SA's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry stands to benefit from the transfer of English-based voice operations out of India in 2012.
Gareth Pritchard, CEO of BPO investment agency BPeSA Western Cape, believes that during 2012, there could be a firm flow of English voice operations out of India next year.
“We have already started to see this happen with one of the UK's largest banks, Santander, announcing in July it had returned call centre operations to the UK following concerns from customers around quality.”
Pritchard adds that Santander chief executive Ana Botin said the bank's customers told them what the most important factor was in terms of satisfaction. In response to this, the group decided to take all of its retail call centres back from India.
The announcement was followed by the Sun Newspaper scandal in August of 2011, where British journalists exposed the apparent sale of information from a former call centre worker in India, which included personal account details of Barclays, Tiscali, and Virgin Media customers.
“This is an isolated incident. India is a world-class BPO destination, but their reputation in voice-based BPO services has suffered in recent times,” says Pritchard.
Cultural affinity
He adds that from a customer perspective it makes sense having customer service centres in the same location, but obviously that carries certain costs with it.
It is for this reason he believes UK companies will increasingly start looking for high-quality offshore alternatives in 2012 and beyond, ensuring a balance between customer satisfaction and cost in a recessionary environment.
“This bodes well for the BPO sector in SA, as we are perfectly positioned to service the UK market. Our agents are renowned for their clear easy-to-understand accents; we have a large pool of English graduates to choose from and provide ideal positioning to Europe in terms of time zones.”
The CEO also says SA is able to offer major cost savings, being around 50% cheaper than operating onshore in the UK.
“Most importantly, we have cultural affinity with the UK, which is critical for voice-based customer service work.”
The combination of considerable savings and world-class customer service standards makes SA an ideal alternative for UK companies to invest their operations, says Alan Winde, Western Cape minister of finance, economic development and tourism.
Building reputation
In the last decade, SA has built up a reputation as a world-class customer service destination that is able to deliver results for a number of the UK's biggest brands, including ASDA, Virgin Mobile and TalkTalk, says BPeSA.
Economics minister at the SA High Commission in London Yusuf Timol says there are huge opportunities for capturing India-based BPO work in 2012 and beyond.
“There are definitely concerns in the UK at present around India as a customer service location; fortunately, SA is well positioned to fill this void as we are able to provide quality at an affordable price.
“If there is one area of concern, it is that SA as a BPO destination needs greater international brand recognition. This has started to happen in the last few years... but it needs to be an ongoing process. When UK companies are deciding where to offshore English-based voice operations, SA needs to be first in mind.”
Pritchard adds that on the back of this global industry shift, there will potentially be many jobs moving out of India.
“If SA can benefit from this development, a small drop in numbers from India could potentially serve as a massive boost for the South African market.”
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