Cape Argus - October 2009

South African contact centres should carve out a niche for themselves to counter fierce competition in the international market, a local award winning company says.

Johann Kunz, managing director of Fusion SA, said local companies should focus on their strengths in order to capture a bigger share of the global market.

“We will never compete with the Indians, with one million agents. If we can carve out a niche – that’s the way to go,” Kunz said.

The South African call centre industry has boomed in recent years, creating 100 000 jobs nationally over the past five years, according to industry body CallingtheCape.

But this country is still far behind giants like India and Philippines.

Kunz said that in order to catch up with those big players, locals should target areas where they could thrive.

Call centre outsourcing in the financial services industry

The financial services industry, the biggest sector in the economy, was one strong point where South Africans could use their English language skills as a selling point.

Kunz used Fusion SA, a division of the UK-based BGL Group, as an example of a South African success story. Fusion SA started as a 40-seater contact centre in 2004 and now employs 600 agents.

It initially provided services only within the BGL Group, but now has about five clients and has won several local awards.

Fusion has also been nominated in 10 out of 17 categories in this year’s Western Cape business process outsourcing (BPO) and contact centre awards.

Many of the nominations were in categories individual employees, which was part of the reason for Fusion SA’s success, Kunz said.

“I would say the biggest challenge is to get South Africa recognised by top BPO destinations – we still need to get out there and market ourselves,” he said.

South Africa's BPO advantages

“(We have) quality English speaking resources, we do have a weaker rand which is important to be price competitive, and good infrastructure, although the biggest challenge is the telco costs which are very high…and that has been recognised by government.”