BUSINESS
Portadown firm to create 400 jobs
16-04-2003
by John Cradden
A Portadown-based company is to create over 400 new jobs over the next three years with the building of a new contact centre in Armagh.
AnswerCall Direct (ACD) is to invest STG7.3 million in the establishment of the contact centre, which will be located in Edenaveys, an industrial estate in County Armagh. The investment has been supported by a STG2.8 million investment from Invest NI.
The company currently provides contact services to customers from its existing centres in Portadown, which together currently employ around 300 people. The new contact centre, which represents an expansion of its operations, will generate 400 new jobs by 2006.
"ACD is a first class example of an entrepreneurial company which is experiencing fast growth in the intensely competitive contact centre marketplace through an ongoing commitment to excellence in the services it provides to customers, said Ian Pearson MP, the Northern Ireland Office Minister with responsibility for Enterprise, Trade and Investment. "This expansion is a significant investment by the company in its continued growth."
"It will also strengthen the skills base in Armagh by providing opportunities to local people to gain experience and expertise in customer focused telemarketing services," he said.
Kelsey Buck, ACD's managing director, said the company had decided to locate the new contact centre at Edenaveys following extensive research that indicated that this area offered the best potential in terms of the availability of suitable employees.
"This investment is part of a strategy to position the company as one of the leading outsource contact centres in the United Kingdom," said Buck.
"The new centre is an impressive facility for customers that will enable us to be more competitive in bidding for contracts from bigger clients. Another extremely important aspect of the investment is the attractive working environment it provides for our staff," Buck added.
Over 500 tech jobs have been created in the Armagh region over the past two years. The jobs have been created at two facilities known as m:tek and a:tek, which were built about two years ago under the aegis of the scheme known as the Armagh Monaghan Digital Corridor (AMDC). Of the 500 positions created, about 380 are call centre posts and 120 are higher-value positions at firms from Northern Ireland and the Republic, such as Datacare and E-Blana.
The Digital Corridor was devised about four years ago and received about STG1.2 million in funding from groups such as Invest NI and Enterprise Ireland, as well as a number of local business associations.
ACD was established in 1999 at Craigavon Industrial Development Organisation (CIDO) by Kelsey Buck to provide customer contact services to local firms, charities and healthcare organisations. It expanded to Mayfair Business Park in 2000.
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