Vizio Inc. partnered with some industry leaders to educate its call center employees on the fine points of computer applications and customer support before it entered the PC market.
Microsoft Inc. in Redmond, Wash., and Santa Clara-based Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker, topped a list of companies who sent their experts to Vizio’s call center in North Sioux City, S.D., to help train workers there on the Windows 7 operating system and prepare them for potential customer questions and concerns. The Irvine-based company also hired some former call center employees of Gateway Computers Inc., which once was based in Irvine before being acquired by Taiwan-based Acer Inc. in 2007.
Vizio last month launched its line of desktop and laptop computers, which have been praised by industry watchers for their sleek design and ease of functionality.
“We feel like we have a good start on computing,” the call center’s senior director of operations, Scott Patten, told the Business Journal during a recent interview at the company’s headquarters.
More than 210 contract workers are based in Sioux City and another 175 at a call center in Utah, which nearly matches Vizio’s companywide employment of 396.
The call centers field a few hundred thousand calls, letters and emails per month from Vizio.com, social networking sites, chat rooms, blogs and other mediums, Patten said. The average response takes 30 to 50 seconds.
Strong customer support often separates the competition, particularly for companies entering new markets, according to Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research at Englewood, Colo.-based market tracker IHS Inc.
Vizio appears to be on good footing in that arena. The company received four awards in February for outstanding customer service at the sixth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
It is one of the few consumer electronics companies to have its entire customer support staff based in the U.S., which is somewhat contrary to its business model.
Vizio designs its products in Irvine and for years has relied on Taiwanese contract electronics maker and investor AmTran Technology Co. and others there for production.
Price-Fixing Payout
Toshiba Corp., LG Display and AU Optronics Corp. have agreed to pay $571 million as part of a settlement over price-fixing of liquid crystal display panels.
The sum will be awarded to at least 20 million consumers in 24 states, according to media reports.
Any consumer who files a claim will receive at least $25. The class action lawsuits, which date back to 2007, alleged the companies artificially hiked LCD prices between 1996 and 2006 during part of the boom years in the segment.
Previous settlements of $538 million were announced with several companies, including Sharp Corp. and its U.S. affiliates, Epson Imaging Devices Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co.
The settlements surpass $1 billion in total. That’s believed to be a record penalty for price-fixing.
Tokyo-based Toshiba, which sees about $77 billion in annual sales, houses a major cluster of North American subsidiaries in Irvine.
They include Toshiba America Business Services Inc., which provides document and work-flow services and sells printers; Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., the digital products, imaging and telecommunications-systems arm of Toshiba America; and Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc., the U.S. marketing and sales arm of the parent company.
Global LCD TV shipments are forecast to increase 5% in 2012 to 216 million units, according to DisplaySearch, a unit of NPD Group Inc. of Port Washington, N.Y.
In 2011 LCD shipments grew 7% from the previous year.
Guinness Record
Aliso Viejo-based Gaikai Inc. has added to its list of accomplishments in its four years of business.
The company earlier this month earned a nod from Guinness World Records for developing the “world’s most widespread cloud gaming network” for streaming online games to 88 counties between November 2008 and July 2012.
Gaikai Chief Executive David Perry posted a photo of the framed certificate on Twitter. A subsequent tweet inquiring if Perry plans to place the award on his mantle next to the $380 million check from Sony Corp. was unreturned. Sony Computer Entertainment, the gaming unit of Tokyo-based Sony Corp. and the maker of PlayStation, announced a deal to acquire the company in early July.
Sony plans to create a cloud-streaming service that allows users to play “a broad array of content” on a variety of Internet-connected devices, Sony Computer Entertainment President and Group Chief Executive Andrew House said at the time.
