BT jobs boost for Enniskillen call centre

BT is to create 194 new jobs in Co Fermanagh after it announced it is to upgrade and expand its Enniskillen call centre to create an e-customer services (e-cs) centre.

Announcing the news, Enterprise Minister, Barry Gardiner said the investment would bring employment in the centre to 480 and inject a further £3 million annually into the local economy in salary costs.

“Any one of BT’s Next Generation Contact Centres, both within the UK and offshore, could have been chosen for this new work," the Minister 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.”

The Enniskillen call centre, already 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. For example, the centre will handle enquiries coming through the BT.com website and communications with customers via e-mail.

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

However, today's news was tempered by the announcement that 260 jobs are to go at textiles firm Desmond & Sons in Co Londonderry.

The firm, which supplies garments solely to Marks and Spencer, said it was going into voluntary liquidation following a decision by the High Street chain to end its contract.

The firm, which has been in business for 120 years, said M&S had decided to stop working with it as a UK-based full service supplier and as such its Drumahoe base would be now run down over the next six months.

(MB)