– Company will provide employment for nearly 1,000 when fully staffed –

Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), one of the largest agent-assisted customer service companies in the world, and the Jamaican Government announced today plans to open the first Convergys Jamaican contact center. The center will be located in Montego Bay, and will employ nearly 1,000 people when fully staffed in 2012.

The Jamaican government strongly supports its BPO industry as part of its economic growth plans, and Montego Bay is the country’s hub for BPO providers, where most of Jamaica’s 30-plus BPO companies currently operate.

“We are very pleased to welcome Convergys to Jamaica,” notes Dr. Christopher Tufton, Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce. “Known worldwide for providing multinational companies with highly effective and reliable customer management services and solutions, Convergys offers Jamaicans new employment and career opportunities in an industry with a bright future in Jamaica. Moreover, more jobs …

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By Patrick Haller

When a market grows 12.5% in one year and accounts for $5.4 billion, as did Business Administration Outsourcing (BAO) between 2010 and 2011, it is a clear indicator that momentum is growing and shows no signs of slowing down. The continued complexity and administrative burdens of Benefits Administration push buyers to look for options. Employers are increasingly turning to outsourcers for the management of three key aspects of their benefits package: Health & Welfare (H&W), Defined Benefits (DB) and Defined Contributions (DC).

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Riding its record success and growth in 2011, RealDecoy is expanding its offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and especially its subsidiary, EffectiveSite, in Kingston, Jamaica. The company is expanding its Jamaican office an incredible 800 percent to accommodate plans to grow employee numbers by 500 percent. This, along with significant expansion across its other locations, is in keeping with the company’s on-going growth expectations. RealDecoy enables organizations of all sizes to maximize their web presence in order to achieve vital business objectives. They provide end-to-end web technology expertise around agile business intelligence, content management, ecommerce, enterprise and faceted search, and managed services.

Overall the number of employees at RealDecoy grew by 50 percent in 2011, coinciding with a remarkable 90 percent increase in revenue. Currently the company has 44 openings available and anticipates an ongoing need for increased staffing in the year ahead. The new facilities can accommodate RealDecoy’s immediate growth …

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Source: Caribbean 360 

Government will over the next few weeks unveil a five-point plan aimed at expanding Jamaica’s information and communications technology (ICT)/business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton, has announced.

This, he says, is with a view to doubling the number of jobs the sector currently provides, as well as enhancing the industry’s global competitiveness.

Dr. Tufton told a media briefing yesterday that the US$145 million local BPO industry accounts for six percent of the Caribbean and Latin American market, which is valued at US$2.5 billion.

The Minister said the local sector, which comprises approximately 26 firms, accounts for nearly 11,000 full time jobs.

He noted that analysts conservatively estimate that Jamaica’s ICT/BPO sector must grow at a compounded rate of between 20 and 21 percent per annum over the next four to five years, in order to remain competitive regionally.

Pointing out that at the …

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A rising Central America nation feels like home – sort of. Second of two-part analysis.

By Jeff Pappas

Even if you’re a world traveler with a bazillion frequent-flier miles, chances are that you’ll be fascinated by your first glimpses of Belize, the little English-speaking country on the Caribbean coast of Central America.

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Source: The Gleaner

Major investment opportunities from targeted sectors in Jamaica will be presented to key players in the Canadian business community at the Invest in Jamaica forum organised by the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) at the Delta Chelsea Hotel in Toronto.

The forum, which will feature Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda as the keynote speaker, will include roundtable discussions and specially arranged one-on-one meetings on investment in infrastructure development, information and communications technology (ICT) and manufacturing.

The Jamaican delegation at the event will seek to engage key Canadian business interests and present the island as a viable investment destination with potentially lucrative opportunities, a business-friendly environment and attractive incentives.

Sancia Bennett Templer, president of JAMPRO, and Milverton Reynolds, managing director of the Development Bank of Jamaica, are slated to speak on privatisation and infrastructure investment projects, which include the Caymanas Economic Zone, airports and aerodromes and a renowned Jamaica …

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By Patrick Haller

While Invest Barbados paints a picture of an investment climate as lovely as one of the island’s beaches, the reality –according to a senior executive who has operated a facility on the island for many years– is more like a storm than a cool breeze.

Nearshore Americas recently published a story that quoted Ezra Catwell, Investment Promotion and Facilitation Manager at Invest Barbados. “We have definitely seen a decline in the companies coming to Barbados, mainly because of the anti-offshoring movement in the US. But we’re confident we can move up into high level services like software and BPO. Right now we actually have more trained people than the demand.” Is that all there is to the story?

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By Tarun George

Traditionally a region reputed for call center and voice support work, the governments and promotion agencies of the Caribbean have been pushing to move up the value chain into higher level services. The arguments for time zone, proximity and cultural affinity are quite valid for the Caribbean, perhaps more so than for Latin America.

The question is how serious is the demand for Caribbean IT services from a nearshore services perspective? And are there enough technically skilled workers to satisfy that demand? We spoke with top contacts in three Caribbean countries – the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Barbados – to get the answers.

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By Susan Arledge

Several years ago, the Caribbean began to emerge as a sensible and low cost alternative to outsourcing to Asia or India (especially when a smaller number of agents were required) and countries such as Jamaica, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic began to emerge as top location choices.

These countries have recognized that they are greatly in need of attracting jobs in an effort to retain their knowledge based workforces. Jamaica, as an example, recognized that the BPO industry provides a chance to eradicate poverty and increase the country’s standard of living.

The Honorable Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, is aggressively seeking BPO and ICT companies to bring jobs to Jamaica and is working with the community colleges, the national investment promotion agency, Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI/Jampro) and local developers to make …

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Former US president Bill Clinton appealed for big business to help Haiti “rise from the ashes” on Thursday as a rising Chinese leader made his biggest international appearance yet at the Davos forum.

While Greece’s prime minister attacked currency speculators, Clinton told the political and business elite at the World Economic Forum that real money could be made in the Caribbean nation where nearly 170,000 people died in the January 12 quake.

“They need to be helped through this hideous natural disaster,” said Clinton, a UN special envoy on Haiti, a country he said had been “punished by either being ignored or abused”.

“They’ve got the best chance they’ve ever had in my lifetime … to escape that past and we have the best chance we’ve ever had to be a part of that,” he said as he launched an initiative at the World Economic Forum to get private sector help for the …

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