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Friday, Jul. 17, 1998
Billing Concepts cites Spanish speakers as draw
Bushell praises new firm for `upper-end wages,' `good benefits'
By JEFFREY TOMICH
Staff WriterThe availability of skilled, Spanish-speaking labor is what led Billing Concepts Corp. to choose Corpus Christi over 10 other cities for its new customer service center, the company's chief executive said Thursday.
``The San Antonio labor market has grown fairly tight,'' said Parris H. ``Butch'' Holmes, who heads the San Antonio-based company. ``We looked for an additional employee base and Corpus Christi offered exactly what we needed.''
Holmes and other company executives joined local elected officials and representatives of the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance at a news conference at Frost Bank Office Plaza to announce the company's arrival.
Two-year-old Billing Concepts Corp. will open a 400-employee customer service center in downtown Corpus Christi later this month.
The company has signed a lease for a minimum of five years for 29,000 square feet on the seventh and eighth floors of the Frost Bank office building at 802 N. Carancahua St.
Gary Bushell, president and chief executive officer of the alliance, said attracting a growing company recognized as a leader in its industry is a coup for the city.
``They're one of the fastest-growing companies in America,'' he said. ``This is a company that's a premiere company in its field.''
Bushell said Billing Concepts' arrival continues a trend in Corpus Christi, which has seen many new firms that provide business services on a regional and national level.
``They're not living off the local economy; they're bringing new dollars in,'' he said. ``They offer upper-end wages for this type of work, and good benefits.''
Billing Concepts will begin operations in late August with 60 employees who already have been hired. It plans to add as many as 200 more employees within 60 days and be up to 400 by the end of the year, Holmes said.
Entry-level hourly wages will start at $7 during training, $7.25 during orientation and $7.50 for trained staff members. The company offers an extra 75 cents per hour to trained bilingual employees.
Billing Concepts will offer a four-week in-house training program and a benefits program that Holmes believes is the industry's best. ``Our benefits program for our customer service people is the same we offer our corporate people in San Antonio,'' he said.
Most employees will be hired locally, though the company will transfer as many as 20 supervisors from San Antonio to help train workers here. ``What we're trying to do is bring our work ethic, our work culture and style to Corpus Christi,'' Holmes said.
Billing Concepts quietly held two job fairs in Corpus Christi before choosing the city for its first office outside San Antonio. The second and larger of the two job fairs drew 250 people.
The company became a stand-alone company in August 1996 when it spun off from U.S. Long Distance Corp., a company Holmes founded in 1985. The billing business had operated as a subsidiary of USLD since 1988.
Billing Concepts is one of the nation's largest third-party billing services providers for the telecommunications industry.
The company's core business is providing services to more than 65 percent of the nation's 700-plus long distance companies, billing about 90 million long distance phone calls per month.
The Corpus Christi office will provide customer support for those services, Holmes said.
Billing Concepts also provides full back-office support for small and medium-sized long distance companies, such as data processing, accounting services and tax filings.
The company was ranked 30th in BusinessWeek's 1997 list of 100 Hot Growth Companies. More recently, it was ranked No. 13 by Equities Magazine among the 10,000 most profitable public companies.
Billing Concepts reported second-quarter net income of $7.4 million, 42 percent higher than $5.2 million for the same period in 1997. Operating revenue for the second quarter grew to $41 million from $27.4 million in 1997.
Holmes said the company's financial might is evidenced by its balance sheet, which shows $75 million in cash and only $2 million in debt.
He said Billing Concepts is looking to grow further. In June, the company announced a five-year agreement with LCI International Telecom Corp., which was recently acquired by Quest Telecommunications - making the combined company among the nation's top five long distance providers.
Billing Concepts' stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market exchange under the symbol ``BILL.''
Staff writer Jeffrey Tomich can be reached at 886-4316 or by e-mail at tomichj@scripps.comPost your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web