If English is your first language, you might be annoyed that almost every automated system you call or that calls you includes one or more language options in the Main Menu. However, if you own or manage a contact center that doesn’t offer at least one language option—most frequently Spanish in the U.S.—this should serve as a call-to-action to join this fast-growing contact center trend. Businesses have a unique opportunity to expand their market reach by incorporating a Spanish call center into their customer service strategies.

We live in a diverse world and an increasingly diverse country. You’ll be selling your business short to not provide customer contact options for people who speak other languages than English, especially Spanish. Spanish-speaking customer service representatives also are essential for the success of your business in today’s diverse and rapidly expanding global economy.

Growth of the Spanish-Speaking Market
According to the 2012 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by 38.3 million people aged five or older, a figure that has grown by about one million since 2011 and is more than double that of 1990. By 2060, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts the Hispanic population within the country will increase to 128.8 million. Such a rapid increase in the population of bilingual individuals means many companies may quickly have to incorporate Spanish language services into their business models to ensure long-term growth.

Spanish is, by far, the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. The next most spoken non-English languages are Chinese (with 2.8 million speakers), Hindi, Urdu or other Indic languages (2.2 million), French or French Creole (2.1 million), and Tagalog (1.7 million). Because the global business landscape is changing so rapidly, you must provide services and support and cater to more than just English-speaking callers. Presently, about 350 million people speak Spanish as their native tongue in 21 countries on four continents.

U.S. Hispanic purchasing power was $1.2 trillion in 2012 and is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2015, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth. In today’s global business environment, call centers need to offer some level of multilingual support to remain competitive.

Multilingual Call Center Services
The area served by your contact center will determine the language options you offer. For example, ScanSoft, based in Canada, offers French as their alternative. In today’s global business environment, call centers need to offer some level of multilingual support to remain competitive. There are a number of ways calls centers can offer foreign language interpretation and translation support, such as digital translation, hiring bilingual employees, partnering with a language services provider, or outsourcing foreign language calls to a multilingual call center.

A few multilingual call center examples, not necessarily recommendations:

  • Conectys, delivers a wide range of inbound and outbound contact center services. They provide adaptive IP based voice and contact technology and process expertise tailored to various industries. They offer multiple contact channels, including phone, email, web tickets, live chat, fax, etc. More than 35 languages can be serviced from their centers in Romania, Belgium, and Philippines, including but not limited to English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Slovakian, Czech, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, Arabic, Romanian, Dutch, Flemish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Chinese, Japanese, etc.
  • Next Gen supports one of the largest global hotel chains in their Sofia, Bulgaria center, as well as other fortune 1000 companies. They offer all levels of technical support, customer care, billing, retention and acquisition. They have centers all across the USA, Latin America, Europe, China, and in the Philippines. They are headquartered in south Florida.
  • AnswerNet’s multilingual call centers have bilingual Spanish-English and French-English call center agents, providing bilingual answering services, customer support, market research services, telemarketing and telesales programs 24/7. Calls can be handled directly by an agent who speaks Spanish or French fluently. Or their interpreter services can join the call, providing seamless communication among all three parties. They say that key benefits of multi-lingual services include expanding your customer base, increasing sales capabilities and providing support to non-English-speaking callers.

Several countries have specialized as global sub-contractors ­ India, and to a lesser extent, Ireland and Canada. One survey shows the proportion of call centers serving international customers is 73 percent in India, 37 percent in Ireland, and 35 percent in Canada. Canada is seldom thought of as a major provider of subcontracting services, but its proximity to the US, shared language and time zones, similar culture, government provided healthcare, and low exchange rate to the US dollar has made it an increasingly more frequent consideration.

The Future of Bilingualism
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, up to 20 percent of call center companies’ staffs are bilingual. Salaries vary depending on additional skills required, but some call centers pay bilingual workers 50 cents to a dollar more per hour. The rise of bilingualism represents a cultural shift for many Americans. We are not known as a multilingual country.

Both English and Spanish may one day be less relevant in the global marketplace. According to the Information Please database, 329 million people now speak Spanish as a first language, and 328 million speak English. However, more than 1.2 billion people speak Mandarin Chinese.