The SA operation of US outsourcing giant Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) has secured multiyear contracts worth more than R1 billion and plans to expand its workforce to about 1 000 people within five years
According to CSC SA`s MD Martin Vergunst, most of the work has come from the local company`s Northern Hemisphere counterparts. CSC tenders outsourcing work to its worldwide subsidiaries who place competitive bids to carry out the contract.
This has enabled this Cape Town-based operation to steadily employ more people to staff its Canal Walk and Gardner Place premises and share some of the work with emerging black businesses.
The offshore outsourcing projects being done on behalf of CSC`s international clients include business process outsourcing (BPO), application managed services or applications outsourcing, and international network security management.
Ranked by BMI-TechKnowledge as one of South Africa`s top three outsourcing service suppliers, CSC`s operation in South Africa has giants in the international financial and mining sectors, as well as European-based insurance, manufacturing and leisure corporations, among its overseas clients.
Vergunst says the country`s attraction as an offshore outsourcing hub is largely driven by the quality of information technology (IT) skills and its productivity ethic, which adds considerable value to the competitive costs that most corporations seek in outsourcing deals.
He stressed that successful offshore outsourcing cannot be based on a favourable exchange rate only. "There have to be economies of scale to secure sustainable cost savings, and this means the volume of offshore processing has to be considerable."
Vergunst says companies "want strategic support of the highest possible quality, reliability and flexibility for IT infrastructure and business processes. And there are only a handful of suppliers that can deliver this with the economies of scale that come with sharing expertise and the resources of data centres around the world."
He says that, in the nine months since the first major offshore BPO project went live in Cape Town, CSC`s staff has exceeded the productivity and quality expectations of the US-based client.
"With the quality of Capetonians we have employed we are confident we can sustain these productivity levels. Our processing quality has proved to be world class. South Africa`s financial services industry back office staff are among the best in the world. Not only are our people beating the productivity norms, they`re also adding value by suggesting process improvements."
For the past year Vergunst has headed the group`s BPO for global financial services companies out of Cape Town, rather than based himself in Europe. This has ensured that South Africa as an offshore outsourcing destination secures a place on the radar screen.
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