Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/112770
fulfillment processes, especially in postage and shipping, have saved about $700,000 for the company and its clients since they began focusing on them about four years ago, according to Paul Loebbaka, Alta���s vice president of fulfillment. In addition to Six Sigma, Alta also focuses on workforce management, call-quality assurance and training and compliance, such as training to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and FDA regulations. Global operations bring new business T he ability to offer round-the-clock service has also led to new clients. Ber�� tells the story of a Kansas City client whose work Alta lost to a competitor some years ago, costing 150 jobs in Neenah. ���We asked why we didn���t get the job, and they said ���Well, you don���t really have a global strategy or presence,������ Ber�� says. ���And we replied, ���You never asked about that!������ As a result, Alta established operations in Manila, the Philippines, in 2004, positioning the company to handle future global demands. Now about 522 work in Manila and about 368 work in California. Peterson was attracted back to Alta as a result of its global growth. Today, she says, outsourcing is seen by many companies as critical to their success. ���They know that in the new economy, you just cannot have waste,��� she says. A big part of her job is conveying the importance of brand equity to Alta���s employees. ���I always tell them we���ve been trusted with some of the greatest companies in the world, and they trust us with their brand,��� Peterson says. ���I find that both exhilarating and terrifying. It���s just an enormous responsibility. If you have a bad interaction in social media with a company, you have to address it. There���s just so much at stake.��� Because of this, potential clients take their time in selecting or switching to a new BPO partner. It also takes considerable time to train customer service employees to thoroughly understand each brand and all the technical details of each one. It often takes years to land a new client, and a typical sales cycle takes 12 to 18 months. By the same token, happy clients keep their business with Alta and generally stay for at least five to 10 years. Some will remember the short-lived Revlon contract Alta took on in 2006, one of the few brands that allowed its name to be associated with a hiring blitz at Alta. The contract was unusual in that it was for a specific new product that the company unexpectedly eliminated, rather than an established item, Ber�� explains. While global operations are important in offering flexibility to clients, many are drawn to Alta because of 28 | Insight ��� M a r c h 2 013 online: Click to watch Alta CEO Jim Ber�� discuss what���s driving the company���s growth. the culture of its Northeast Wisconsin employees. Dave Quandt, vice president of customer care at Alta, says ���Wisconsin nice��� is a phrase that clients have independently mentioned in their experience talking with representatives on the phone. Alta employees handle upwards of 13 million phone calls each year. Phone calls, however, make up slightly less than half of all the company���s customer care business today. ���The way in which people elect to communicate with the company has varied dramatically,��� says Quandt. ���Dialogue over the phone is still very common, but it isn���t the lion���s share of what we do. Social media is the quickest channel we���re evolving today ��� we meet the customer in whatever way they reach out to engage. The web and other electronic media really drive most of the transactional volume. And fulfillment is a key part of that.��� E-commerce A bout six years ago Alta began working with a local e-technology company called Bean Basket. Three years ago it bought the company, brought its employees in-house and harnessed their expertise to quickly build on its e-commerce business. Today, e-commerce makes up about 16 percent of Alta���s business and is poised for the most growth. ���It���s been a great fit,��� says John Ambrose, director of e-commerce, who joined Alta Resources along with Bean Basket founder Michael Harper and 10 of their former employees. ���It was a perfect time for Alta, in terms of where they were headed, and we���ve made some great strides over the last 36 months.��� The e-commerce division of Alta encompasses not only communication with consumers but much of the technology needs of the company, Ambrose explains. ���When a client comes to us and says, ���We need a strategy to use the web as a revenue generator,��� we help on the strategy side and bring in a fully-integrated service approach on top w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m