Irish Eyes Are Smiling at TeleTech, SullivanHayes

Ringed by political representatives from all facets of the spectrum in Northern Ireland, Denver-based TeleTech Holdings Inc. is agreeing to develop a 1,000-person workforce facility in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Belfast.TeleTech, with 16,900 employees worldwide and 1999 revenues of $509 million, is probably growing faster internationally than any other Colorado corporation, TeleTech president and CEO Scott Thompson told GlobeSt.com.The company’s 60,000-sf Customer Interaction Center in North Belfast shouldn’t be mistaken for an old-style call centers, he said. Instead, workers will answer high-tech questions by e-mail and phones for customers such as Ford Motor Co. and American Express Corp., he says.Workers in the center, which borders Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, will earn an average of 12,000 pounds to 15,000 pounds, equivalent to about $18,600 to $23,250 in US currency. That is at the high end of wages for that kind of work, says Sir Reg Empey, a member of Northern Ireland’s new Assembly and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investments.Empey and representatives from the Sinn Fein Party, Ulster Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labor Party and Alliance Party came to Denver on a trade mission. “Ten years ago, a gathering like this would have beyond anyone’s wildest imagination,” Empey said in an interview with GlobeSt.com. Thompson says the new facility, which will cost between $13 million and $16 million, wouldn’t have been possible without peace in Northern Ireland. The high-tech complex was built two years ago and remains in pristine condition – sans any graffiti – a difficult task for an inner city, says Thompson. The center is situated in a high-unemployment area, known as Tiger’s Bay.SullivanHayes Cos., one of the largest developers based in Denver, will develop the facility. Chairman and CEO Jim Sullivan calls the deal one of the most significant in his career, even though it is one of the smallest. “This one is from the heart,” he says