK, Passkey International, Morgans Hotel Group, Dolce International, and Luxe Worldwide Hotels. VAS opened its first centre in Sussex in 1999 and has since expanded to seventeen locations in the province including the Field Operations Office located in Moncton.

VAS' award-winning Distributed Workforce Model is focused on bringing work to areas with smaller, but more highly skilled groups of workers through the utilization of advanced network technology provided by Aliant. Allowing VAS to maintain the economies of scale sought with larger consolidated operations, the model creates a pleasant place to work that is close to home and has its own sense of community and team spirit. For clients, this equates a more dedicated workforce with significantly lower turnover than what is expected in the call centre industry.

“The relationship between the Town of St. Andrews and Virtual-Agent Services has been a win-win situation for both of us,” said Mayor John Craig. “The agency has been able to hire and train a very strong and stable workforce while the Town has secured a major year-round employer with a track record which speaks for itself.”

VAS will be recognizing all of the agents' excellent service and dedication with a BBQ and cake celebration. For the employees who have been with the company for five years, they will be presented with a leather attaché case featuring the VAS logo. A number of VAS clients will also be in attendance to show their support and appreciation for the excellent service provided.

"VAS' corporate model and strength revolves around our people," said Evan Blanco, President of VAS. "With attrition rates of 10-15%, we attribute our successes largely to the highly dedicated workforce that we have available in New Brunswick. The clients supported by our St. Andrews agents have always expressed their satisfaction with the local workforce, and we are proud to be celebrating this milestone."

The employees being honored for their five years of service include: Sharon Ciardullo, Martha Evans, Misty Libby, Nick Waiman-Wood, Lynda Brooks, Candace Guptill, Michelle Johnson, Frances Gibson, Darren Bartlett, Lorraine MacDonald, Heather Holmes, Karla McCrossin, Mary Beth Johnson, and Jenny Menton.

Virtual-Agent Services (www.vagent.com), a privately held company headquartered in Schaumburg, IL, is a unique provider of contact centre solutions for today's demanding customer care industry. VAS services a wide range of industries including logistics, banking, retail and catalog sales, travel and hospitality, insurance, 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.