Virtual call center will allow people to work from home

By: Cindy Hodgson, Herald Times Reporter

TWO RIVERS — Single mothers and veterans are among the types of people Charles Hagen hopes to attract as employees for his new business venture, Contact Central.

Hagen, owner of Hagen Information Technologies Inc., also plans to recruit at colleges, but he expects most of the agents he hires for his virtual call center to already be working for a "bricks and mortar" contact center, he told the Two Rivers Business & Industrial Development Committee recently.

Hagen, an industrial engineer, started Hagen IT in 2003 in Watertown. The business now is based in Two Rivers at 2314 Adams St., Suite 1. Hagen's wife, Clarice, formerly Clarice Sturm, is a Two Rivers native.

Hagen IT "provides data, voice and surveillance products and services," such as phone systems, nurse call systems, networking solutions and project management "to business customers, with a special focus on the assisted living and hospitality markets," according to informational materials.

Now Hagen is looking to establish a virtual contact center as a division of Hagen IT. Contact Central will provide the same functions as other call centers, but as a virtual call center it will be "significantly different and significantly less expensive," he told members of the BIDC.

Employees will work from home and will be connected via telephone and Internet.

"The big plus is we don't need a giant building," he said.

The business will offer after-hours answering services; sales prospect development, such as lead generation and database development; customer-relations management, such as taking orders and handling complaints; and technical support services.

To save money, businesses often turn to off-shoring — using companies overseas — for such services, according to Hagen.

However, clients complain of poor service and communication difficulties when dealing with overseas companies, he said.

Because of low overhead, virtual contact centers are able to compete with off-shoring, he said.

"How good would that be in the middle of a recession to bring jobs home from overseas?" he asked.

Based on market studies, he plans to start with 25 agents. His intent is to have 125 eventually, but he has no timeline for that growth.

Two salespeople are on board, and it's their job to find clients for Contact Central. One of them is Christine Cracraft of Mishicot, a single parent with two children, one of whom has autism. Her daughter is too old for day care, too young for community services available for people with disabilities, and she can't be left alone.

Other than working at her daughter's school, "there are no other options" than working from home, she said.
Cracraft said Monday it was her first day on the job and "so far, so good."

Hagen said he is considering obtaining a loan of $5,000 to $10,000 to help Contact Central get off the ground, but he isn't sure whether he would seek the loan through the city's revolving loan fund or another source. He said Hagen IT is "a debt-free company."

Contact Central will have two Web sites, one for customers and agents and one for future customers. The site for future customers is www.contactcentralusa.com, and the address for existing customers and agents, which isn't ready yet, will be www.contactcentralusa.net.

Prospective clients and agents also may contact Hagen at (920) 769-6901.

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