New Call Center to Enhance American Euro copter’s Commitment to Customer Service Excellence

Anaheim, Heli-Expo 2009 - American Eurocopter will introduce a new state-of-the-art call service center at the company’s Grand Prairie, Texas, headquarters, providing the centerpiece for its long-term commitment to enhanced customer services.

The call center’s fast-paced construction schedule will lead to its completion and introduction in the second quarter of this year. This facility is to be staffed by supply and service specialists who will be hired based on their helicopter industry experience and aviation skills, joining American Eurocopter’s already strong and experienced team.

The call center is one element in American Eurocopter’s improved customer services offer, which includes an organizational change combining its marketing, sales and customer support into a single streamlined operation. This will allow the new organization to support products from sales and delivery through their full service life.

“Customer support excellence requires relentless attention and investment,” said American Eurocopter President & CEO Marc Paganini. “As the premier helicopter supplier in the U.S. market, we are positioning ourselves to be number one in support for the future as well.” The call center’s construction follows American Eurocopter’s launch of its Customer Service, Support and Satisfaction (CS3) initiative last November, which includes increasing staffing levels, strengthening its logistics infrastructure, and upgrading the tools required for rapid and positive customer response.

“American Eurocopter is fully focused on enhancing its overall customer service, and the new call center will be on the front lines in managing our operators’ most important requirements – both technical and non-technical,” said Larry Roberts, American Eurocopter’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Support.

About American Eurocopter

American Eurocopter is the U.S. subsidiary of Eurocopter, the largest helicopter manufacturer in the world, and EADS North America Holdings, the North American operations of EADS, the second largest aerospace and defense company in the world. American Eurocopter is a helicopter manufacturer and the company markets, sells and supports the broadest range of civil and para-public helicopters offered by any manufacturer. The product line represents the most cost-effective, technologically-advanced helicopters, ranging from light single to heavy twin, serving all markets and missions. American Eurocopter's headquarters and main facility are in Grand Prairie, TX, with a large manufacturing and production facility in Columbus, MS and its West Coast Regional Support Facility in Long Beach, CA.

Views on the growth in Australian Call Canters.

Before September 1996 the Australian Call Centre industry was small and dominated by a selected few industries- telecommunications, credit cards, airlines and car-hire & taxi companies. As part of trade liberalisations the Howard Government removed import restrictions on Telecommunication Equipment. This rule had been established to protect local producers of such equipment, and required that any imports must have a 40% local content. According to sources in Canberra this rule had been implemented in the 60's to protect Telecom Australia and its preferred suppliers ( NEC, Ericsson, Nortel to name a few) and to create and protect Australian jobs. Australia then had maybe 800 call centres with possibly 10,000 employees. The technology was really Stone Age dominated by one major vendor Telstra. I have succeeded in locating two call centres with imported ACDs at that time, Qantas Reservation and Silvertop Taxi's in Melbourne.

The trade liberalisation resulted in the arrival of major independent vendors Lucent Technology, Genesys, Aspect, IBM & HP all interested in developing the dormant Call Centre Market. By mid 1997 the large US Outsource Call Centre companies began buying up existing Telemarketing & Call Centre service agencies and today we have Sitel, Excel, Omnicom & The Index Group. Add to that list of 100's of smaller software and CTI vendors who arrived less noticed. Since 1996 the number of Call Centres have exploded from an estimated 800 to 5-6000 sites and employment has grown from probably 10,000 to closer to 100,000.

All because Senator Alston succeeded in removing a trade barrier? We're some, who are happy, then Minister for Industry John Moore didn't railroad that proposal (as he did with the import tariffs on cars)

At the same time politically on all levels of Government a sustained push to provide better service levels at lower cost dominated the agenda with some remarkable results. The Agency ( now known as Centreline), the ATO Customer Service Centres, The Brisbane City Council Call Centre are some of noteworthy initiatives. State sponsored Call Centre Development Offices was set up to attract call centres. Best known are the efforts of the SA & Tasmanian Local Government. Local councils got in on the act- Bendigo, Wollongong, Gold Coast & Hunter Valley were noticeable.