Winner
Information Technology Services
In the late 1980s, Mark J. Williams was in his early 20s and responsible for the
call center operations of a national chain’s contact center. A few years later, in 1991, he leveraged his experiences in this area to start his own consulting company, Professional Services Inc.
PSI was quickly successful and had several high-profile clients, such as Bally’s and Continental Airlines. But during all of his contact center experiences, the most significant problem he faced was hold time, which is costly, strains customer relationships and has a negative impact on employee morale.
So, in 1995, Williams sold PSI and founded Virtual Hold Technology LLC to develop a solution to this hold-time problem. Because there wasn’t a ready-made solution, he set out to develop one on his own from scratch. After a few years of dedication and perseverance, he found the solution — virtual queuing. This technology allows callers to receive a call back from the contact center when it is their turn, without losing their place in line.
After creating this technology, Williams — who serves as the company’s president — was able to secure one forward-thinking company to implement this solution. Soon after, that company realized that the technology was helping it achieve lower costs, higher customer contact rates, more satisfied customers and increased employee morale and decided to expand the technology to all of its call centers. This attracted more customers to VHT, and they quickly discovered that, typically, within about six months, they were seeing a return on their investment.
Today, the company’s client list includes IBM, Bank of America, T-Mobile, Aflac, AT&T, Verizon, Banco Popular, Time Warner Cable, Avon, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Williams’ development strategy is to create and foster strategic relationships with major technology providers so that VHT can become further integrated into the contact center industry.
The company’s focus on customers and its ability to leverage its clients’ experiences have allowed it to grow steadily and substantially over the years, and in the past three years, VHT’s revenue has tripled, and it expects to see more growth in the future.
How to reach: Virtual Hold Technology LLC, (800) 854-1815 or www.virtualhold.com
