Texas Business reports:  RICHARDSON—Vertex Business Services signed a five-year contract with Think Energy, the GDF SUEZ Energy Resources business established to serve small commercial electricity customers, to provide a fully hosted retail CIS solution, including call center management and back office operations.

“Think Energy was looking for a customer solutions partner with significant expertise to help us as we look to achieve substantial growth in the small customer segment in the competitive retail electricity markets in the United States,” said vice president and general manager for Think Energy, Deena Morgan. “We're pleased to have found a partner with the reputation, experience, and end-to-end capabilities necessary to meet our expanding needs. As we embark on our new relationship with Vertex, we look forward to working collaboratively with them as we drive toward the next level of retail success.”

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to partner with Think Energy,” said Dan Sullivan, managing director, North America for Vertex Business Services. “Our solution will lower the implementation costs of this new business and also offer the scalability required to meet their growth targets. Our expertise in improving the customer experience will enable Think Energy to effectively acquire customers and meet their growth objectives.”

Vertex employs 11,000 people on four continents across 70 locations, delivering solutions to a wide range of clients 24/7 and supporting over 50 million consumers. In North America, there are more than 1,700 dedicated professionals based in 19 Centers of Excellence serving more than 23 million consumers for more than 50 electric, gas and water clients. A recognized leader in customer management services, Vertex provides a wide range of transformational service solutions to deliver successful outcomes for clients in the areas of BPO and customer management outsourcing, IT applications and services, consulting and transformation, and decision sciences.  

Think Energy provides retail electric services to small commercial customers in Massachusetts and Maryland, with services beginning in New York, Texas, and Pennsylvania in March 2012.  

IPR-GDF SUEZ North America is part of International Power, which in North America manages a range of energy businesses in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, including electricity generation and cogeneration, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution and sales, asset-based trading and origination, and retail energy sales and related services to commercial and industrial customers.

International Power is listed on the London Stock Exchange with ticker symbol IPR. GDF SUEZ holds a 70% interest in International Power plc. For more information, please visit www.iprplc-gdfsuez.com and www.gdfsuez.com .