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| AVIATION INDUSTRY WORK HARRY |
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Creaghan Harry has had a long and distinguished career in the Aviation Industry. It began when he took over the Software Development & Support Department of Amstat Corporation in 1991. The pre-internet version of the software was developed and fine tuned to include features like access to complete specs on corporate aircraft, including photographs, historical analysis of sales data, marketing trends & tools.
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Creaghan’s monthly newsletter became popular, which led to a monthly section in McGraw Hills “A/C Flyer” publication and several months in its sister publication, Business & Commercial Aviation. After several speaking engagements at various conferences, including the NATA and NBAA conventions, new signups nearly tripled and Amstat secured its position as the top provider of corporate aviation information.
Creaghan left Amstat and started Infomart Corp., offering a distinctly different database than he worked with before, targeting a different segment of the Aviation Industry. This database, the International Aviation Directory, provided Aviation Industry Professionals with information of every aircraft in over 130 countries worldwide. A quick search would pull up complete information on any kind of aircraft from single engine pistons to commercial aircraft. Mailing lists and calling lists were easily pulled for advertising pieces or telemarketing programs. Pilot license information could be looked up and verified for pilots worldwide. Also included was a complete database of every Aviation Industry company and contact. This kind and volume of data was not available anywhere else.
Other innovations from Informart Corp. was the release of the Photodisk in the early 1990’s. In the pre-CDROM environment, Creaghan created a 3.5 in diskette that would contain a complete multimedia brochure, including photos, music and narration. Penske Trucks and Gulfstream Aerospace became the first 2 customers, which opened up the stream of orders for this product.
Creaghan Harry has had a positive mark on the Aviation Industry and continues to create innovative products in other industries.
| CREAGHAN HARRY INITIATIVES IN CALL CENTER OUTSOURCING |
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After successfully starting and selling off a range of businesses in very diverse industries in the early 1990s, Aviation, ISP, Database, Creaghan Harry had a vision for another industry - call center outsourcing (with a Latin flair).
Call center outsourcing began in the U.S. in the 80s as a way for companies to reduce costs and to focus on their core business. For many small, medium and large businesses outsourcing a call center is an excellent way to generate sales, help current customers with tech support and customer support issues. While some companies have the money, time and resources to have their own call center, most small and mid sized companies opt for a streamline approach to call centers and choose to outsource their call center needs.
In the 90s many companies were challenged with further reducing their costs, beginning the exodus of call center programs to India and the Philippines. Unfortunately, the American public soon became annoyed and frustrated with the language and cultural differences, which opened the door to a new region – nearshore call center outsourcing.
Creaghan studied the nearshore landscape and settled on San Jose, Costa Rica. The city’s free-zone parks offered many incentives and a workforce of English speaking people eager for employment, not to mention it was less than 3 hours from Miami and on a similar U.S. time zone. Creaghan Harry’s model differed from most in the market, as his approach was to bring in a team of seasoned call center professionals to manage the operation.
With a great USA based sales team, they were able to attract several Fortune 1000 companies handling both inbound customer service programs and outbound telemarketing. "It was a great business plan," Creaghan said. “The customers were able to cut their costs, while maintaining the same level of service.”
As the business continued to grow, Creaghan worked with a consulting firm to study the region and determine if expanding within Costa Rica was the best approach or if another location was a better choice.
Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic was a perfect location for Phase 2. The government was eager to attract new businesses to the country and Creaghan’s newest center became the first English speaking call center outsourcing company in the Dominican Republic. Creaghan was also instrumental in founding the Dominican Republic Call Center Association (DRCCA). The DRCCA’s mission was to promote the delivery of best practice through a wide range of products and services encouraging participation from all organizations in the greater call center market.
“The Latin American call center industry offers U.S. companies close proximity and similar time zones, as well as a workforce with a similar business culture and strong English and Spanish speaking skills” said Creaghan.
In keeping with his technical and marketing roots, Creaghan has also been responsible over the years for several industry best practices that are still in use today.
Creaghan has continued on this path and today has added call centers in Panama, Nicaragua, and Columbia.
“The confines of the traditional sourcing markets such as the Philippines and India, which are feeling the pressure of maturing competition for skilled labor make this market the fastest growing in the call center industry and we are please and excited to be part of this fantastic opportunity.” said Creaghan.
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