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What Today's New Contact Centers Require: Demographics, Flexibility, Stimulating Design
Once known as "call centers," today's newly coined "contact centers" are big business; according to the Everest Research Institute, the global outsourcing contact center market has grown to a $55 billion industry - maturing in the U.S. and poised for greater growth offshore.
Every contact center project is unique and there are no universal standards. But beyond requiring the right location, the common requirement shared by all contact centers is proximity to the right labor pool. That is a key distinction between contact centers and other properties - it all starts with the demographics (quantity, quality, availability and cost) of the local labor force.
Typically, contact centers average 40,000 to 50,000 rentable square feet in size and can be housed in a variety of property types, including office buildings, retail facilities and warehouses. Many centers are ground-up developments as build-to-suits for corporate clients. New developments use tilt-wall construction, much like industrial buildings, primarily because they are less expensive but can also accommodate the often tight, four- to eight-month time frames that corporate clients demand to become operational.
Building in Flexibility
The AmeriCredit contact center building in Arizona is 150,000 rentable square feet and has the capacity for 1,100 employees. |
Contact center tenants normally sign 10-year leases, but expansion options should be included because if everything works - the employee base is there, the labor cost is sensible and the productivity works out -- then the company will want to stay there and grow. It is a lot easier to stay in a location and expand than it is to find a new location and rehire and retrain new employees.
But at the same time, developers must aim to create a property than can be re-leased or easily repurposed if the tenant leaves. The location should attract and keep employees for the tenant, but should also work for the developer in the event the property is sold or re-leased. It is a very difficult balance.
Inside the RFP
During any RFP process, several factors are key, the first being the developer's reputation and performance track record. Second is compatibility with the corporate client, because of the short period of time involved in getting a building built. Ideally the developer's team is capable of getting things done, but at the same time can establish a good working rapport so that clients feel they can totally count on the developer. When problems arise, developer and client work through them with positive cooperation. Third, the contact center's credit must be as strong as possible since these facilities are fairly large. However, many times the winning developer is willing and able to take some risk on the financing side to help facilitate the transaction. Instead of asking for a one year deposit, for example, developers will need to look at a call center company's track record (past profitability, financing, etc.) and make a determination to take the risk on themselves.
Infrastructure Considerations
As a general rule of thumb, contact centers are 24/7 facilities with continuous shift changes, day and night. They require about twice the amount of parking as a typical office building, generally six to eight spaces per 1,000 rentable square feet. Security is also a big issue since on average 75 percent of the workers are women and shifts are coming and going around the clock. More outdoor lighting is required and more contact centers are installing heavy-duty fencing around the parking perimeter.
With their 24/7 operations, contact centers require backup generators, battery backup systems and dual feed power to maintain operations. Landscaping is another important factor, since more corporate clients require higher esthetics for their workers.
For employees' comfort, facility interiors require larger capacity HVAC systems to produce around one ton of cooling per 175 rentable square feet versus one ton per 350 rentable square feet in a typical office building. At the same time, companies are looking for the newest efficiencies and innovations to save energy, including room monitor lights.
Designing Vibrant Workspaces
Today's contact centers are more sophisticated than many people realize. They are not just about cramming hundreds of people in rows of cubicles. Different types of centers call for different densities and space planning. Ultimately, the structure inside and out must give employees a sense of place and a certain amount of pride. Successful contact centers "fit" their locale and the personalities of their labor force.
The density of a collection agency center is much different from that of a help desk operation. Acoustical tiles may be required on both the ceiling and the walls to absorb noise and the design of the space may be broken up to be quieter. Sometimes even white noise and reflective lighting are required. The space design must also provide the necessary stimulants so that employees can "escape" the headset and the phone when necessary. That means using color and designs on the walls, carpet, two-feet by two-feet ceiling tiles and unique fluorescent drop lights. Many facilities have quiet rooms with TVs and games so employees can re-energize themselves.
With sophisticated technology, more contact centers are designed with a high-tech look and feel. These are vibrant work spaces that reflect both the type of work involved and the image of the tenant.
By Van Power, chief operating officer, NAI Global Contact Center/Site Selection Services
EPA Nears Consent Decree on Storm Water
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be nearing agreement on consent decrees regarding construction storm water requirements for the homebuilding industry and big box retailing. These consent decrees could possibly impact other areas of real estate development down the road.
In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency Enforcement Office came out with a position statement saying that there is widespread violation of construction storm water requirements and the EPA was going to target two industries: big box retailing and homebuilding. The big box retail efforts focused on Wal-Mart and Home Depot, according to Wayne Forman, a lawyer with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, Denver, Colo., who has been representing large, national homebuilders.
"I have been involved in the first national consent decree negotiations over construction storm water, which will likely be a template for further negotiations with other members of that industry," he said.
Forman explained that a consent decree is basically a "canned settlement" of a lawsuit. "We have been negotiating with the government over the terms of an agreement. In the near future, the government will file complaints and with those complaints it will file a consent decree," he said. "The court has to publish notice of the consent decrees for 30 days and take public comment. Typically, the court would enter the consent decree as the order of the court and resolve the matter."
The industry's negotiations were focused on allowing much more flexibility in how it complied with storm water requirements at construction sites, according to the lawyer. The government, on the other hand, wanted to ensure that the homebuilders incorporate protocols and procedures and checks in their construction activities to focus on storm water.
In general, the storm water template could look like this:
- Oversight component - Someone at the construction site would be the point person for storm water.
- Education component - The storm water point person on the ground would need to be trained, therefore, a training module would need to be developed.
- Record keeping component - The consent decree would require that the storm water officer have a reporting obligation and that a management hierarchy within the company be established.
- Contractor orientation component - This component would require that any contractor who will work on the site have information informing them of the general requirements regarding storm water management, best management practices and any site specific issues.
"The real struggle is when you get into implementing the details of this program," said Forman. "It will be very expensive to implement because you need to have a centralized information repository. A big issue is job turnover. It is almost as if your business becomes development, building and storm water training because you have people coming and going routinely in these industries. You have to not only train and certify that people are storm water ready but you have to keep records to confirm that that is the case. When you think about all the steps that would need to be implemented, they become very burdensome."
For more information
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP
www.bhfs.com
Eliminate 'Fear of Parking'
The structure inside and out must give employees a sense of place and a certain amount of pride. Successful contact centers "fit" their locale and the personalities of their labor force. |
We've all heard of fear of flying and even fear of success but now you can add "fear of parking" to the list of things that frighten us. Writing in the publication Security Management, Randy I. Atlas, PhD, vice president, Atlas Safety and Security Design, Inc., Miami, Florida, said that to reduce fear a healthy dose of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) needs to be added to the design of parking structures.
When it comes to parking structures, one of the biggest problems results from the mind-set that garages are merely "stables for cars" and not places where human behavior takes place, noted Atlas. Many problems are exacerbated by short-sighted garage design such as numerous hiding places and poor visibility created by high walls, structural columns and multiple levels. Underground parking facilities often have no outside visibility.
In addition to designing in or adding such things as state-of-the-art surveillance systems and lighting, Atlas suggested incorporating the five principles of CRTED:
- Use natural surveillance. Sites should be designed so that users can see far and wide, which makes it harder for criminals to carry out their activities. He suggested using screening on the ground floor and have the upper floors open (use cable to stop cars from overshooting and toppling off the structure). Screens and open areas make it more likely that calls for help will be heard. Screens should not be floor-to-ceiling, however, which would enable criminals to use it to climb to higher levels and enter the structure.
- Create natural access control. Traffic engineers encourage multiple access points to ease traffic flow in garages but Atlas recommended having one point of ingress and egress for better control. Should the facility require more points, additional access points should have an attendant booth, access gate arms, roll-down shutters, CCTV and good lighting. Define the facility perimeter to control pedestrian entry. Atlas also recommended using fencing, level change, ground floor protection, and other architectural and environmental barriers to channel people through the access point.
- Encourage territorial behaviors by legitimate users. Atlas explained that the territoriality of legitimate facility users is increased by making the parking part of a mixed-use project and thus have legitimate users in and around the facility more hours of the day and night.
- Manage and maintain the facility well. Discourage graffiti, general disrepair and sloppy housekeeping. Walls can be coated with special anti-graffiti paint and incidents of graffiti should be quickly dealt with. Atlas said that action to prevent graffiti sends a strong message to vandals and other criminals that the property is "the territory of its rightful owners." Poorly maintained parking structures will make legitimate users feel afraid and cause them to stay away from the facility.
- Encourage legitimate activity and users. Add retail storefronts to the garage that draw legitimate users--photocopy stores, fast-food restaurants, and car washes to name just a few. Further, during the day, the parking garage can be reserved for businesses and then become a flat-fee lot at night for area nightclubs and restaurants.
For more information
Atlas Safety and Security Design
www.securitymanagement.com
By Ron Derven, contributing editor, Development magazine
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