United Customer Management Solutions (UCMS), a Victorian call centre business, has scored a multimillion dollar contract to handle all telephone customer enquiries for First Electric, a New Zealand electricity provider.
The contract, announced by the state's Information Technology and Multimedia Minister, Alan Stockdale, promises to create 100 new jobs for Victorians.
To be based at the UCMS headquarters, the call centre will handle all of the electricity company's customer enquiries, billing, debt management and customer retention services and promises to allow its clients to make enquiries 24 hours a day, 356 days a year.
"This further consolidates Victoria's reputation as a call centre hub in the Asia/Pacific region, and is another example of the state's call centre strategy success," Stockdale said.
"Victoria is a leader in Australia's telecommunications industry and is an exceptionally competitive location for call centre businesses," Stockdale said. "The decision by New Zealand's First Electric to award a major call centre contract to a Victorian company will help encourage even more Asia/Pacific businesses to locate their call centres in our state."
UCMS was established with the help of the Victorian government in 1995 and now has more than 500 employees providing outsourced call centre services to a wide range of local businesses. The company beat 13 organisations, from both New Zealand and Australia, to land the deal.