Stream International, the winner in the category of best-performing call centers, in a way provides an answer to one of the most frequently asked questions in the business today: Do pure-play contact-center service providers have a future at all? As a $350 million plus — and growing — company focused solely on customer-interaction services, Stream definitely answers the question in the affirmative. Its strategies define the essential qualities of a successful contact-center company of the future — an almost laser-like focus, right but responsible use of technology, and a truly global operation, in that order.

For a typical mid-market company like Stream, emerging as the top call-center company is not just a relative achievement, as compared to rivals. It is an absolute achievement that marks the beginning of a new phase in its growth. The ghosts of its recent past that saw an unsuccessful merger with Solectron, no longer haunt the company.

Stream is a tech-support company. Seventy five percent of its revenue comes from technical support and the remaining 25% from what CEO Toni Portmann calls “customer service that requires some level of technical expertise.” That kind of focus makes the company not wary of a potential commoditization, as call-center services are often feared to become. While typical customer-service companies talk of lower Average Handle Time (AHT), Stream has seen its AHT going from 6-7 minutes just a few years back to the range of 18-22 minutes today, as the level of complexity has risen. In case you are wondering whether it is putting all its eggs into one basket, make no mistake. Industry-wise, Stream’s clients are not just in technology. The company plays in telecom, manufacturing and other industries where tech-support is required.

Stream also has gone out of North America and has a thriving business in Europe. Its global-delivery network includes major workforce in these regions as well in Latin America and India. Its offshore strategy is characterized by a strong focus on local management, and using not just the cost and time zone advantages, but also the strategic value of each location. For example, in India, its fastest growing offshore location, it recruits its technical support executives from retail and direct-marketing companies with a good customer-service acumen, and no formal training in technology.

Toni Portmann, CEO, Stream International

The performance of Stream is surely promising, but the company also faces tough challenges ahead. Many offshore companies are fast building onshore-delivery capability giving the customers a choice. Traditional leaders like Convergys are aggressively diversifying, and providing customers what they call an end-to-end solution.

Stream has decided to swim against the current for the time being. Also, the company’s belief that entry into new verticals will largely be through inorganic routes implies that a lot of management time will be focused on M&A, instead of operations — at a time of large-scale offshoring — as characterized by companies like Convergys.

For the time being, however, Stream seems to be doing things right.