BUSINESS
Call centre firm creates 150 Dublin jobs
01-05-2003
by John Cradden
The Irish division of Sitel has won a major contact centre contract from Microsoft that will lead to the immediate creation of 150 new jobs in Dublin.
Much of the recruitment for the new centre has been completed and the centre itself is now understood to be up and running in support of Microsoft's UK and Irish operations. A spokeswoman for Microsoft said that the outsourcing of its customer service support functions represented a continuing extension of its outsourcing model, which is to contract out non-core functions like financial services and credit control.
"Training and quality standards are central to our best practices operating methodology and this is a big differentiator in today's highly competitive call centre industry," said Managing Director Nick Wheeler. "Our Dublin operation was selected by Microsoft because we have the skillset and the technology to enable the rapid implementation of Microsoft's programme."
Wheeler said the increasing variety of contact mediums through which customers could get in touch with companies like Microsoft, as well as increasing reasons to contact firms, meant that contact centres represented the right way forward in managing customer care.
"We will be handling both incoming and outgoing contacts for everyone from home PC users and business customers to IT professionals and technical decision makers. It is therefore essential that our team can meet the needs of this varied customer base," Wheeler said.
"After an extensive review of the outsource industry, our team concluded that Sitel was clearly the one to entrust with this critical component of our business," commented Joe Macri, general manager, Microsoft Ireland.
Sitel Ireland was established in 1997 and is a subsidiary of US-based Sitel Corporation. The company now employs 320 people, including the 150 extra jobs created.
Other major clients of Sitel Ireland's Dublin centre include British Bakeries, Capital One, Halifax Bank of Scotland. In 1999, Sitel handled all registrations for the Eircom flotation.
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