Canon New Zealand bucks the trend and opens local call centre

In a move which goes against the recent trend of sending call centre services to other parts of the world, Canon New Zealand and Australia have joined forces with kiwi-owned company, Datacom, to bring the Canon companies’ contact centres into Canon New Zealand’s headquarters on Auckland’s North Shore.

The contact centre is being officially opened today by Prime Minister John Key.

The Canon Oceania Contact Centre employs 92 staff and has created 80 new jobs for Auckland’s North Shore.

The centre now serves customers across four time zones; from Gisborne to Perth.

Kenji Kobayashi, Managing Director of Canon Australia and Chairman of Canon New Zealand, says combining contact centres under one roof in New Zealand makes sense for both Canon companies.

Canon’s New Zealand customers benefit from the increased scale and service capability a larger centre delivers. Canon Australia benefits from a lower cost model achieved through New Zealand’s lower rents, a more flexible work environment and exchange rate differences.

“Having an Australasia-serving contact centre in one place and under local management made good sense both economically and from a customer service perspective. It ensures Canon customers receive consistently excellent after-sales advice and technical support whenever they need it,” says Mr Kobayashi.

Mike Johnston, Country Manager for Canon New Zealand agrees that while contact centre management is not core Canon business, providing superior customer service is a priority and a point of difference for the
company. He says it made good business sense to engage Datacom to manage the contact centre in-house, rather than sending it offshore.

“We pride ourselves on the service Canon provides to customers. We recognise that the relationship does not end when a customer purchases a camera, printer or photocopier; it is just the beginning,” says Mr Johnston.

“New Zealand and Australia also have similar cultures and expectations and, with so many kiwis living in
Australia, hearing a New Zealand accent is not unusual for an Australian customer.”

Datacom was chosen as Canon’s contact centre partner because it has similar values and culture to Canon and considerable experience in creating and providing contact centre solutions that deliver high levels of end-user satisfaction to large corporate organisations and government bodies.

Greg Magness, Director at Datacom New Zealand, says the company is committed to retaining and developing its contact centre staff.

“Through the implementation process, Datacom worked closely with Canon to transition its existing customer service staff into the new structure. We have a very strong focus on staff development which in turn leads to higher retention rates and a consistent level of service for Canon’s customers.

Canon’s Australasian contact centre is the first touch point for all product enquiries from businesses,
professional print companies, Canon retailers, customers (both pre and post purchase); orders, returns and field service dispatch as well as managing the Australian inbound switchboard.