Industry Overview - The call center industry can be divided into three segments: upstream equipment and system suppliers, midstream call center operators, and downstream demand sectors [1][3] - Upstream suppliers include telecom operators, cloud vendors, switch manufacturers, and database providers, while midstream consists of domestic and overseas call center operators [1][3] - Downstream demand industries include telecommunications, finance, e-commerce, government enterprises, and manufacturing, with an expected expansion in application sectors due to their growth [1] Regional Distribution - Call center enterprises are primarily located in regions such as Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, with diverse downstream applications across finance, government, telecommunications, retail, and tourism [6] - Beijing benefits from policy resources and financial headquarters, leading to significant demand for government and banking customer service [6] - The Yangtze River Delta, with Shanghai as an international hub, Jiangsu for hardware manufacturing, and Zhejiang for e-commerce, has a rich variety of call center services [6] - Guangdong, leveraging Shenzhen's tech development and Dongguan's manufacturing, has a large foreign trade service market, making it a key area for communication data generation [6] Cost Structure - The cost structure of call center companies is heavily centered on labor, with personnel costs accounting for up to 60%, while some companies manage to keep it around 50% [9] - Costs include salaries and training for staff, with external software and services covering cloud platform rentals, AI modules, and system maintenance [9] - Depreciation accounts for about 5% of costs, primarily from hardware equipment, while intelligent companies can reduce labor costs to 50% but see software procurement rise to over 40% [9] Company Performance - In 2024, call center-related listed companies generally experienced a decline in performance, with notable growth from companies like Haoshanghao Electronics, which saw a 25.24% increase to 7.23 billion yuan [12] - Companies such as Beijing North and Caixun Co. achieved stable growth rates of 9.29% and 10.41% respectively, driven by intelligent customer service technology [12] - CITIC Guoan maintained a good growth rate with revenue of 3.4 billion yuan in 2024, while traditional firms like Deep Konka and Aerospace Information faced revenue drops exceeding 30% [12] - Some companies, such as Kaiyuan and Yilianzhong, which rely heavily on government contracts, saw significant revenue declines [12] - The industry is undergoing a transformation towards outsourcing and intelligent solutions, with technology-driven companies showing stronger resilience to risks [12]