New call centre for MoBay
Published:Sunday | March 4, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:Fortune 500 company Convergys, one of the largest ICT organisations worldwide, will open a Jamaican call centre in Montego Bay, creating an initial 1,000 jobs with a footprint to expand to 3,000.
The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company, which is the second-largest single employer in the Philippines, made the announcement at the 'ICT Round-table' session at the Jamaica Investment Forum last Thursday at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
"They will start construction this year and have decided that they want to have a strong presence here, developing their own ICT centre," president of JAMPRO, Sancia Templer, told The Sunday Gleaner. She added that Convergys usually starts in one city and expand to others.
Encouraged by the fact that they will construct their own building, the JAMPRO president said it shows evidence of a long-term commitment. "When you put brick and mortar in a country it means you are in that country for the long haul," she said.
According to Templer, the new centre should commence operation early 2013.
The move has been described by Barnett Tech Park developer, Mark Kerr-Jarrett, as extremely significant, particularly to the ICT industry which currently employs approximately 10,000 persons, generating J$3.1 billion in payroll and consumption taxes annually for the Government.
"It further confirms Jamaica's strategic advantage to service this industry due to its location, English-speaking population, cultural similarities to North America, highly educated population and First World telecoms infrastructure," Kerr-Jarrett stated.
Extremely passionate about the subject, he says Jamaica need to continue to build on the advantages promoted by ministers Anthony Hylton (Industry, Investment and Commerce) and Phillip Paulwell (Energy and Telecommunications). "There is tremendous benefit to be had through employment tax generation, and the real winner here is wealth creation, which is the only way we will overcome poverty in this country," he noted.
A global leader for 25 years, Convergys employs nearly 75,000 employees who serve clients in more than 70 countries, speaking more than 35 languages, from 85 contact centres and other facilities across the globe.
The company says it delivers a broad range of customer and HR solutions, backed by technology, business analytics and consulting services that help create valuable relationships between its clients, their customers and their employees.
enhancing relationships
"Convergys is uniquely and exclusively focused on helping our clients make smarter decisions about enhancing their relationships with customers and employees to improve business performance. We help our clients recruit, service and retain customers and employees, using innovative technologies that increase efficiencies, satisfaction, loyalty and workforce effectiveness - while decreasing costs," said its website.
Minister Anthony Hylton, excited by the project, says he fully expects to see a number of new investments from the two-day event. "The seed has been planted," he stated, adding that the forum provided a platform which began the process.
"And Convergys was just one of many positives that came out of the two-day forum. A couple of other ICT firms that the Jamaica team met with over the two days have shown tremendous interest in doing business here," said the minister.
The Jamaica Investment Forum attracted some 400 delegates from 16 countries, including the emerging markets of Russia and China, complemented by Sweden, Scotland, Serbia, Japan, Grand Cayman, Trinidad and Tobago, the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom.