Kansas City Area: A really smart place for call centers, The

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, Jun 2003 by Beatty, James

The Kansas City Area Development Council, which is the economic development entity serving this 17 county, 50 community, bi-state area of Missouri and Kansas with a population of over two million people, proudly boasts in their information that this is a smart area. After spending a few days in the area, I can attest to not only the smartness of the area, but to the variety of intellect, brains and wit at the multiple call centers I had the opportunity and privilege to visit during my all-too-short stay.

There are 75 call centers in the area, employing some 23,745 people. The Kansas City economic development service area encompasses Missouri cities such as St. Joseph, Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit and Raytown. Kansas communities include Kansas City, Olathe, Lawrence, Overland Park, Topeka, Shawnee and Lenexa.

This regional economic model makes it easy for call center site selection prospects to cover significant territory with just one call. I was particularly impressed with the variety of industries that had customer care, customer service and contact centers in the area.

Industries such as pharmaceuticals, software, cable, telecommunications, finance, insurance, real estate, manufacturing, data processing, government, retail, transportation and utilities are well represented, with their call centers providing services and employment in the Kansas City metroplex.

This wealth of knowledge and experience in the area is not by any means new, as one need only look at the world-renowned Midwest Research Institute to understand and appreciate the legacy of innovation that permeates the area. The Midwest Research Institute (MRI) was established in 1944 to supply needed research to industry and to encourage programs using regional resources. While serving as the Research and Development arm for the J.A, Folger Company in the 1950s, MRI actually created a brewing device that became the principle behind today's automatic drip coffeemakers. MRI scientists also successfully invented the coating process that ensured that M&Ms candies "melt in your mouth, not in your hands." True story!

Population

The 2001 population of the Kansas City, Missouri MSA is 1,803,445, which is an increase of 198,798 over the 1991 figures according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Labor Force, Employment And Unemployment

As of October 2002, the Kansas City MSA had a labor force of 1,037,751, with 985,447 people employed and a 5 percent unemployment rate

Employment Growth

The area has successfully added 148,942 jobs since 1991, which is a rate of growth of 18.2 percent, versus the overall U.S. rate of growth, which was 14.7 percent over the same time period.

Educational Attainment

The area proudly boasts that 86.7 percent of its population over 25 has a high school diploma, compared to 80.4% of the U.S. population. Additionally, 28.5 percent of the area's population over 25 has at least a Bachelor's degree, versus 24.4 percent of the general U.S. population. The area really is smart!

Income

The per capita income for the area is $20,374, versus $18,491 for the U.S. as a whole, with a median household income of $42,221 versus $38,365 for the U.S. This clearly demonstrates that for the most part, there are two workers per household.

As I visited with several HR managers in the area, it was apparent that starting call center wages range from $10,00 to $12.00 plus benefits, and are considered competitive.

Real Estate

Office market lease space ranges from a high of $21.99 in Class A central business district to $19.71 Class A in the suburbs. Class B space ranges from a high of $16,48 in the suburbs to $16.13 in the central business district,

Colleges/Universities In The Area

Contact centers, call centers and customer service operations can successfully recruit from 25 four-year and two-year higher education institutions in the area, all of which have a combined enrollment of 123,148 individuals.

In fact, the community colleges offer programs for customer service representative and call center management training. These classes' duration ranges from one day to six weeks, and they include topics such as critical thinking, team building and managing stress, call handling and call center management laws. The Metropolitan Community College even manages a 64-position call center to provide contract training for area businesses.

Telecommunications

The Kansas City area has plenty of fiber backbone and is protected with more than 60 SONET rings. According to a study entitled, "The Internet Backbone and the American Metropolis," Kansas City also ranked eighth in the U.S. with its Internet backbone capacity.

There are 13 POPS, or points of presence, in the area as well as multiple local and network providers. These providers include AT&T, Everest Communications, Qwest, Sprint (which has its world headquarters in the area) MCI, SBC, Level 3 Communications, Axon Telecom, Time Warner, Williams, Kinet and Intermedia, to name a few. There are almost 28,000 telecommunications workers in the area.