Contact centre software firm Genesys, an Alcatel company, has its sights set on government business as it grows its brand awareness in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking to ITWeb during the Genesys G-Force partner and customer event in Athens last week, Genesys Africa MD Mark Payne said SA is one of several key growth points for the firm.
The other future focus regions in Africa include Tunisia, Nigeria and Cameroon.
Payne said Genesys is strong in local sectors such as finance, telecoms and banking.
However, there is scope for a lot of growth in the government, retail and utilities sectors. "South African retailers are among the least developed in terms of CRM," said Payne. He feels it will be some time before local retailers make the most of their contact centre potential.
Payne said local financial institutions and telecoms companies are making effective use of their contact centres, and he envisages a great deal of growth in government and municipal contact centres in the next few years.
Payne sees 2010 as a potential catalyst for SA`s call centre industry, as an influx of foreign visitors will expect world-class customer service.
Genesys feels interactive voice response (IVR), one of its major focuses for growth, has a strong role to play in the South African contact centre environment in future, despite the country`s 11 official languages and multitude of dialects.
In line with its plans to grow IVR, Genesys acquired privately-held VoiceGenie in a cash transaction early this month. The move was aimed at combining Genesys` traditional strengths in contact centres with VoiceGenie`s strengths in voice self-service solutions.
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