Getronics launches its Global Service Centre in KL
Getronics, a subsidiary of Dutch telco KPN ICT Services, launched its Global Service Centre located at its office in Plaza Sentral, an MSC Malaysia area in Kuala Lumpur on 10 February.
This centre is KPN’s first offshore ICT remote services and support centre to be managed by Getronics in Asia.
“After an exhaustive review of all the major candidate countries in Asia, including India, Singapore and the Philippines, we concluded conclusively that our final destination of choice for our first offshore Global Service Centre indeed has to be Malaysia and none other,” said Jahangir Naina, managing director, Getronics Asia Region.
“Malaysia ranked high due to a number of factors including the political stability, the education system, the robust infrastructure, the strategic position, language capabilities, and the availability of a high-quality labour pool.
“The three key reasons which gave Malaysia the decisive edge over other countries in the region are the fantastic and fanatical support we received from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the Malaysian Government’s dedication to develop a leadership position in the global services market, and the work ethic and the irrepressibly positive attitude of the Malaysian workforce, which when combined with our world-class experience and management expertise would provide a winning combination,” Jahangir added.
“We are honoured that Getronics has chosen Malaysia to be the location for its Global Service Centre,” said Saifol Bahri Mohamad Shamlan, vice president, MDeC Industry Development Division in his opening address.
According to Martin Gilday, vice president of Getronics Global Service Centres, its Microsoft-certified agents will take service calls and provide remote intervention to support the desktop PCs, servers and networks of its business clients across the Asia Pacific including Japan, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
Remote problem resolution can reduce IT service costs by up to 30% and where onsite service is required, the centre will dispatch technicians from its local offices or partners in the respective countries.
KPN’s other primary Global Service Centres are located in Beek in the Netherlands, Glasgow in the UK and Budapest in Hungary.
These centres provide support in 20 different languages worldwide, while its Malaysian centre will provide support in eight languages – including English, Bahasa Malaysia, Tagalog, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.
Shell is one of its major clients, for which it provides support for Shell petrol stations, while others include a major airline, and companies in the manufacturing, financial services and pharmaceutical industries.
The Kuala Lumpur centre currently has a capacity of 200 seats, which Getronics expects to increase to 500 within 18 months.
Getronics in the Netherlands is over 100 years old and is no newcomer to Malaysia, where it’s been present for 25 years.
It acquired US computer company Wang Global in 2000, and before that Wang had acquired Olivetti Systems, the service arm of Italian computer and office automation company, Olivetti.
Getronics obtained MSC Malaysia status in 2004 and was acquired by KPN in 2007.
@MSC Malaysia 
