Wind energy to waste management firm SWS Group has announced it is to expand its business process outsourcing (BPO) division in Clonakilty, west Cork, with the creation of 226 new jobs in the next three years.
A co-operative owned by five firms, SWS Group is one of the major employers in west Cork with 300 full-time and 230 part-time employees. The number of employees in the BPO division will increase from 145 currently to 371.
“The Enterprise Ireland-supported investment is in people skills development and technology research resulting in a very strong competitive advantage,” said Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin TD, announcing the investment.
Jim Costello, business development manager of the BPO division, said: “This represents a major push for us into export markets where we believe we can build on a very strong track record with our existing customers. We have already transformed our business from agri-services to higher value-added services including our expanding BPO activity, wind energy and waste management. This successful transformation gives us great confidence in our business strategy for future export development.”
Frank Ryan, chief executive officer, Enterprise Ireland, said: “SWS has a very clear strategy centred on export development supported by skilled people and technology research. It is an example of the transformational change that must be accelerated in Irish companies for future regional and national economic growth.”
Over the past seven years, SWS has successfully moved from agri-services to higher value-added services, such as BPO, alternative energy and waste management. Its BPO activities include managing finance operations, developing business applications based on enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management technology, and running call centres and helpdesks.
By Brian Skelly
