Flow returns call centre to Jamaica
Published:Saturday | August 29, 2015 | 12:00 AMErica Virtue
The LIME brand is now gone as the switch to Flow in the merged entity takes effect with the replacing of billboards and signs the first outward show of the new player in the local telecoms market.
Announcing the changes, Garry Sinclair, president and CEO of the new entity, told The Sunday Gleaner that the merger has brought new synergies, and among them is the return to Jamaica of the call centre, currently located in El Salvador.
"We are changing the brand to Flow as of this weekend, and you are going to see large billboards reflecting that change. Yes, we are going to create new jobs - at least 350 with our first-class, First World contact care centre, which will be relocated to Jamaica," said Sinclair.
According to Sinclair, Flow will be the customer brand, while the business to business brand is Cable and Wireless Business, and then there will be Cable and Wireless network for wholesale data, that sells connectivity to government and enterprises.
Sinclair said the new call centre will be located in Kingston and will operate from leased space at the Central Sorting Office. He said the call centre will be operational before the end of the current fiscal year, which ends next March.
LIME's call centre was outsourced to the Canadian company Tellus, which had its main centre in El Salvador.
SEEKING PASSIONATE WORKERS
"The contact care centre will facilitate voice, email, chat, live-chat capabilities. The ideal persons we are looking for is someone matriculating towards tertiary education, or a first-degree graduate who is passionate about customers and embrace technologies - someone who will be capable of handling a level of responsibility and autonomy to create a truly passionate customer-care professional," said Sinclair as he pointed to the persons who can find employment in the call centre.
He noted that customers are more sophisticated and more demanding now and requiring responses to their queries in real time.
Sinclair noted that customers want real-time interactions and solutions as well as Internet connectivity all the time.
He said the majority of calls for customer care emanated from Jamaica, and the market was unique, in that Jamaicans preferred to have Jamaicans deal with their customer-care issues. He said with the return of the call centre, it was more likely that a Jamaican will be dealing with calls from Jamaica.
The Flow boss said the centre will embrace all customer needs, including social media, but a unit will be maintained in the marketing department that manages overall social-media interaction.
He said the two companies have about 290,000 landline customers and they need not fear, even though there is a gradual move away from walled instruments by a younger demographics. However, with the marriage of the browse and talk facility, which joins the fixed service to data and voice service, the company has not seen any attrition.
In March, CWC closed a US$1.85-billion acquisition of 100 per cent of the equity of Columbus International Inc, including debt. The acquisition was valued at US$3.025 billion.