End of the road for Ipsos Reid's Ottawa call centre

CANADA-- Ipsos Reid will close its call centre in Ottawa at the end of June.

Senior vice president John Wright told Research that increased demand from clients for online work led to the decision.

Wright said a “wider acceptance of online reliability” and the recession were driving customers away from telephone interviewing towards internet-based research.

Although 40 full and part-time roles will be lost in the closure, Wright said the firm will be looking to add new staff elsewhere as it expands its online offering. Three other call centres remain open.

Ipsos Reid's announcement follows yesterday's decision by Kantar Operations to close one of its call centres in the UK.

Other research agencies that have axed call centres this year include Western Wats, TNS, Opinion Research Corporation and Synovate .

Author: James Verrinder