Derry telemarketing centre to double workforce

A Derry telemarketing centre had nearly doubled its workforce after winning new financial service clients outside the North, it was announced today.

Censys, launched in 2001 and based at the University of Ulster Science and Research Park on the Magee campus, has recruited 20 new staff, bringing its workforce in the city to 46.

It was the second bit of economic good news for Derry in 24 hours – local software company Singularity announced it was recruiting 43 staff there and another 19 in Belfast.

The Censys expansion was announced when Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster visit the Invest NI backed company.

She said: “Censys has secured new blue chip financial services’ clients in Great Britain and consolidated its position as one of our most successful locally-owned telemarketing companies.”

The company focuses on business opportunities outside the North, especially in the South, in Britain and the US, where it has an office in Boston.

The minister said the company was now an important player in the developing contact centre sector and one of a cluster of such companies in the Derry area - including Stream International, Firstsource, GEM and HML.

“Censys’ success highlights the competitive benefits for contact centre operators in Londonderry, where there is a ready availability of young, well educated and easily motivated people as well as modern accommodation and access to broadband communications,” said Mrs Foster.

Company managing director Declan O’Donnell said: “Our role with the new clients is to contact their customer bases about a range of products such as savings plans, bonds, life insurance, secured loans and unsecured loans.

“They’ve chosen to place important business with us because of our successful track record with our existing clients in financial services and also because of the quality of staff we have here in Londonderry.

“We’ve developed an excellent team of agents who have a good telephone manner with potential customers, mental agility and a fair bit of tenacity.