CallCentric creates jobs with 3i investment

NEWS Venture capital investors 3i today announced a £2m investment in CallCentric, a leading European call centre consultancy. Call Centric said it will use the money to create 200 new jobs this year. CallCentric was founded in 1997 and currently employs 20 people, its clients include Lloyds TSB, Credit Suisse and Latvia Telecomm. The company is looking to benefit from the growth in Web-based CRM (customer relationship management) technologies. Managing director David Berger claimed CallCentric is the leading EU authority on using technology to win and keep customers. Steve Morell, consultant at Datamonitor, said CallCentric's real value to 3i is the systems integration advice it offers. "Value is added in consultancy and integration advice now, not software or hardware. CallCentric is pretty close to offering a one-stop shop for clients."