Call Centre Expo 2008: Workforce and Rental Prices Make Germany Top Location

09/16/2008

Birmingham - Call centers have become a rapidly growing industry in Germany over recent years. The industry has experienced ten percent annual revenue growth over the last ten years. Call Centre Expo 2008 in Birmingham, England, is Europe’s leading call center trade fair and runs from September 16-17.  Invest in Germany, the country’s inward investment promotion agency, will be there to present Germany’s investment advantages.

The German-speaking market has 100 million customers and is Europe’s largest. Germany’s qualified and multilingual workforce, affordable real estate, and available incentives make it the natural choice for companies looking to enter the German market. One reason for this development is the high standard set by Germany’s workforce in the call center industry. It is productive and expanding its knowledge base to meet the needs of new investors.

The recent establishment of an educational training track “Dialogue Marketing and Sales” has raised the profile of the call-center profession and helped improve the caliber of employees entering the profession. Most Germans can also speak at least one other foreign language, often English, bolstering the country’s advantages as call center location.

Real estate prices are another factor impacting investors’ decisions. In relation to other major locations in eastern and western Europe, monthly rents in Germany are near the bottom of their cycles, meaning that now is a financially good time to enter the German market. Companies are also attracted by incentive packages that can sometimes cover 50 percent of investment costs in certain parts of the country. The states of North-Rhine Westphalia and Bavaria have the highest density of contact centers in the country, followed by Hessen, which, with the international financial center Frankfurt, has many centers as well. 

The strength of the workforce plus attractive real estate prices are just some of the reasons that companies such as Transcom, Telecom Italia, Ebay, and Techteam Global have made recent investments in Germany. “These companies and many others see Germany as the place not only to speak to 100 million German-language customers, but also to place customer service operations for the entire European continent,” notes Dr. Robert Hermann, head of the team Service Industries at Invest in Germany.