Circles has made significant investments in fortifying our applications and infrastructure to achieve a highly customized, available, scalable and secure operating platform. Our leading-edge technology is typically seen in companies two to three times our size.

Knowledge management

Since 1997 Circles has amassed an astounding array of knowledge, information, resources, tools and procedures. In the past three years alone, we have leveraged over 50,000 resources to service members. To efficiently manage and access this intellectual capital, Circles has custom developed an internal knowledge management portal which houses all of the knowledge and tools that our concierges use every day to meet their research needs.

Our knowledge management platform is supported by a dedicated team that is constantly adding and updating content and improving usability. Since all content maintained on this platform goes through a strict approval process, our service professionals know the resources, vendors and content they use are of the highest quality.

Application infrastructure – Circles Central System

The Circles Central System (CCS) is our core operating platform used to process all service requests. Built from a customer-centric approach, it allows us to house profiles on each member tied to their entire history of requests. We have invested in developing, customizing and enhancing this world-class system.

• Customized to make the most of unique workflow requirements:
  - Category-specific intake templates
  - Implementation of orders
  - Ability to track resource and vendor
• Full history by member profile
• Captures research process for every request
• Searches capability on past requests
• Service Professional reminders for discrete activities

Solutions center locations and staff

Circles operates three solutions center facilities— one in Burlington, Ontario; our newest facility in Chelmsford, Massachusetts; and our Circles headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. We currently have over 600 service professionals who work in a secured area. Authorized employees must present photo ID badges to pass through the revolving security doors when both entering and exiting the area.

We’ve designed a highly available and fully redundant infrastructure, which means we never have a power outage. This ensures consistent service delivery for our clients and their customers. We maintain a step-by-step plan to ensure operations in the event of a disaster. This plan includes service request fulfillment processes, telephony operations and routing, alternate sites and directions, transportation options and necessary supplies.

Environmental and security controls include the following:

• Redundancy in all systems and dedicated UPS and HVAC
• Prevention/Recovery generator sized to run entire data center
• Security/Access Control System in place to limit Solutions Center entrance