Customer Service Valley provides a stimulus for the economy and job market
A thousand new jobs for South Limburg in the next three years. That is the concrete objective of Customer Service Valley, a cooperation between triple-helix actors (government, business and education), which is now officially being launched.
Customer Service Valley aims to use training programmes, knowledge exchange, innovation and further professionalization of the field to further strengthen South Limburg's position as a region specializing in customer service. The first level-three intermediate vocational (MBO3) course in 'customer service', provided by the regional training centre ROC Leeuwenborgh, has also started.
Maastricht and the surrounding area have around thirty companies with an active call centre. These call centres provide 5,000 jobs, of which 1,500 are in Customer Service Valley. The ambition of Customer Service Valley is to increase this number from 5,000 to 6,000 in three years, partly by projecting itself as an attractive location for Dutch and international companies with a customer service department. At the beginning of this year, Vodafone, Q-park, arvato Bertelsmann, the Municipality of Maastricht and educational institutes such as Arcus, Leeuwenborgh and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences signed a covenant to strengthen cooperation in Customer Service Valley.
International outlook
The concept behind Customer Service Valley originated from the desire to increase the cooperation between companies, which in turn would strengthen the sector and boost its capacity. Thanks to its international location, culture and way of doing business, South Limburg is the perfect place to offer effective customer-driven customer service. Hospitality is at the heart of Limburgian culture. It's also a dynamic region with an international outlook.
Thanks to its geographic location and the international student population in Maastricht, with over a hundred nationalities represented, there’s an abundant supply of the multilingual staff that many call centres require. In order to achieve international recognition, Customer Service Valley also works with other cross-border initiatives.
For more information, please contact Marieke Kraak, the programme coordinator for Customer Service Valley, on +31 6 117 340 30.
