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NLIS 6 February 11, 2002 (Industry, Trade and Rural Development) ICT Group to open major customer contact centre in St. John�s ICT Group Inc., a global provider of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, plans to open a major customer contact centre in St. John�s this year to provide CRM sales and service support for key clients in the telecommunications, financial services and other industry sectors. The operation is expected to create 1,000 new jobs. The announcement was made today by Premier Roger Grimes and Paul W. Pierce, Senior Vice President and General Manager, ICT Group Inc. Beaton Tulk, Minister of Industry, Trade and Rural Development, and Glen Seymour, Director of Marketing for Business Services at Aliant Telecom, also participated in the announcement. The new centre is expected to be operational by the end of March or early April. The Pennsylvania-based company also operates customer contact centres in Corner Brook and Carbonear. "We are extremely pleased that ICT Group is growing its business here, in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is making yet another significant investment in our province," said Premier Grimes. "It shows that we have an attractive overall business climate and that international companies such as ICT have confidence in our workforce and our province generally." The Department of Industry, Trade and Rural Development will provide ICT Group with a performance-based incentive package for its St. John�s centre, similar to what has been provided for its Corner Brook and Carbonear operations, as well as other "call centres" that have been attracted to the province. The incentive will be in the form of a partial wage rebate on ICT�s total payroll in St. John�s, paid out over a five-year period, once the new jobs have actually been created and maintained. "This is a fiscally responsible approach to attracting new private sector investment and creating new jobs in our province," said Premier Grimes. "The company will receive a financial reward only after it produces agreed upon results. Newfoundland and Labrador will receive a substantial return on its investment by way of new jobs, increased tax revenues and economic spin-offs." Premier Grimes also noted that the province�s investment in ICT Group reflects the government�s ongoing commitment to the implementation of its Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth. "We targeted emerging new knowledge-based industries in our jobs and growth agenda, including the customer contact or "call centre" industry, as a means of diversifying our economy and helping create new job opportunities throughout the province. Our plan is working and yielding real results through the attraction, expansion and success of companies such as ICT Group in our province." "The planned contact centre in St. John�s will help us meet the continued demand for CRM sales and service solutions from existing and prospective clients across Canada and the U.S.," said Mr. Pierce, Senior Vice President and General Manager of ICT. NETWORK Newfoundland and Labrador, a public/private partnership between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and NewTel � an Aliant company � worked with ICT Group to bring this new centre to St. John�s. NETWORK was established in 1995 to attract customer contact centre operations to the province. To date, it has succeeded in bringing nine centres to the province (including the new ICT centre in St. John�s), creating more than 3,700 new jobs. Direct annual wages and salaries associated with these centres is estimated to be in the order of $68 million. "Today's announcement is another testimony of the success and value of this partnership and our commitment to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and its contact centre industry," said Glen Seymour, Director of Marketing for Business Services at Aliant Telecom. ICT�s St. John�s facility, planned to be located at Torbay Road Mall, will be ICT�s third customer contact centre in the province. In 2001, the company opened contact centres in Corner Brook and Carbonear. ICT Group is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: ICTG) based in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. It employs more than 9,000 people worldwide in more than 40 customer contact centres throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, supporting clients in the financial, insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, information technology, media and energy services industries. Clients include such industry leaders as Sprint Corp., Pfizer Inc. and AOL Canada. In addition to the three centres in Newfoundland and Labrador, the company manages six other CRM sales and services operations in Canada. Photo #1: Left to right: Glen Seymour, Director of Marketing for Business Services at Aliant Telecom, Paul W. Pierce, Senior Vice President and General Manager, ICT Group Inc. Premier Roger Grimes. Media contact:
2002 02 11 2:30 p.m. |
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