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CT honoured as top offshoring destination

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 10 Jun 2013

The Cape Town CBD has received two Offshoring Destination of the Year Awards from the National and European Outsourcing Associations.

The awards, which saw Cape Town beating numerous international contenders, mark the city as a global leader in offshore and local business process outsourcing (BPO). BPO involves specific business functions - including call centre outsourcing, customer-related functions, and administration - being outsourced to a third-party service provider.

Both international and local companies consider the Cape Town CBD as a location of choice for BPO, which has resulted in a growing number of call centres in the city. These are a major source of economic growth, and have created approximately 7 500 jobs, as well as generating R1.7 billion for the provincial GDP.

With new international investment increasing, and the expansion of current outsourcing companies, these figures are expected to grow considerably. Although countries such as India, China, and Australia have typically been seen as favoured BPO markets, SA is 'coming into its own' in terms of growth in the sector following the two awards, says Gareth Pritchard, CEO of Business Process Enabling SA.

"The CBD is very popular with both local and international companies due to its good transport links, excellent infrastructure, availability of property and access to a large educated talent pool," says Pritchard. "There is a growing base of high-end skills in financial and legal services amongst the talent pool, making the Cape Town CBD an ideal customer service base and highlight the CBD as a world class offshoring location."

According to Rob Kane, chairman of the Central City Improvement District, the Cape Town CBD's centrality, cleanliness and safety all contribute to its popularity.

"The Cape Town CBD continues to see growth in the contact centre industry, as more outsourcing companies, both locally and abroad, notice the consistency of excellence and quality the environment offers," he says.

"We are proud that prominent brands and local company contact centres such as Metropolitan Health, Edcon, Woolworths, ASDA, Lufthansa, Shell, Bloomberg and Wonga call the CBD home and look forward to welcoming more brands to this premier business destination," says Kane.

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