FAIRFIELD, St James — With the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector literally bursting at the seams with some 53 registered companies, accounting for over 26,000 jobs, Advanced Call Center Technologies (ACT) is doubling its efforts in a very big way.

With sites in the United States, Guatemala and Jamaica, the company is expanding its footprint in Montego Bay, moving from 300-plus employees in its initial stage to 1,200 today.

“We have 1,200 staff members in 12 thriving departments,” declared Rhone Charlton, the company’s site director, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its expanded location at Barnett Tech Park in Montego Bay last week.

“This is indeed an exciting time for our company! Our new building will add more production seats to our ACT footprint in Jamaica, which is more than double our previous capacity. We anticipate filling much of this new capacity with growth from within our current client portfolio, while leaving capacity for additional growth opportunities within new client verticals.”

Charlton further noted that for 2018 “we are projecting to add another 600–800 employees to our existing staff, which will drive ample opportunity for upward mobility within the company as we look to those within our ranks who have demonstrated the leadership skills necessary to take on production or support teams of their own.

“At ACT, we are proud of the fact that over 90 per cent of our leadership team is comprised of those who began with us as agents and have been promoted into their positions,” he added.

“ACT Montego Bay offers free health insurance, transportation, subsidised meals, paid training, performance bonuses, and various shifts for our employee base. We also conduct random incentives for various reasons. One in particular, this month, is a sweepstakes in which an employee will be awarded their very own home shopping spree.”

ACT is a complete end-to-end, multi-channel customer communications provider capable of integrating many different facets of “your daily operations”, management, and back office logistics. The company works nationwide on a 24-hour basis from domestic and near-shore operation centres to provide services in eight different languages.

For her part, president of the Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ) Gloria Henry said the rapid expansion of the ACT group is a classic example of the phenomenal rise of the BPO sector.

She also pointed to the fact that the company, in only four years of operation, is now launching its fourth site and is proof that the BPO “is the fastest-growing sector” in the country.

“Our industry has expanded outside of Montego Bay, the main outsourcing nucleus and largest cluster,” she announced. “We have expanded to areas in Mandeville, Ocho Rios, and with pending developments in Clarendon and St Thomas,” Henry pointed out.