E-mail firm in global alliance

Celebrating: (Left to right) Gem's Neil Robinson and Owen Lamont and Amazon's Jeff Bezos

A Northern Ireland based e-mail company has teamed up with one of the world's biggest online retailers in a three-year deal.

The Global E-mail Company, Gem, is to provide a specialist service to Amazon.com's worldwide customer base.

The three-year contract begins in September 2001.

The agreement is subject to Gem shareholder approval.

Customers

It will also see Amazon taking an equity position in Gem.

Diego Piacentini, a senior vice president at Amazon, said the company had to maintain a 24-hour operation for its five international websites and customers in more than 200 countries.

Amazon.com's selection proves that Gem and Northern Ireland are succeeding at providing best-of-class customer service support

Owen Lamont

"Working with a co-sourcer of Gem's expertise and professionalism allows us to seamlessly handle incredible volume surges, especially around the holidays, and provides strong multilingual capabilities year-round," he said.

The alliance will see Gem complement Amazon's existing customer service network, including seven customer service centres.

Gem chairman and chief executive Owen Lamont said both companies shared a passion for serving the customer.

"Amazon.com's selection proves that Gem and Northern Ireland are succeeding at providing best-of-class customer service support for the internet and high-technology industries," he said.

World class

Gem was established in Belfast in December 1999 and provides a range of customer service and marketing solutions, specializing in e-mail response management, to clients in the United States and Europe.

Last year, Gem said it would create nearly 900 jobs in Londonderry and Belfast.

It said it was "creating a world class operation which will provide excellent employment opportunities".

The company was offered £6.47m towards the £13.7m costs of the project by the Industrial Development Board.