THE CALL OF THE CALL CENTRE

This is yesterday's post.

Wow! What an opportunity! SA's lack of skills will definitely have to be addressed though, if this is to be successful and certainly - the deliverables in terms of service will also need to be addressed, but having said that - for youngsters who don't know what to do with their lives, this could be a fantastic opportunity to be in one of the most sought after industries to be emerging this decade and for the oldies it is a great sort of business to be starting!

Also look at the opportunities for the older folk who have to suppliment their income - this could be a great way to untilize older people in a posive way.

The call of the call centre
Impti Du Toit

17 January 2007 at 11h00

While South Africa is becoming a preferred Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Contact Centre destination for the USA and European market, the country needs to tackle several priority areas - including a critical skills shortage in middle to senior management - to maximise the industry's potential.

This was stated in the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) 2005 sector-development strategy report, which took an intensive look at the local call centre industry and the way forward in the international marketplace, says Albert Rossouw who runs a Cape Town-based BPO consultancy, Strategy Threesixty. In recent years, several factors have contributed to the South African call centre industry's growth, including favourable time zone differences, a healthy business climate, deregulation of the telecommunications industry, language, political stability and cultural ties. "Research by CallCentres.net indicated that an estimated 65 000 people are currently employed in 535 call centres operated in South Africa by local companies," says Rossouw. "With around 10 000 agents dealing specifically with overseas customers, it estimated that the South African industry would secure nearly R1 billion in foreign investment during 2006."

Cape Town looks set to benefit the most from the inflow of foreign call centre business, according to independent analyst Datamonitor's research. "This showed that while most agent positions servicing offshore clients are now located in Gauteng, the balance will shift in favour of Cape Town," says Ros-souw. While these and other recent studies paint a positive outlook for the South African call centre industry, a comparison of local growth with that of international competitors shows that South Africa has much work to do if it is to continue to win international clients, he points out. In India, presently the market leader, call centre seats grew exponentially from 96 000 in 2003 to 158 000 at the end of 2005.

"By comparison the South African industry has grown by only 18% from 38 400 to 45 400 seats during the same period." The DTI sector-development report, commissioned to look at where South Africa is lagging behind its international competitors, pointed to several critical gaps. These included the higher cost of using South Africa as a call-based centre compared to destinations such as India and the Philippines; the negative perception that exists regarding personnel security and crime rates in South Africa; and concerns about the set-up assistance provided to companies wanting to migrate international businesses to this country, says Rossouw.

"The report also clearly stated that a shortage of skilled labour has stunted the growth of the BPO industry in South Africa and that few global corporations have set up their back office processing centres in SA," he says. "It said that 'although South African labour is educated, there is much training that needs to be done to impart special skills to these human resources', and that the establishment of effective public-private partnerships with government around key initiatives - such as talent development and skill building - will be critical. "The need to address the significant gaps that are already apparent in the availability of managerial level employees was echoed by the findings of a Deloitte study, which concluded that action needed to be taken to ensure that "future growth is not sabotaged by skills shortages".

Responding to the call for action, Rossouw has played a primary role in developing and will direct an advanced call centre leadership programme that addresses key shortages in the high-potential industry. The programme is to be launched by the Executive Education Unit of the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) in February. It will have three core areas of focus. The first will be to expose existing and emerging managers to global best practice in call centre management; the second is personal mastery, or understanding yourself; and the third will give managerial talent a forum to work closely and network with industry colleagues.The first module of the Advanced Programme in Call Centre leadership will begin in February, with an intake of 20 to 30 participants.

For more information, contact 021 406 1346 or see www.gsb.uct.ac.za/callcentre.