Outsourcing firm creates 400 jobs in Northern Ireland

Northern Irish Office Economy Minister, Adam Ingram, has announced that over 400 new jobs are to be created in Belfast by a local IT outsourcing company. In a prepared statement, the minister said the move is "a real and tangible expression for the future".

The company, Services and Systems Solutions (Sx3) is creating vacancies for 100 IT professionals, mainly in systems administration, and over 300 call centre operatives.

Bob McCann, financial director of Sx3, explained that the company has chosen to invest in Belfast because of the larger pool of IT graduates in the city. "We have two good universities in the town with a lot of IT graduates coming out of them," he said. "England and the Republic of Ireland are a bit tight for IT staff at the moment."

The total investment will amount to £6.5m over the next six years. McCann explained that the company had decided to invest now to gain a head start on rival outsourcing companies in Northern Ireland. "The outsourcing market is immature in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of Western Europe, so we are putting ourselves in the best position to get a good market share."