About Us
Our History
Direction & Search was founded in 1988 as Direction Personnel, a staffing organization that specialized in the IT, advertising, direct marketing, and contact center industries. In 1996 a partnership purchased Direction & Personnel from its founders and rebranded the firm Direction Management Group and expanded the services provided to include consulting services to navigate the potential challenges associated with Y2K.
The newly formed consulting group was an early advocate for developing a remote workforce for contact center and IT functions. At the time it was unknown what staffing levels would be needed post Y2K; limiting reliance on real estate to expand operations and eliminating exposure to real estate costs when demand for dropped proved to be a strategic advantage for our clients.
In 2004 the partnership group decided to sever the staffing business from the consulting and executive search businesses. The consulting and and executive search businesses were rebranded Direction & Search under the current ownership and management team. Market trends along with the growing acceptance of remote work and advancements in technology lead the current management team to the conclusion that the demand for on site staffing for lower level onsite labor would continue to decline.
The current management team at Direction & Search has successfully guided several Fortune 500 brands through the transition of requiring a brick and mortar facility for employees to handle customer inquiries to a remote workforce able to manage these tasks from their homes. Direction & Search has provided recruitment services for executives to manage the remote workforce in some instances on behalf of our clients.
Direction & Search recognized in the mid 2010’s that headwinds in the labor market would eventually render traditional contact center business models unsustainable. In addition to headwinds in the labor force, consumer preferences have been shifting towards digital self service and conversational AI platforms to engage with brands and resolve issues. Labor restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic transformed consumers preferring self service options to expecting brands to have them available.
Brands that understand how their customers expect to be able to engage with them, and provide them the means to do so will have a strategic advantage over those who do not. The current management team is focused on ensuring our clients are meeting their customers expectations to drive loyalty and customer satisfaction in regards to their customer experience practices while developing cost advantages over their competitors.
