Unity4 says it is different from other call centres that have recently announced they are setting up in New Zealand, as all of their employees are remote workers, working from home. The technology they use is hosted in the cloud.
Co-founder Dan Turner said from Auckland Unity4 had operated in Australia for 10 years and employed around 500 people last year. It had recently established an office in the United Kingdom but had long wanted to move to New Zealand.
''This is a friendly business environment for us and it has economic advantages. Labour costs are 20% lower than in Australia.''
However, UK labour costs were cheaper again, having fallen considerably in recent times, he said.
''We like to say in the office `the empire strikes back','' Mr Turner said.
The employees were paid an hourly rate and in New Zealand, it was more than $19 an hour.
''From our experience in Australia and the UK, we know the people working for the outsourcer are far more productive than the industry standard because they are working from home, when it suits them. Our team has much lower staff turnover which in turn, reduces cost.''
Other advantages for New Zealand included having a time zone advantage for dealing with the West Coast of the United States, into which Unity4 wanted to next move.
Both the UK and New Zealand could be used to service that market, he said.
New Zealand was also a less regulated market than Australia, he said.
Unity4 used a reverse rostering system where employees indicated what hours they were prepared to work and when. Unity4 tried, where possible, to accommodate those requests.
The at-home workers logged on to their computers then connected to the company's hosted servers. That allowed the workers to see what other team members were doing, talk to their supervisors and fellow team members and also provide all the services other call-centre staff provided, Mr Turner said.
The New Zealanders already employed were working in teams with Australians and the Australians could understand the New Zealand accent, he said.
''Australians are happy to receive calls from New Zealand. It is no issue whatsoever.''
The company had developed its own platform, RapportCMS, which was used worldwide.
The nature of the job meant the company's workforce was older, in the mid to late 40s age group. Some staff were semi-retired, topping up their superannuation, and others had physical disabilities which made commuting to an office each day a difficult proposition.
Unity4 aimed to have 150 New Zealand employees. Flight Centre had signed as the first New Zealand client but an announcement was expected later this week on one or two more clients in this country, he said.
Globally, clients included Wales Air Ambulance, Energy Australia, The Red Cross, Aegon and News Ltd.
