21 October 2005

South Africa perceived as "hot destination" at International Call Centre Expo

The interest received by South African companies at this year's Birmingham Call Centre Expo proves that KwaZulu Natal and South Africa are rapidly gaining ground in the international call centre market.

Willy Govender, director of bizWorks, a local Call Centre/BPO company, commented that his company received 20 genuine leads during the course of the conference, "Five of these I would categorise as really hot leads." he said. "Last year we had some genuine interest but at this event we had companies looking for specific solutions, ready to go to the next level.  It was a very worthwhile trip for us."   

bizWorks  specialises in offering a true value proposition for customer care and help desk support, something  which gives them a competitive edge.  Sponsorship from the DTI to attend such events allows companies like bizWorks to present their credentials to overseas markets and keep the current interest in South  African offshoring alive.

According to Govender, the Birmingham Expo this year seemed less well attended than previous years, something he attributes to  the proliferation of similar conferences now happening in Europe.  However, from a South African perspective, the interest generated was much higher, and is certainly indicative of  South Africa  now being a major player in future offshoring of contact centres. 

Most delegates were interested in the quality of agents in SA; Govender notes that they were "...fascinated with the voice, skills availability, low attrition and overall cost vs quality.  Emphasis was also placed on costs in comparison to India, but we cautioned them to look at overall cost and not hourly based cost."

"KZNonSOURCE has been instrumental in putting KZN on the map as a call centre destination." says Govender, "Last year delegates were not aware of  KZN, seeing  Cape Town and Johannesburg as the entirety of South Africa.  This year, however, delegates, especially UK delegates, were a lot more knowledgeable about South Africa and KZN."

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Source: http://www.kznonsource.co.za