Sagility LLC, formerly known as HGS Healthcare, has added a fifth call centre operation in Jamaica, having spent US$7 million on kitting out space in Angels, St Catherine, to accommodate local employees.
The new site, spanning 75,000 square feet at the newly renovated MJS Tech Park in the old capital, will accommodate 1,200 employees, 400 of which will be new hires.
The other 800 will be transfers from the four Kingston-based offices the company already operates, in a bid to cut travel time for its team members.
Sagility Jamaica employs 3,600 persons, more than half of whom are said to reside in the parish of St Catherine. Accordingly, Sagility’s Head of Delivery for the Americas, Anand Biradar, says he wants to reduce the commute time for staff members to under 40 minutes.
The company is now the second global contact centre operation to lease space at MJS Tech Park, the first being Transparent BPO, which occupies 108,000 square feet at the park and employs 1,500 persons.
Sagility offers business process management services to the healthcare industry in the United States, including claims cost containment, analytics, management of clinical operations, member engagement, provider solutions and payment integrity.
The company is said to be increasing its staff count in Jamaica to better meet client demand and expectations.
“In recent years, technology innovation, including automation, has quickly moved Jamaica up the value chain as a BPO process excellence and innovation hub. We continue to build on that here,” said Sagility Group CEO Ramesh Gopalan in a press release.
HGS Healthcare was rebranded as Sagility late last year following its Hindju Global Solutions’ sale of its healthcare business to Baring Asia. The US$1.2-billion deal was executed through subsidiaries of Betaine BV, which is affiliated with Baring Private Equity Asia, one of the largest private alternative investment firms in Asia.
As part of the divestment, Hinduja Global transferred all client contracts and assets, including infrastructure related to the healthcare services business, to Betaine. Over 29,000 employees from HGS across four geographies – the United States, India, Jamaica, and the Philippines – joined the new organisation.
Globally, Sagility is said to have more than 30,000 employees across five countries and revenues of over US$500 million.
karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com
