Rebate programme boosts jobs

Convergys earned nearly $4 million by creating jobs at its Millbrook contact centre through a provincial rebate programme, reports Truro Daily News.

Nova Scotia Business Incorporated spokeswoman Sarah Levy said $3.9 million was paid to the company through a six-year payroll rebate programme that was signed in 2003 when the company and province announced the call centre was coming to town.

"The rebate helps support a company as it creates new jobs, so it's all about incremental job growth, new job growth," she said.

EDS has agreed to pay $460 million to settle a lawsuit filed by British Sky Broadcasting Group over a botched customer relationship management project, states ChannelWeb.

The suit was originally filed in 2004 and stems from a project the companies began in 2000. The settlement is more than four times the value of the original contract signed by British Sky and EDS for $109 million.

EDS was selected by Sky in 2000 to build, manage implement and integration a CRM system, but the project was not a success and in 2002 Sky took over the role of systems integrator, according to a 468-page court document filed in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, Technology and Construction Court, last January in the UK.

Business outsourcing firm Firstsource Solutions is to create 500 jobs as a result of opening a new contact centre, according to Silicon Republic.

The company, which employs 1 800 people in Northern Ireland, said it planned to expand into a renovated building in Middlesbrough.

“This investment builds on our long-term plans for the UK as we need to service potential clients who require contact centre expertise in the UK," a company spokesman said. Middlesbrough Mayor