Service
employees including ACS.
We have over 8,000 sales professionals, over 12,500 technical service employees and over 46,000 employees serving our customers through on-site operations or off-site delivery centers. In addition, we distribute our technology through over 6,500 Agents and Concessionaires and over 10,000 Resellers.
As of December 31, 2009, we had a worldwide service force of approximately 12,500 employees and an extensive variable contract service force. We continue to expand our use of cost-effective remote service technology for basic product offerings while utilizing our direct service force and a variable contract service force to address customers’ more advanced technology requirements. The increasing use of a variable contract service force is consistent with our strategy to reduce fixed service costs while maintaining high-quality levels of service. We believe that our service force represents a significant competitive advantage because it is continually trained on our products and its diagnostic equipment is state-of-the-art. We offer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in major metropolitan areas around the world, providing a consistent and superior level of service worldwide.