68 new jobs created at call centre

An investment of nearly £1m is creating 68 new jobs at a call centre on the often-troubled Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh, it was announced today.

Local company Answercall Direct is investing £913,000 in a new customer contact centre following a substantial growth in business.

Set up by a local woman two years ago, the company is expanding its workforce from eight.

Announcing the investment, Stormont Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Reg Empey, said the company was one of a relatively small number of locally-owned customer contact centres in international traded services which was experiencing strong growth.

The minister said the investment had enabled the company to relocate to new and bigger premises and to introduce new Customer Relations Management CRM software which it required to provide more efficient services to existing customers and pursue further business opportunities identified outside the province.

The company has been given £340,000 financial assistance by Northern Ireland’s Industrial Development Board.

Mr Empey said: ‘‘Our support for this ambitious company reflects a commitment to promote faster growth in services by encouraging more companies to explore business in export and external markets.’’

The expansion would make ‘‘a significant contribution to employment in the Portadown area’’.

Company founder and managing director Kelsey Buck said she had planned the expansion to grab a bigger slice of new business in a global industry which was expected to treble in value in the next three years and double to a projected £930m in the UK alone by the end of 2002.

Ms Buck said she intended to invest in new technology which would make her firm one of the first web-enabled call centres in the UK.