Taking risks pays off for working mother in Convergys Corporation
A working mother makes it good in the call center business. Thanks to her boldness to take risks.
Taking risks comes naturally to Andrea Ayers, a Louisiana native who made it good in the call center business. In fact, dwelling outside her comfort zone has become her norm with which she gradually scaled the corporate ladder to become a top executive at Convergys Corp.
“Taking a risk is scary for everyone, but it’s an important part of developing your career path,” says Ayers, 44, who was designated last April as president of Customer Management, Convergys’ line largest division, which accounts for two-thirds of the company’s revenues. At present, Ayers’ unit operates 84 calls centers worldwide.
“We learn when we’re outside of our comfort zone. Women particularly can struggle with that but you take on tough assignments. You take on things that need to be fixed. I embraced this in my career,” Ayers told The Salt Lake Tribune in a recent interview.
Convergys, based in Cincinnati, employs 75,000 workers in 84 calls centers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin and South America. Among Ayers’ more demanding clients in Mainland USA are nine of the America’s top 10 communications companies and health care providers.
“We’re getting more demanding in what we expect from the companies we do business with,” she noted. “I expect service 24/7. I expect access to up-to-date information on the company’s Web site 24/7. And I expect answers to my questions the first time I call.” Convergys’ Customer Management Division also answers calls for financial services, technology and pharmaceutical companies, as well as retailers and e-commerce organizations.
Those types of customer demands are nothing new to Ayers, who started her career at the near bottom of the corporate hierarchy as a working mother and worked her way into the executive ranks. Along the way, she picked up skills and acumen that equipped her for her present job.
Ayers started working in Utah. Having graduated from the Louisiana State University in Shreveport, she started her career at United Savings Bank in Ogden.
“One of my bank customers who worked at Convergys, then called Matrix Marketing, recruited me to work as a call center trainer,” she recalled. “I had no experience, but I loved the industry.” She joined the call center business in Ogden in 1990.
From Orem to Logan (excluding Cedar City), she worked at four of the five call centers in a period of a few years. Ayers’ remembers that working around the clock was particularly appealing to people needing night shifts, students and single parents like herself.
A single mother, Ayers explains she was able to juggle her household chores and her job responsibilities because she found a firm with flexible working hours and promotion policies that worked in her favor. She now lives in Cincinnati, near Convergys’ headquarters, with her 18-year-old son.
“I was careful about the types of roles I took, mapping those to [son] Kyle’s age and what he needed from me,” she said. “In his early teens, I took a role in the company that allowed me to stay home more because I knew it was a time that he needed more guidance and support from me.”
On the working place, Ayers said she conferred with executives and mentors regularly and was advised that in order to move ahead, she needed to familiarize herself with almost every aspect of the company.
Covering 10 promotions and four cross-country moves, Ayers worked in relationship technology management, financial services, marketing, human development and direct broadcast services. She also took part in development efforts for Convergys’ customer call outsourcing for government, health care, retail and finance markets.
Margaret McDermott, site director of the Ogden Center, who has worked with Ayers for 14 years, said the Louisiana native gets things done. “Her consistency is incredible. She can talk to the board, the CEO and front-line team members. She’s simply a joy to be around,” MacDermott said.
After all her successes in the path of corporate risk-taking and innovation in Convergys, Utah remains to be Ayers favorite places. “It has to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life. There’s also a strong work ethic and a high degree of integrity. It’s a terrific place to live and work.”
