DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709240465

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

ICT PLANS TO DOUBLE ITS CHESAPEAKE WORK FORCE CALL CENTER FIRM ALSO WILL OPEN A SECOND OPERATION THERE.

The ICT Group Inc. will expand its Chesapeake call center operation.

The company, based in Lang-horne, Pa., has had operations in Hampton Roads since 1990, and claims to be the 10th-largest call center firm in the United States.

Roni Larson, operations manager at the ICT Chesapeake facility, said business has been so good that the company, which also has call centers in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, is scheduled to double its Chesapeake work force in the next few months and open a second, larger center.

ICT will operate the two call centers in Chesapeake until the end of the year. The work force will expand from 120 employees and 80 workstations to at least 250 employees and 120 workstations, Larson said.

The existing facility will close by the end of this year.

The expansion provides the latest evidence that telephone call centers are thriving in Hampton Roads. The area is home to more than 40 companies with thousands of employees making and receiving calls.

The new ICT location ``could be open as soon as Saturday,'' Larson said.

Like the present call center, the new facility will be in the city's Greenbrier neighborhood.

The move and simultaneous operation of two call centers is necessary, company officials said.

``We can't expand in the current Greenbrier Tower,'' ICT Group facilities manager Robert Howling said from the firm's headquarters in Langhorne, Pa. ``That is a multi-story building. To expand, we have to go to a single story.''

Larson said she is hiring new employees now. Compensation varies based on skill levels, she said.

``It can range from $6 to $14 an hour,'' she said. ``Those are hourly wages and not commission.''

The ICT Group's three Hampton Roads call centers focus on insurance product telemarketing through bank credit cards, Larson said. Most employees are telephone sales representatives, but because of the nature of the products, the company also employs licensed insurance agents, who earn hourly wages at the high end of the range.

Hans Gant, president of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, said he couldn't comment on the value of the jobs for the area, but he said the expansion is a good example of the strength of Hampton Roads in the call center industry.

Gant said the $14-an-hour jobs are Tier 3 operation center jobs, among the highest-paying in the industry.

And Hampton Roads continues to receive more attention as a call center locale, Gant said.

``We get inquiries from companies not within Hampton Roads who are currently showing interest in the area.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

LOCALLY

HAMPTON ROADS IS HOME TO MORE THAN 40 COMPANIES WITH CALL CENTERS.

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