How to find work in Jamaica at Call Centers - ADV Communications Call Center in The Towers on Dominica Drive, New Kingston

There’s a new Call Center in Jamaica folks! And for those looking for a new place to work, the ICD (Industrial Commercial Development) Group, owned by the Matalon Family, will be setting up shop soon at The Towers at Dominica Drive as stated in the article “ICD Group Enters Call Centre Market”, Published Wednesday October 9, 2013, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Their name in Jamaica is ADV Communications, the Jamaican arm of ICD Group Limited, located at 7-9 Harbour Street, Kingston 11, Jamaica and represents the first time that the Jamaican company has ventured outside of Canada. ICD Group Limited had recently acquired the Call Center Operations of ACI (Advantage Communications Inc), located on Prince Edward Island in Canada's smallest province.

As explained in “ICD Group acquires 50% of Canadian BPO firm”, published Wednesday, October 09, 2013, The Jamaica Observer, ACI is an established BPO (Business Outsourcing Processor) or Call Center located in Canada that was founded in 1996. Thus via this acquisition, ICD has entered into the Call Center Business!

Why come to Jamaica – Sun, Sea and Easy Foreign Exchange

According to ICD Chief Operating Officer Vikram Dhiman, the reason for coming to Jamaica are similar to that of Xerox buying ACS and coming to Jamaica, quote: “We also have the infrastructure which has been created between Flow and LIME. We have well-educated young people looking jobs. Finally it is a source of foreign currency. Those are the conditions. The ability to provide employment is one of the biggest reasons for us. Our chairman Mr (Joseph M.) Matalon is interested in employing young people. We want to grow to 5,000 seats in the next five to seven years”.

ACS-Xerox came to Jamaica after the  printer maker Xerox bought ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) Ltd in 2009 and expanded the Jamaican Chapter with the Amazon Account as explained in my blog article entitled “Convergys and Aegis Communications Call Centers Coming – FDI powered Call Center Renaissance in Jamaica thanks to our Good English”. They saw potential in using Jamaicans as Call Center Agents oweing to:

1.      English being our first language

2.      Proximity to the US Market, including shared time zones

3.      Fiber Optic Connectivity to the US of A to Carry Voice and Data Traffic

4.      Similarity in our cultures, especially our Americanized habits

5.      Educated workforce unable to find gainful employment 

ACI was a fairly young company that was barely making revenue, hence the acquisition via share swap with the principals ACI Chief Executive Kent MacPhee and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Willis , most likely happy to part with the company for cash and Seats on ICD Group Limited Board of Directors. Thus they were always ripe for acquisition by the ICD Group Limited, a Jamaican company whose main business in Construction, property management, and insurance, the business of the Matalon Family!

It’s also profitable, as with a small investment, in this case US$350,000 (J$36.4-million) in infrastructure mainly a Server, a Router some Computers and Networking Equiptment, mainly Cables and Switches and Tables and chairs, you can quickly turn a huge profit. No wonder Mr (Joseph M.) Matalon, possibly a relative of Vikram Dhiman, was quick to set up shop in New Kingston!

Composition of ACI – Near Shore Reincarnation as ADV Communications

ACI a lot like ACCENT Marketing in many ways:

1.      Technical support

2.      Corporate Help Desk Applications

3.      Translation services e.g. English, French, Spanish

4.      Chat services e.g. IM (Instant Messenger) and email support

Their clients are in the following areas:

1.      Canadian Telecommunications

2.      Technology industry

3.      Hospitality

4.      Retail

5.      Education

6.      Health-care sectors

Interestingly the IDC Group or the ADV Communications company has no website up a yet, even after doing extensive searches of the Internet and the Dark Internet, in which  I only found emails referring to the company being sent around! Interestingly, the Towers in Dominica Drive have several unoccupied floors and have only a few clients.

It has a few empty floors, with a capacity for more than about 500 persons. It’s not clear how many floors the Call Center will occupy, but they’ll probably blow through their original quota of 50 persons to that number by December 2014.

At US$350,000 (J$36.4-million) invested in the setting up of ADV Communications, their first foray outside of Canada, that translates to the rental of about 2 floors, one for the Production Floor and another for Administration. So they have the potential to grow.

ACCENT TES have first pick – Agents Looking for a Better View on Life

Thus anyone from ACCENT Marketing, which is also in New Kingston and a stone throw away that’s ambitions would want to jump across, especially if the salaries or benefits are a little more. Even if it was just a change of scenery, it’ll be a good move for the experienced in the Call Center World as most Call Centers that start out this way usually use it founding members to become Account Managers at a later date, an attraction for the ambitions few.

So after a year, the first batches would have been promoted and they’ll rapidly grow to 100 by mid 2014, a ripe opportunity for those at ACCENT marketing wishing to advance their careers in the Call Center World! And it’s STILL in New Kingston and currently recruiting a Centre Manager, already a higher level of responsibility for anyone interested in making it in this very transient of workplaces.

Stick to my blog for more developments on ADV Communications, the Call Center arm of Matalon owned ICD Group Limited! Send applications to the following Address:

ADV Communications

The Towers

25 Dominica Drive

Kingston 5

Email: kingstonjobs@advantagecall.com