THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN CONTACT CENTERS

OVERVIEW

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CASE STUDY #1

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CASE STUDY #2

THE SECRET IS OUT! CHOOSE UNICOR.
UNICOR

Services Business Group

OVERVIEW

A Winning Solution to Your Contact Center Outsourcing Needs
When leading contact center providers have sought
additional capacity to handle their fast-growing
businesses, or needed to provide customers with a
high-quality, cost-effective alternative to going offshore, they have chosen a unique source—UNICOR.
Such companies have found UNICOR, with its
leading-edge facilities and highly skilled agents,
to be a winning solution. Working with UNICOR
has helped contact center service providers maintain
and improve quality standards, and offer their
customers all of the benefits of onshore services at
offshore rates.

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“I am constantly impressed with your
level of professionalism and true sense
of ownership of our work. I can
unequivocally vouch for UNICOR’s
commitment to excellence.”
The president of a distribution company

UNICOR—Unique Government Corporation
UNICOR, also known as Federal Prison Industries,
was established by executive order in 1934 with
the goal of employing federal inmates in productive
work and training them in valuable job skills.
As a self-sustaining, self-funded government
corporation, UNICOR has supplied a wide range
of quality goods and services to federal agencies
for over 70 years. More recently, UNICOR has
been authorized to partner with private sector
firms currently sending work offshore or in lieu of
sending work offshore.

THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN

Behind every success is a winning strategy. UNICOR’s contact
centers have the skilled staff, sophisticated facilities and
record of success to help you improve your customer experience
and profitability.
Onshore Services at Offshore Rates
With more contact center work being outsourced
for cost savings, UNICOR provides outstanding
contact center support at a highly competitive
rate—along with all the benefits of operating
right here in the USA.
UNICOR operates a nationwide network of seven
technically advanced contact centers with over
1,700 experienced inmate agents and support
staff. Operating plans call for the launch of several
more centers and employment of additional
agents in the coming months.
Many inmate agents are college educated and all are
professionally managed by civilian staff members
with experience in the contact center industry.
Because of their education level and the excellent
skills they’ve gained at UNICOR, a number of
inmate agents have been hired as managers in the
contact center industry upon release.

“The center is a special facility, where
you see the agents arrive with a bounce
in their step and smiles on their faces.
They take great pride in what they are
doing, and it shows in the quality and
commitment given.”

High-Quality Service, Low Absenteeism
With an AHT of 35 seconds, an abandon rate of
under 2% and an ASA of under five seconds, the
performance of UNICOR agents easily compares
with those in the private sector. Many agents are
bilingual and can provide English and Spanishlanguage services.
Agent turnover is less than half of the industry
standard and absenteeism is low. Consequently,
UNICOR agents are highly dependable, experienced and professional, delivering a positive,
consistent message.

“Absenteeism is the bane of the contact
center world. UNICOR has effectively
eliminated this issue from the equation.
The agent pool is more mature, better
educated, and harder working than
what one would find in the U.S.
domestic market.”
The CEO of a lead-generation company

The president of a directory assistance company

CONTACT CENTERS

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Our strategy is to deliver high-quality, cost-effective
onshore contact center services specifically designed for
you and your customers’ needs.
Superior Training
Each UNICOR contact center has ongoing training,
pre-screening and qualification of agents to
ensure a consistently high level of customer
experience. Agents are cross-trained to work on
multiple operating systems and serve a number
of different customers.
Because UNICOR contact centers are located
coast to coast, they can “follow the sun,” operating
over a wide range of hours to provide outbound
B2B or inbound support. One of our facilities is
open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I’ve conducted hundreds of contact
center training classes over the years,
and this was the first time the agents
actually took the materials home, read
them, and came back the next day
with questions!”
A training consultant says about her experience at UNICOR

Voice-based Inbound
and Outbound Services
UNICOR’s contact centers focus on voice-based
services, including in-bound directory assistance,
outbound B2B, help desk, and order capture
and entry.
UNICOR provides the facilities, computers, headsets
and skilled agents, while customers provide
software, telephony and training. Each facility has a
special training area, allowing a seamless transition
to full operations for new programs and customers. In
addition, UNICOR has an in-house IT team to
provide technical support to contact center operations.
High-Level Security
UNICOR takes additional steps to ensure that
inmate agents will safely meet the security needs
of contact center clients. Inmate agents are not
permitted to make calls to private citizens in their
homes. UNICOR carefully reviews potential
inbound consumer call work to assure that inmates
will not have access to personal information.
We do not accept work if there is any question
about meeting all parties’ security concerns.
Whether you need outbound B2B or inbound
contact center support, UNICOR is your ideal
partner. We have the experience, quality control,
cost-effective and professional labor pool, and
advanced facilities nationwide to offer a highly
competitive alternative to offshore outsourcing.

“UNICOR provides an environment
of ultimate security. My customers
appreciate the fact that their data is
safer with UNICOR than at their
own locations.”
The president of a B2B telemarketing firm

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THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN

UNICOR Contact Centers—
Your Alternative
Outsourcing Partner

Improve Your Customer Experience
and Profitability
Outsourcing offshore presents many challenges—
language barriers, exchange rates, time differences
and transoceanic flights just to visit the contact
center. When you outsource with UNICOR, your
contact centers are located in the United States, so
those issues disappear. Your company will enjoy
all of the benefits of a domestic operation with the
cost savings of going offshore. You also provide
valuable job skills to federal inmates and repatriate
jobs from overseas.
Partnering with UNICOR is truly a winning solution
for all involved. Contact us today to find out how
UNICOR can become your alternative contact
center outsourcing solution.

CONTACT CENTERS

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Trusted by leading companies to
provide customized contact center
outsourcing solutions

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Quality assurance and business
processes to help clients deliver
consistent, superior customer experience

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All the cost benefits of offshore
outsourcing right here in the USA

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Nationwide state-of-the-art facilities
with training areas for seamless
transition of service

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Highly professional agents with
low absenteeism and low turnover

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In-house IT technical support staff

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High security for customer databases,
information, and inmate access

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Expandable capacity

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CASE STUDY #1

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE
UNICOR Assists Large Directory Assistance Provider
Handle Rapid Business Expansion
CHALLENGE: A fast-growing directory assistance (DA) provider was looking for a way to handle its customers’

411 calls more cost-effectively without the hassles and uncertainty going offshore.
UNICOR contact centers were already providing the directory assistance company with overflow
411 call services. The inmate agents’ work was of high quality and had the convenience of
U.S.-based services at prices competitive with overseas rates.
However, there were two major questions on the CEO’s mind. First, what would his customers
think about having their 411 calls handled by prison inmates? Second, could a government
agency like UNICOR respond quickly to his company’s rapidly growing business needs?
OBJECTIVE: The CEO began to bring customers to UNICOR contact centers for a tour, telling them that he

could reduce the cost of their 411 services if the calls were handled through UNICOR. “I asked
our customers to get past the preconceived notions about having inmate agents answer calls, and
instead, to look at the outstanding quality of their work. We would receive services from an
onshore agent—a U.S. citizen—but at offshore prices. It’s a win-win for everyone involved,”
the CEO said.
SOLUTION: One customer after another was convinced. Within only 18 months, the directory assistance

company had expanded its relationship with UNICOR from 40 agents at one contact center to
over 1,500 agents at five centers, providing assistance in both English and Spanish. The rapid
response to the DA company’s fast-growing business demonstrated UNICOR’s flexibility in
meeting changing needs.
“We set high expectations and UNICOR met them. They moved just like a commercial company,”
the CEO of the directory assistance company commented. “The people on the ground at each
facility are terrific and the inmates have a strong desire to perform and succeed,” he said.
The directory assistance company’s CEO remarked, “I would tell companies in this industry that
they should give UNICOR a look. UNICOR is a partner that knows how to do this well and has
its own profit and loss responsibilities, with state-of-the art facilities and excellent agents and
support staff.”
In fact, the CEO found inmate agents so “trustworthy, dedicated and hardworking” that six former
inmate agents have been hired to work as managers in the directory assistance company’s own
facilities. In addition, the company is prepared to hire inmate agents at any time, upon their
release, to work at one of the company’s centers.
Through its partnership with UNICOR, the directory assistance company was able to rapidly
expand its business and provide customers high-quality 411 services at rates that support their
bottom lines.

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THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN

CASE STUDY #2

INBOUND HELP DESK
UNICOR Helps Inbound Customer Care Provider
Retain One Of Its Biggest Customers
CHALLENGE: Contact center outsourcing to overseas contractors has been an ongoing trend for several years,

primarily driven by anticipated cost savings.
In line with this trend, a large company that provides inbound customer care was about to lose
its best customer to “offshore” in an effort to reduce costs.
OBJECTIVE: To retain this large customer, the company sought a way to provide quality onshore services, only

at offshore prices. In its search, the company turned to UNICOR, which operates a nationwide
network of seven leading-edge contact centers with over 1,500 experienced inmate agents and
support staff.
Because the company had worked with UNICOR in the past, it was aware that the inmate
agents offered high-quality service easily comparable to that available from the private sector,
but at a more cost-effective rate.
SOLUTION: Although anxious to consider alternatives to off shoring, the customer initially balked at the

suggestion of having inbound help desk services handled by prison inmates. However, after touring the location where its work would be handled, the customer was very impressed and agreed
to give UNICOR a try.
Since then, over 100 inmate agents have been providing inbound help desk support. The
agents have earned high satisfaction levels for their knowledge, call-handling skills and polite,
professional attitude—key attributes for handling billing questions.
“UNICOR contact center services allowed us to keep an important customer by providing
high quality service at pricing that improves the customer’s bottom line,” the company’s Vice
President said.
She added that “the contact center where our customer’s work is being handled is state of the art,
and the agent pool is mature, well educated and harder working than one would find most
anywhere else.”
Security safeguards for the customer’s information were “impressive,” she said: “UNICOR’s
professional staff has thought of everything to ensure that our customer’s data is fully protected.”
In addition, because staff turnover and absenteeism is low, UNICOR agents have been highly
dependable, experienced and able to deliver a consistent, positive customer experience.
Thanks to UNICOR, the company retained its best customer, and the customer benefited from
the quality and convenience of onshore contact center services—at offshore costs.

CONTACT CENTERS

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THE SECRET IS OUT! CHOOSE UNICOR

320 First Street N.W., Building 400, Washington, D.C. 20534
The Services Business Group
www.unicor.gov/services
(202) 514-3030
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