Medical transcription centre goes global

THE Tobago House of Assembly (THA) has teamed up with DirecOne to expand activities at the Medical Transcriptionist Centre at Signal Hill from strictly medical transcription activities to telemarketing and call centreing. The move is being marketed as an effort to propel the island into global competitiveness and give Tobagonians a feel of what it is like to work in the first world while working locally. The call centre is initially expected to provide employment for approximately one hundred Tobagonians who will be selected following a job fair at the Medical Transcriptionist Centre this Friday from 9 am to 7 pm.

Applicants will be given an introduction into the operations of a call centre and screened on diction, keyboard and communication skills. Potential employees will then be required to undergo on-the-job-training. According to DirecOne representative Peter Gillette, the call centre will be more than just about talking on the telephone, but rather, “will allow the contact centre agents to communicate with global conversation whether they be voice conversation, chat conversation or e-mail conversation with anybody in the world while servicing our international clients.” Gillette said agents will be required to do pointboard setting and take customer care calls for clients with cellular phones. He also hopes that the agents could be trained to provide desktop support for computer users in the United States and other territories in the near future.

He explained that once the operation has reached a commercialisation stage, the THA will be “relieved of the burden of training and job creation going forward.” Although operations are scheduled to begin the first week in January, the centre has already secured a contract with the second largest timeshare operator on the west coast of America and will start off by selling timeshares to North American clients. “This move more than anything else, makes a strong statement about our competitive capacity.

Just as the Soca Warriors put themselves on the world stage, I think Tobago is doing the same thing but like in the airline business, you have to earn your stripes everyday and it is a statement that people who deal in billions and billions of dollars in business have the confidence in DirecOne and the THA and the people of Tobago to deliver this quality of service,” THA Finance and Planning Secretary Anslem London told Newsday. “It is a little bit daunting to think about a hundred new employees out there and what they will be doing, not only for themselves but in terms of representing Tobago on the international stage,” he added. The centre is being manned by Damian Haras who has been in Tobago for the past five months ensuring that the necessary systems are being put in place for the smooth operation of the centre.