Sitting in a hotel lounge with piped violin music playing in the background John Devlin reflects on a rare disappointment in a successful career.

"I wanted to be a pop star, a rock star. I had my heart set on being the next Paul Weller until my voice broke. I had a starring role as Oliver in a school production and as the Tin Man but once my voice broke that was it for ever," says Mr Devlin wistfully of his school days.

Some 30 years since leaving the Airdrie school system behind Mr Devlin does not seem to be too unhappy about missing out on musical stardom. This may be because pop music's loss has been the contact centre industry's gain.

With a background in electrical engineering, Mr Devlin played an important role in developing businesses that have had a big impact on the Central Belt economy, including beCogent one of the most successful Scottish companies in the contact industry.

Funded in 1999, beCogent grew to be a business with 3,000 employees. Mr Devlin was promoted to the board in 2006 four years after joining the firm.

As a shareholder in the business, Mr Devlin made some money when beCogent was sold to Teleperformance for £35 million cash in 2010. However, the sale came before he wanted.

"For the executive directors it was a pity as our trajectory at the time was very positive. We were growing very quickly," he says.

Mr Devlin stayed on at Teleperformance as managing director of its Scottish operations for 18 months. This proved to be long enough to know he did not want to return to a big company environment.

"It was different enough from beCogent for me to decide it was not for me."

Mr Devlin is now at the helm of a new contact centre business which he believes has the potential to at least match the success of beCogent.

Ascensos only started trading in May last year but is on course to record £6m sales in 2015. Clients include Wickes, Avon and the Arcadia stores group

The company has quickly become an important employer in Lanarkshire with 150 staff and more to follow soon.

"This year I think we'll create at least another 150 jobs in Motherwell," predicts Mr Devlin.

The 47-year-old, who started Ascensos with Dermot Jenkinson and Katrine Young from beCogent, reckons the launch of the business was well timed to capitalise on shifts in the contact centre market.

Long associated with telephone-based customer service operations, the contact centre industry is being revolutionised by digital communications technology. This is allowing centres to offer a multi-channel experience in which they can connect with customers in a range of formats such as video chatting and instant messaging via the internet.

Social media now feature in the armoury deployed by Ascensos.

The company was a appointed last year to manage social media interactions with consumers for the B&Q chain. Ascensos staff engage with the DIY chain's customers using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Mr Devlin says the service provided for B&Q is a hybrid between a contact centre and digital marketing agency. Staff in Motherwell publish information and devise social media campaigns for the company. Mr Devlin laughs at the thought that Ascensos achieved some notoriety for devising a campaign that referenced the risqué Fifty Shades of Grey novel.

Mr Devlin believes Ascensos has benefitted from the fact it started with a blank slate. That meant it did not have costly legacy IT systems that needed updated.

The company uses cloud computing to access software specific to clients. All its records are held in a data centre in London Docklands.

As a result, he says Ascensos can move quickly; an essential quality in an age when the pace of change is only likely to accelerate.

The way Mr Devlin tells it, the implications sound concerning for voice communications, which are an important source of jobs in Scotland.

"In terms of front line customer contact for the next generation, teenagers, my son, they would never dream of picking up the telephone. They do everything on their smartphones, on their tablets. Providing people with the ability to contact you through their channel of choice, which is the digital channel is hugely important for us and the brands we work with."

Yet Mr Devlin dismisses claims that voice contact and the centres it was long associated with are doomed.

"That's a bit of scare-mongering. I've hear that said for the last 15 years or so that contact centres will all turn into self help channels or it will all go offshore. I don't subscribe to that view. There will always be a need for high end customer support and there will always be a need for voice to be part of the mix of the multi-channel customer support we can provide.

"Voice will reduce in terms of the number of contacts that will originate on voice but it will become a more complex support that's required from voice and I think that's where onshore support comes into its own in terms of creating high degrees of customer advocacy."

Mr Devlin is confident Scotland is well placed to succeed in the brave new world.

"I think the market in Scotland is pretty secure. We're still very competitive from a commercial perspective. I think the Scottish voice is well-respected, it's seen as trustworthy and knowledgeable."

Within Scotland, he is sure the central belt has an important part to play.

"We've found the workforce we've been able to tap into in Glasgow and Lanarkshire has been fantastic. Some of the young guys we've got working for us in Motherwell are some of the brightest, most engaged, most ambitious individuals I've worked with."

At current rates of growth, Ascensos will have to think about adding a new centre before long. Mr Devlin is happy to think of expanding in Lanarkshire though he does not rule out opening further afield. He notes part of beCogent's success was based on operating centres within a fairly narrow geographic area in central Scotland.

The sports loving Mr Devlin is equally confident that there is a future for small football clubs in Scotland, although many think their days are numbered.

Mr Devlin risked the ire of the Airdrie fans he grew up with be serving as chairman of Albion Rovers from for a year, to August 2014.

He is reluctant to claim much credit for any progress achieved on his watch or since but played a key part in developing initiatives intended to help update Albion Rovers for the twenty first century. These included allowing fans to pay what they liked for a game and then a season ticket.

The Coatbridge club sold over 600 season tickets at the first attempt compared with an average of around 100.

Mr Devlin has a clear idea about what other minnows need to do to stay relevant.

"You have to eke out your own niche, you have to understand your audience, your customers what they're looking for," says the businessman.

Warming to his theme, the soccer fan adds: "These guys aren't going to go and support the Glasgow clubs, they are looking for something different. They support Albion Rovers for a reason and you have to nurture that. They like being part of the community; they like supporting the underdog. They like having their day in the sun. It's a different culture from supporting a big club."