Dimension Data strengthens Merchants contact centre brand, creates new job opportunities for SA

Issued by Text 100 for Dimension Data South Africa
Johannesburg, 25 Feb 2004

Dimension Data, a leading global technology company, today announced that it is significantly strengthening its Merchants contact centre business with the inclusion of its South African outsourced contact centre offering under the Merchants brand.

The announcement will lead to the creation of new opportunities at the Johannesburg contact centre location. Merchants, a Dimension Data Group company, has over 22 years` experience of building and operating contact centres and today`s announcement will formally bring all outsourced contact centre activity under the Merchants brand.

Merchants` existing portfolio of contact centres includes award-winning operations in Cork Ireland, Kilmarnock in Scotland and Milton Keynes in England. The addition of the contact centres in Cape Town and Johannesburg to the Merchants family of contact centres will take the number of Merchants agents employed worldwide to 2 000 and significantly strengthen the company`s capability to offer a mix of solutions for its clients.

Dimension Data`s worldwide footprint, coupled with Merchants` strong background in delivering contact centre solutions, brings a unique understanding of migration and expertise to the marketplace. Merchants has been offering offshore outsourcing to its clients for over five years via its contact centre in Cork, and Dimension Data`s Asian subsidiary, Datacraft, is a large player in the implementation of call centre technology in India.

Merchants CEO, Andrew Briggs, head of Dimension Data`s global Customer Interactive Solutions division, commented: "Dimension Data`s depth in technology and operational expertise, delivered through the Merchants brand, has already seen positive results and the introduction of an additional 1 000 seats in SA will further strengthen our existing proposition to our clients.

"The Merchants brand is well established and its UK and Irish contact centres are continuing to see an increase in demand. As more companies look to the possibility of migrating part of their contact centre operations overseas, Merchants will be well placed to offer businesses a high quality solution that best meets their needs and reduces their exposure to risk."

Merchants clients range from large financial organisations to global blue-chip consumer brands and online service providers.

Dimension Data

Dimension Data Holdings plc (LSE: DDT) is a leading global technology company. The group provides solutions and services that optimise and manage the performance of IT infrastructures to enable business to build competitive advantage. To achieve this, the group delivers solutions using its proprietary `Application Network` architectural framework and its expertise in networking, application integration and managed services.

Dimension Data, founded in 1983, had revenues of $2.1 billion in 2003 and operates in 30+ countries with over 7 500 employees.

Merchants

Merchants Limited is one of Europe`s leading customer contact solutions companies, providing a full range of innovative managed services to enable the successful generation of customer value in real-time, every time. From communication centres in the UK, Ireland and SA, Merchants manages the outsourced customer contact operations of some of the world`s best known and most respected brands. Merchants is a Dimension Data Group Company.

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