South African call centre companies are gearing up to capitalise on the lower international phone tariffs and provide call centre facilities to international companies.
Ian Colyn, Care Assist manager, says SA is vying for a piece of the industry pie, which he expects to grow to $58.6 billion worldwide by 2003.
He admits that the SA call centre industry is relatively small at the moment, but says our technology is comparable with the best in the world. Added to this is the fact that local call centre operators are paid less than their overseas counterparts, which adds up to a more cost-effective service offering.
Two options exist for local call centre companies - either to act as a complete outsourcing facility for international companies or to offer a divert service to handle overflow during peak call times.
Systems would determine call volumes and self-divert excess calls during the "twin-peaks" periods around 11am and 3pm.
SA`s strategic location between east and west time zones allows for this "follow the sun" concept.
"The `follow the sun` concept is more than just a trendy way of operating among big internationals; increased competition and the fight to both gain and retain market share are forcing 24-hour operations onto companies," says Colyn.
"There is almost no international business in the country now and the South African call centre industry has the potential to become a real player on the international scene. We just need to make sure the international business community knows this," he concludes.
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