This Scottish city, Glasgow and its people saw many ups and downs last year. If the bomb blasts at the city’s airport shook the entire Scottish population, the right to stage the 2014 Commonwealth Games gave the city the much-needed high.
Apart from being the largest city in Scotland and the third most populous in the U.K., Glasgow is also one of the fastest growing cities in terms of the number of jobs created. With a growth rate of 15 percent, Glasgow is way ahead of the average job growth for 7 percent for Scotland and the U.K.’s average of 12 percent.
However, the city still needs additional 40,000 jobs and almost 5,000 more businesses. But this is also a chance for existing companies to leverage this untapped market. Glasgow is the hub of financial- and business-services firms with more than 29,000 professionals. More jobs are created every year as 20,000 students graduate out from Glasgow’s universities.
The city also is a good place to locate a business. In the 2007 U.K. Cities Monitor report, Glasgow ranked sixth in the overall rating of best cities for business and it was rated as most favored city for locating a new call center. Both the aforementioned facts are further confirmed by the presence of the call centers of financial firms, such as Lloyds TSB, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, esure, First Data, Abbey, bcwgroup, National Australia Group in Glasgow.
Glasgow’s attractiveness to new businesses also comes from the fact that it ranks fourth in offering “value for money” office space and shares the sixth position with Frankfurt for the “availability” of the same in the entire Europe, according to the European Cities Monitor report.
These were among the major reasons why esure chose Glasgow to start their business. Initially, esure was concerned about the availability and quality of staff in Glasgow. But with its pool of 1.4 million staff in a 45 minutes travel to work area and an excellent transport link compelled Peter Wood, the founder of esure, to launch his new business in Glasgow.
However, nothing can be picture perfect and the same goes for this city. The city has low rates of self-employment and new business formation as compared to the U.K. Also, till date it has attracted only the call centers, though, now it is moving toward higher rungs of technology including telecom, software and hardware.
| Glasgow: Service Providers |
| Company |
Primary Activity |
Sector |
| BT |
Technical Support |
Telecom |
| THUS |
Contact Center |
Telecom |
| TSC |
Contact Center |
Telecom |
| Shell |
Shared Services |
Financial Services |
| Dell |
Customer Services |
IT |
| Lloyds TSB |
Contact Center |
Financial Services |
| Barclays Bank |
Contact Center |
Financial Services |
| JP Morgan |
Technology Center |
Financial Services |
| Morgan Stanley |
Contact Center |
Financial Services |
| esure |
Customer Services |
Financial Services |
| First Data |
Call Center |
Financial Services |
| IBM |
Technical Support |
IT |
| Abbey |
Call Center |
Financial Services |
| bcwgroup |
Call Center |
Financial Services |
| HP |
Technical Support |
IT |
| RESPONSE |
Contact Center |
IT |
| Hays Personnel |
Contact Center |
Recruitment |
| National Australia Group |
Contact Center |
Financial Services |
| Direct Line |
Call Center |
Insurance |
| AXA Insurance |
Contact Center |
Insurance |
| Norwich Union |
Contact Centre |
Insurance |
| Royal Bank of Scotland |
Customer Service |
Financial Services |
| Avaya |
Contact Center |
Telecom |
| Accenture |
Technology Center |
IT |
Q&A
Stuart Bindley-ross
VP, Operations, First Data
What advantages and opportunities does Glasgow offer?
In 2005 when we recognized the need to expand to serve new customer requirements, we looked at 11 regions across the U.K. Glasgow, a high profile city with a vibrant financial services district and pool of experienced contact center operators, was well suited for our needs in many ways. The competitively priced resources and infrastructure, the ease of travel and city’s central location confirmed it as the winning option.
How do the government and other local investment agencies help in supporting the outsourcing industry of Glasgow?
We worked closely with Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise while setting up the new operation in Glasgow. First Data was fortunate enough to secure funding for this project including significant support from the Scottish Executive via a Regional Selective Assistance grant.
What work is First Data handling from this center?
First Data serves a range of major financial institutions and blue chip retailers across the world. And our Glasgow contact center provides customer service support and surround services to the credit card customers of these institutions and retailers in the U.K.
What is the size of this center?
First Data now employs around 100 full time members of staff in the Glasgow center and has the capacity to expand to 400 FTEs in the future.
What are the challenges one is likely to face or you faced while setting up a center here?
One of the key challenges in Glasgow is establishing a presence and profile in order to attract good caliber staff.
