OUTSOURCING company avarto has launched a recruitment drive at its Liverpool office to create 400 new permanent jobs by the end of the year.
The company’s plans to double its workforce at its Cunard Building call-centre to 800 were given a boost last night when it announced it had won a new contract with Miele, the German luxury domestic appliance giant favoured by celebrities and top chefs.
Avarto services has been appointed to manage an after-sales line for Miele’s UK customers, including an appointment booking system.
Asif Hamid, chief executive at avarto, said: “We’re in the midst of a massive recruitment drive at avarto – we plan to employ a further 400 staff before the end of the year.
“We’re recruiting at all levels – from call-centre agents to team leaders – both for our in-bound and out-bound operations.”
As part of the contract with Miele, avarto call centre agents in Liverpool will arrange home pick-up and delivery of appliances such as vacuum cleaners, which are serviced by Miele at their headquarters in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
The contract was seen as a major business coup by avarto’s team in Liverpool. Despite the fact that Miele is located alongside avarto parent company, German media giant Bertelsmann – in G¼tersloh, Germany, where the two companies are the town’s largest employers, the avarto contract was secured by a UK team which had to compete for the business.
As part of the agreement with Miele, avarto will provide a fully outsourced 8am-6pm in-bound call centre facility, Monday to Friday, together with a Saturday service running from 8.15am – 12.15pm. Agents are also undergoing in-depth training on a wide range of Miele appliances to help solve problems over the phone.
Mr Hamid said: “Miele is passionate about the quality of its products and the service it provides to customers – and we are equally as passionate about our business.”
Gary Fenton, service director at Miele said: “The quality of our products is one of our biggest selling points. We have spent years refining our after-sales service – and key to this is our customer care line. Our priority was to find a partner that would represent us professionally.
“The facilities at avarto’s Liverpool operation are impressive, while its team showed enormous enthusiasm to learn more about our products and our customers.”
Avarto services, which handles almost 250,000 inbound calls and makes 30,000 outbound each month, has a 750-line facility and provides a range of support functions for businesses, such as call-centre management, e-commerce, data and print management, distribution and financial services.
Clients include Tchibo, Everton FC and Microsoft, for which it operates a 350-strong multi-lingual help desk and handles pre and post-sales enquiries.
The company first opened its contact centre on Merseyside in 2000 with 90 employees. Since then, it has experienced rapid growth. The company is a subsidiary of the German firm avarto AG, which employs 28,000 people worldwide and has 60 subsidiaries in 27 countries.
Avarto AG is the services arm of German media group Bertelsmann AG, which owns record company Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), whose artists including Gareth Gates, Will Young and Westlife.
It also owns 90pc of broadcaster RTL Group (owner of Pop Idol producers FreemantleMedia), book publisher Random House and has a majority stake in broadcaster Five, formerly Channel 5.
