Subscribe
  • Home
  • /
  • CX
  • /
  • Zailab edges closer to opening community contact centre

Zailab edges closer to opening community contact centre

Kgaogelo Letsebe
By Kgaogelo Letsebe, Portals journalist
Johannesburg, 23 Jan 2018
Zailab CEO Nour Addine Ayyoub and chairman of Zoe Incubation Rev Charles E George.
Zailab CEO Nour Addine Ayyoub and chairman of Zoe Incubation Rev Charles E George.

Cape Town-based software development firm Zailab is one step closer to completing the construction of what they say is the first township and community-based contact centre.

The company, which has partnered with training provider, Zoe Incubation Centre, is aiming to unveil the centre at the end of February 2018. Based in the crime-ridden Western Cape city of Delft, the contact centre aims to provide employment to an estimated 60 plus agents who will also receive training and skills development.

Zailab CEO Nour Addine Ayyoub says the initial vision of having a contact centre in the township was powered by the need to create a change. "The dream was to do something that would make a large contribution towards employment creation, skills development and shifting the norm of where contact centres are located. Collaborating partners such as BPESA, The City of Cape Town and Old Mutual Finance played a vital role in ensuring the dream became a reality. In fact our first client is Old Mutual and they, like us, are looking forward to being a part of job creation in townships."

Zoe Incubation Centre is currently providing basic training on being a contact centre agent to locals and will place the selected individuals at the new call centre once completed.

Addine Ayyoub adds that centre design is simple because, anyone should be able to set up a contact centre, anywhere, anytime, regardless of the company size and location. "We were able to achieve this because we designed a cloud-based solution that's fast, flexible and adaptable. We noticed that fibre and WiFi networks were becoming available in communities and we were not utilising this infrastructure for anything sustainable. That's when we started talking to Zoe Incubation Centre about doing something useful and beneficial with the infrastructure that the city provided. The centre is fitted with specially designed ZaiPods which have been installed here are most probably one of the most high-tech furniture in the world. It's quite amazing that we are based in a township and we have such sophisticated furniture and software - this just shows that it can be done.

"We are now near completion with phase one of the project which is construction, testing connectivity and launching. Phase two will see people that work here, once fully skilled, will then be alleviated to home-based agents who will work from home, schools, and areas closer to Delft. We aim to set up 500 home agents by 2019 as that is where the expansion will happen as there is limited space at the centre. This will also provide an opportunity to see how Zailab technology manages because it is a crucial part to the success of this phase," he notes.

Share