When it comes to contact centres, South Africa is "a little ahead", according to Mark Payne, MD of the sub-Saharan Africa operations of Genesys, a local call centre solution provider.
Payne says South African companies are quick to adopt multimedia such as SMS, MMS and e-mail with voice. "While they don't have the volumes of many of their overseas counterparts, they certainly have the same level of complexity and have recognised and taken advantage of the potential of multimedia technology to overcome customer service and contact centre challenges."
However, Payne laments the fact that with utility service monopolies, companies aren't as concerned with customer service as they should be. He hopes the strong focus of customer service in the mobile service provider sector will rub off.
He says it is no longer good enough to just provide a basic service at a low cost without concern over client satisfaction, and companies are starting to realise the strategic benefits to contact centres.
"As a result, contact centres are coming under intense scrutiny as businesses have higher expectations," adds Payne. "Customer expectations are skyrocketing too and their tolerance of inefficiency in the contact centre environment is dwindling rapidly."
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