BT to create 194 new call centre jobs

British Telecom is creating almost 200 jobs in Northern Ireland as part of the upgrading and expansion of a call centre, it was announced today.

The jobs are going to Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, where the call centre is being transformed into a next generation e-customer services centre.

Announcing the employment boost for the area, British enterprise, trade and investment minister Barry Gardiner said an investment of almost £1m (€1.5m) was “creating 194 quality jobs in an area which has suffered in recent years from unemployment".

“It will bring employment in the Enniskillen centre to 480 and inject a further £3m (€4.5m) annually into the local economy in salary costs,” Mr Gardiner said.

“The fact that Enniskillen was chosen is testimony to the workforce and a further reflection of Northern Ireland’s competitive edge for inward investment.”

BT customer contact centre director, Carol Borghesi added: “The very high standard of education among the current staff in the Enniskillen centre was a key factor in our decision to choose it as one of the first BT e-customer service centres (e-cs).”

The objective of the centres was to create a “truly positive customer experience for those customers wishing to interact with us via the Internet”, she said.

The Enniskillen centre is one of 33 BT centres designated as “Next Generation Contact Centres”, but will now also become one of a small number of sites handling BT’s e-cs channel.

The centre will handle inquiries coming through the BT.com website and communications with customers via e-mail.

BT said it was forecasting that e-customer service will be a high-growth area, displacing voice as the preferred means of customer support.