Mobile operators are outsourcing call centres to cut costs and become more competitive, says Balancing Act.
According to a study by Balancing Act Africa, as more mobile operators enter the market in Africa, companies will increasingly need to find new ways of winning market share and cutting costs. As the market matures, mobile operators will outsource functions such as network management, the study reveals, and it will expand this to include other areas like call centres and HR.
One of Ghana's smaller mobile operators has a management contract with Chinese vendor, Huawei, to build and manage its network. In Nigeria, Helios builds mobile masts and leases them to operators. The study says outsourcing is moving into new functional areas. The entry of new operators into the market, such as sixth licence holder Essa, in Uganda, and a third licence operator, Millicom, in Rwanda, indicates the market is growing rapidly, the study reveals.
Rwandatel, a mobile operator in Rwanda, has recently signed a deal to outsource call centre functions. Rwandatel currently has around 600 staff to handle its 200 000 subscribers, which it switched from CDMA to GSM at the end of last year. The call centre handles 300 calls an hour, with a 20-person shift. Staff are targeted to either answer the call in 200 seconds or escalate it to back-office staff, who do not have time targets. The call centre operates in all three languages of the country.
In Uganda, companies are now expanding on recruitment, payroll and staff management functions for MTN. But, the survey reveals that while this kind of service is not easy, it can lead to rapid business growth. It requires a shift from running staff to managing contractors - a skill that is only just developing in Africa, the survey notes.
Zain, in Uganda, has outsourced the implementation of point of sale software in supermarkets across the country, Java applications for mobile phones and Web services. The mobile operator is also looking to introduce a platform than can interface with banks and credit card companies in the future.
Outsourcing improves customer services that mobile operators can offer, and allows the African telecoms sector to control costs in ever more competitive markets, the survey concludes.
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