Microsoft expands contract with CS Holdings

Microsoft has expanded its long-standing contract with CS Holdings to include call centre, telesales and telemarketing. To accommodate the provision of these new services, CS Holdings has opened new facilities adjacent to its existing Midrand head office, which include a call centre (that can accommodate up to 110 seats), six large screen wall displays for monitoring purposes and a full suite of support and management tools.

"The Microsoft Product Support Services outsource is in its sixth year with CS Holdings, Getronics was awarded the initial contract in 1996 and CS Holdings acquired the Getronics SA subsidiary in October 2001," says Hennie Loubser of Microsoft.

"In mid-2002 Microsoft South Africa approached a number of outsource companies to respond to an RFP for call centre and telemarketing services. The intention of the RFP was to investigate a solution to consolidate the services provided by different vendors with the goal of increasing efficiencies and customer satisfaction. The RFP excluded the provision of product support services that were already being delivered by CS Holdings under the original contract. The new contract was awarded to CS Holdings, ahead of some stiff competition, on 20 August 2002," he adds.

"The contract for the provision of call centre and outsourced telesales has necessitated the transition 28 staff members from the previous vendor and the hiring of an additional 12 to enable service delivery," says CS Holdings programme manager Thurston James.

"The Microsoft Outsource currently receives approximately 30 000 calls per month which span technical support, customer services and telesales. This is an increase of 17 000 (130%) in the number of calls previously received. All SLAs were maintained without disruption throughout the transition process. The total headcount under this outsourcing contract is 82, the majority of which are housed in the Midrand facility," concludes James.