Tim Searcy Answers the Call at the 2009 American Teleservices Association's Convention

American Teleservices Association (ATA), a trade association devoted to the call center industry, is dedicated to informing, uniting and advancing the industry. Their annual convention gathers the core call center community. ATA CEO Tim Searcy wanted to bring an edge to the conference agenda this year. With nine of the 24 sessions focusing on social media, this year’s theme "Answering the Call" focused on the customer, the community and the business. Searcy and his team strategically chose New Orleans to house their event this year to contribute to the economic development of the city. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana kicked off the conference and thanked the ATA for "answering the call" of the New Orleans community.

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The ATA convention focused on not only the business side of the call center but the call center customers and extended community. The contribution this year included a trip to the New Orleans Mid-City Community Garden, where ATA members got their hands dirty to harvest produce for the community. The "call" also extended to the call center employees. The ATA is focused on call center employee wellness, which is directly correlated to customer satisfaction and customer engagement.

Searcy is interested in the cutting edge of call center technology and knows that the company or industry dies when the internal rate of change is slower than external rate of change. Listen to this exclusive podcast interview with Customer Management IQ’s Blake Landau to find out Tim Searcy’s plans for the ATA and how the call was "answered" at this year’s convention.