With the aim of winning major employment opportunities for its residents, the City of Greater Bendigo in central Victoria has established Bendigo Calling, a consortium of business and Council representatives.
Like many regional Councils in Australia, Bendigo has recognised that certain industries lend themselves to the advantages rural areas have to offer including lower rental and land prices, available workforce and established infrastructure.
Currently Bendigo Calling is bidding for a new National Call Centre to be established in the City. Call Centres, handle telephone contact for multiple locations from a single centre and already operate from a number of regional locations in Australia.
In vying for a new national centre, Bendigo has some major competitive advantages. As the City already has a call centre ‘culture’, it can offer ready laid infrastructure including optical fibre, micro wave radio and coaxial cable networks.
Investors need only find suitable sites to house staff and hire skilled employees. A pool of skilled workers with experience in market research and customer service is available to staff the Centre. The consortium has identified a number of sites which are suitable for such a venture.
“We see Bendigo as a pioneer in this area,” said Bruce Windsor, Council’s Manager Information Technology. Currently, we are positioning ourselves as the preferred regional location for call centres in Australia.”
For further information contact Brian Gould, Manager Economic Development Unit, telephone (03) 5434 6000.
