Home to some 158 companies the contact and shared service centre industries in Wales jointly employ around 27,000 people. Since the early 1990s they have grown in strength and size. Welsh contact centres, for example, grew by 13% between 2002 and 2004 (Source: Mitial International).
Wales has proved to be an attractive location for contact centres and shared service centres across a broad range of sectors including financial services, government, utilities, telecommunications, retail, travel and IT. The majority of shared service centres in Wales focus on finance and IT and offer a wide range of activities including accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash management, payroll and IT services.
Wales’ developing reputation as a location for shared service centres is reflected in the fact that one of the industry’s key European events, Shared Services Week, took place in Wales in May 2005.
Significant investment and reinvestment by blue-chip players such as ntl, HBOS, Zurich and ING in contact centres, and Unilever, Tesco, Logica CMG and The Big Food Group in shared services, has fuelled the growth of these industries in Wales. An increase in public sector, as well as smaller, home-grown businesses, has also impacted on the scale and breadth of the industries in the Principality.
Contact and shared service centres in Wales are particularly proud of their staff retention rates, which are considerably lower than the UK average. West Wales has the lowest attrition rates in the whole of the UK at 13.4% (UK average - 28.7) Employers often attribute this to factors such as high levels of motivation and commitment.
A high correlation between staff retention, productivity, efficiency and service excellence is reported by contact and shared service centres in Wales.
The WDA has strong relationships with many contact and shared service centres in Wales which has helped them to achieve their business objectives. Dedicated account managers work with companies to provide advice, guidance and ‘signposting’ on a range of business issues such as marketing, strategy development, identifying suitable property, sources of expertise and comprehensive funding advice.
