Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Announces Outsourcing Call Center to PRC
TULSA, Okla., and PLANTATION, Fla., Feb. 7, 2007 -- Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. and PRC today announced the signing of a five-year call center outsourcing agreement. Under the agreement, which commences in April 2007, PRC will provide DTG with a spectrum of call center support functions, including Reservations service-related calls assisting customers needing to re-confirm, change, or cancel existing reservations. PRC will also be handling calls for various other customer support services for DTG. These functions will be handled by several of PRC's contact centers worldwide, including a contact center in Durant, Oklahoma. DTG will continue to operate its customer contact center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where it will direct all Reservations sales calls for destinations in the U.S. and Canada. DTG expects to add positions in Tahlequah to handle the additional call volume that will be transferred there. DTG's post rental customer service call-handling and support functions will continue to reside in Tulsa.
Heading DTG's Customer Contact Center organization and relationship with PRC will be Bob DuPont, DTG Vice President -- Customer Contact Center Services, a skilled executive with over 23 years of call center experience, including 15 years with DTG.
DuPont said, "While we expect to reduce overall call center related costs by approximately $20M over the term of this agreement, we didn't make this decision simply to reduce costs. Tulsa's low unemployment rate and strong competition from other call centers was a growing concern as well. PRC has an enormous pool of skilled labor to draw from -- both domestically and off shore -- that will enable us to be cost effective in a global environment while at the same time leveraging PRC's best practices in the delivery of customer management services on behalf of other Fortune 1000 companies."
"PRC is honored to welcome Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group into our portfolio of respected travel clients," said Joseph Livingston, PRC's President & Chief Operating Officer. "We are confident in our ability to deliver the results that will ensure a superior customer experience for each of their valuable customers."
About DTG
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 Company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Driven by the mission "Value Every Time," the Company's brands, Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental, serve value- conscious travelers in approximately 70 countries. Dollar and Thrifty have approximately 1,600 corporate and franchised worldwide locations including over 800 in the United States and Canada. The Dollar or Thrifty brands operate in virtually all of the top U.S. airport markets; both brands operate in all of the top Canadian airport markets. The Company's more than 8,500 employees are located mainly in North America, but global service capabilities exist through an expanding international franchise network. For additional information, visit http://www.dtag.com/ .
Some of the statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. believes such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and certain factors could cause results to differ materially from current expectations. These factors include: price and product competition; access to reservation distribution channels; economic and competitive conditions in markets and countries where the companies' customers reside and where the companies and their franchisees operate; natural hazards or catastrophes; incidents of terrorism; airline travel patterns; changes in capital availability or cost; costs and other terms related to the acquisition and disposition of automobiles; systems or communications failures; costs of conducting business and changes in structure or operations; and certain regulatory and environmental matters and litigation risks.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties, among others, materialize, actual results could vary from those estimated, anticipated or projected. Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time.
About PRC
PRC manages customer relationships for some of the world's most brand focused corporations. With nearly 25 years of experience, PRC delivers solutions that support communications to target, acquire, grow, retain and develop customer relationships that deliver a positive return on their clients' investment. The Company is organized into two groups: Business-to- Consumer solutions team focused directly on consumers and the Business-to- Business solutions team focused directly on enhancing sales and marketing efforts. Headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the Company employs over 14,000 associates worldwide through its global network of centers. For more information, visit http://www.prcnet.com/ .
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