Nova Scotia increases its call center population with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Telemarketing, Jun 1995

Situated along 4,600 miles of meandering coast, Nova Scotia is home to just under one million people. At Nova Scotia's core is Halifax, a central city for eastern Canada with a tremendous amount of intellectual activity and vibrancy.

The blossoming business of the future is call centers, a business Nova Scotians know much about. With more than 1,000 call center positions and about 1,500 full-time agents, Nova Scotians are excited about the potential this new industry offers.

Home of the largest call center in Atlantic Canada -- Sears Canada -- Nova Scotia is also the location of choice to other national centers such as Equifax Canada, SHL Systemhouse and CorporaTel.

The latest call center addition is the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce or CIBC, Canada's second largest bank. The bank is investing $53 million to establish two national banking centers, and one will be located in Halifax. The new banking center will open this fall, starting out with 200 agents and growing to 500 by 1997. The center will enable customers to perform banking transactions such as obtaining account balances, moving funds, making RRSP contributions, and applying for loans and mortgages. CIBC's investment sets the foundation for future banking that includes personal computer banking, interactive television banking and multimedia kiosk banking.

CIBC selected the province for a number of reasons. "Nova Scotia represents the best mix of advanced telecommunications, access to a well-trained workforce, low operating cost, as well as previous experience in setting up call centers," explained Tom Mellish, vice president Telephone Banking. "All these factors were given equal consideration before making our final decision to open up in Nova Scotia."

Helping the new banking center get ready for operation this fall is Connections Nova Scotia. The organization is a partnership between the government of Nova Scotia and the province's telephone company, Maritime Tel & Tel.

Mike Estabrooks, managing director, Connections Nova Scotia, said, "There's more to it than bringing the business to Nova Scotia. We will now work closely with CIBC to ensure a pool of qualified people have the right telecommunications and computer skills required to meet the needs of the new telebanking center. We will design the telecommunications network that will integrate voice and data simultaneously. Basically, we will provide our new customer with total turnkey solutions."

The new CIBC call center will be equipped with the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art technology. The face behind the technology is people -- a critical factor to call center success.

Nova Scotia is traditionally known for its hospitality. The people are described as hard working, loyal and accomplished. With 12 universities throughout the province and 7 in Halifax, Nova Scotia has the highest education attainment level in Canada. More than 60 percent of the workforce has received training beyond high school. Some of that training focuses specifically on call center business. This September, post-secondary institutions will offer call center training courses as well as integrating the theory into existing university degree programs. The province is working closely with educators to ensure tomorrow's leaders have the right skill sets for future business.

In Nova Scotia, you'll find people with specialized experience who can design and implement telecommunications and computer systems, propose an office layout and necessary furnishings and meet all call center needs. You'll find teams of people from government and industry working closely together to make Nova Scotia a successful call center location.