A FRENCH multi-national call centre company is doubling its Highland workforce and is to relocate to the headquarters of the agency that helped to lure it there.
Capgemini has selected Inverness as a new global centre of excellence for advanced IT and is creating up to 500 jobs in the Highland capital over the next three years. It will bring the total number of jobs to 1000, including its present staff in Inverness and Nairn.
The company's preferred option is to relocate its present staff to the headquarters of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) beside Inverness retail park, where they will be joined by the new recruits.
Nothing is signed, but it was confirmed yesterday that negotiations are continuing. If the move is agreed, HIE will look to build new headquarters on the nearby multimillion-pound Inverness Campus development, in which HIE is already investing £25 million.
First Minister Alex Salmond, who travelled to Inverness to make the jobs announcement yesterday, said: "Capgemini's announcement of up to 500 new jobs in Inverness is wonderful news for the Highlands and for Scotland.
"It represents a huge investment not only in the future of our economy, but particularly in the future of our young people.
"These 500 new jobs over the next three years mean Capgemini is doubling its workforce here in the Highlands and making Inverness one of its global centres of excellence for advanced IT."
Mr Salmond said it was a ringing endorsement of Scotland's international reputation for intelligence, innovation, drive and industry.
Capgemini's clients include UK and European financial service companies and Scottish public-sector organisations including national bodies, local councils, NHS and the police.
The new jobs will mark a departure from previous reactive activities in the Highlands, which were limited to call centre help-desk type operations.
The company plans an advanced IT role for its expanded Inverness base, which will offer "IT consultancy, design, architecture, planning, systems integration and business-IT alignment as well as support and service up to the highest technological levels".
The company employs 120,000 worldwide, 8000 people in the UK including almost 1000 in Scotland, with more than 500 in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
It is now seeking people who are working in IT, new graduates in any subject and school-leavers interested in joining its new Highlands Apprenticeship Programme.
The company also plans to talk to undergraduates considering an IT career, and is establishing especially strong links with the University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness.
Capgemini said it chose Inverness because it was "the most competitive place to locate our business in the UK".
Paul Soutter, chief executive officer of Capgemini Infrastructure Services UK, said: "We have long found Scotland to be a purposeful, dynamic and productive environment for business, so by significantly expanding our activities here we are building upon a strong record of proven success.
"The new jobs we are creating in the Highlands will be at the heart of today's knowledge-based economy and will help prove Scotland's ability to compete and win in global markets."
HIE and Regional Selective Assistance are together providing Capgemini with £5.25m of financial assistance, including training assistance.
HIE chief executive Alex Paterson said this represented the single largest investment in jobs for the region by a multinational company in recent years, which would place Capgemini among the largest employers in the Highlands.
"The expansion decision was testament to the highly skilled business services workforce already in the Highlands," he said.
He added that the new jobs would strengthen the opportunities for both the current workforce and the next generation of young people looking for a long-term career path.
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