APAC Customer Services

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For other uses, see APAC (disambiguation).

APAC Customer Services, Inc. is a provider of customer interaction solutions to large corporations in the communications, financial services, insurance, healthcare, logistics, publishing, and hospitality industries. APAC’s services include customer care, customer acquisition, and web-enabled programs.

APAC was founded in 1973 by entrepreneur college student Ted Schwartz. The company began as a one-telephone media advertising and sales operation. In the following years, APAC was expanded through physical growth, cultivation of a wider business services market, and the acquisition of teleservices firm ITI Marketing Services of Omaha.

Headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, the company employed 10,200 people as of 2004. APAC also has offices or customer care facilities in: Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Wichita, Kansas; Corpus Christi, Texas; Green Bay, Wisconsin; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Tucson, Arizona; Utica, New York, and; Manila, Philippines (Muntinlupà City and a new site in Quezon City), among other locations.

Among the primary services offered by APAC are the receipt of calls from a client’s customer, with the appropriate routing or handling of the call by a customer service representative, and the initiation of calls for customer acquisition or support. At one time the primary focus of the organization was outbound telemarketing, but with regulation of the industry and consumers placing themselves on "Do Not Call" registries many companies, including APAC are finding it increasingly advantageous to leave the telemarketing industry, which it did in 2005 when it either shut down or sold virtually all of its outbound calling centers. As of February, 2006, APAC does not conduct telemarketing calls and has no plans to re-start telemarketing programs. After August 6, 2006, the company plans to tentively shut down all operations in the Wichita facility.

Founder Ted Schwartz continues to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Robert J. Keller is President and Chief Executive Officer.

APAC Customer Services is a publicly owned and traded corporation, registered on NASDAQ as APAC.

The company was previously named APAC Teleservices Inc.

APAC originally stands for Allstate Promotional Advertising Corporation, way back when it first came to being. Other meanings have recently surfaced, but none have been wholly verified.

APAC has also fallen under scrutiny for not providing enough hours for full time and part time employees which kicks them off of their insurance plans.