CallingtheCape Highlights Newsletter - September 2006

Dear Stakeholders,

We are pleased to bring the latest news on our CADET Programme which will now be accomodating 300 new learners. We have also appointed a new Talent Development Manager.

In Key Dates you'll find some interesting events happening this year as well as our Events Calendar which contains some of the events that we have planned for 2007.

If you have any suggestions or views that you would like to share please forward them to rhomeez@callingthecape.org.za.

(i) Telecoms Conference
Wednesday 31st January 2007, 08h00 - 12h00
Venue: Auditorium 2, Cape Town International Convention Centre

Due to the success of the Telecoms conference in January 2006, CallingtheCape will once again host a VOIP Telecoms conference in January 2007 at the CTICC. The focus will be on real value and ROI from VOIP - "Reduce capex, opex and improve services".

Panelist, Sponsorship and speaker packages will be made available by the end of September.

(ii)Annual Convention of the UK's Call Centre Association (CCA)
14th - 15th November 2006
Edinburgh, Scotland

Sometimes one needs to head further afield to see what kind of international best practices are out there. The UK's contact centre industry is now extremely mature - with approximately 700 000 agent positions - and the industry there has developed very significantly in recent years. In particular, due to deregulation in the UK economy, structural change in areas like financial services ( e.g. direct selling), and a proliferation of new competitors for existing services, and new services altogether, the need for market leading customer services has become increasingly acute. Speaking to people in the UK contact centre industry, they will tell you that customers have become much more demanding over the last 5-10 years. Is it too fanciful to think that many of these trends might well appear in our economy before too long?

We believe that it may be of interest for contact centre managers from Cape Town to learn more about how their UK counterparts have managed these changes - in particular, the emergence of greater competition and much more demanding customers.

One of the premier events in the UK dedicated to these topics is the Annual Convention of the UK's Call Centre Association (the CCA). This convention takes place this year in Edinburgh, over two days from 14th November 2006. You may recall that both our call centre manager of the year and our supervisor of the year will get to attend this event as part of their prizes.

We would really encourage contact centre managers in particular to consider attending with them. We believe this programme could be very useful indeed to our managers. We have negotiated a discount rate of GBP 499 for our stakeholders to attend (see attached proposal). There is a parallel event for team leaders, priced for us at GBP 299, which you could also consider.

If we can muster enough support in the industry to attend this event, the CCA have also promised to lay on additional events for us - such as best practice workshops and site visits. There are some site visits already planned which you will be able to attend.

Please come back to Nicky Floris nicky@callingthecape.org.za  if you are interested in participating in this mission. We will collate the numbers and revert back to the CCA (and ensure we get the best possible prices). Their contact details are also in the attached proposal, if you want to contact them please feel free.

(iii) CEO Breakfast with Moores Rowland
30th October 2006, 09h00 - 11h00
Doega Room, 12th Floor Waldorf Arcade, 80 St. George's Mall, Cape Town

South Africa will soon be facing a new Data Protection Legislation that will affect all contact centres. CallingtheCape will be hosting a breakfast event with Moores Rowland to address this issue.

Cost: R100 for members and R200 for non-members.

RSVP: rhomeez@callingthecape.org.za

(iv) Site Visits (New!!!)

CallingtheCape will be hosting a series of high profile site visits to leading contact centre and BPO facilities in Cape Town. The purpose of the visits are to give the industry access to leading companies and in so-doing to spread best practice standards.

There's been much interest in these site visits and we can only accommodate members of CallingtheCape. Fifteen delegates will be given the opportunity on a first-come-first-serve basis. We will make every effort to accommodate BEE/SME companies. ONLY ONE DELEGATE PER COMPANY ALLOWED.

The dates are as follows:

  • Old Mutual - 19th September 2006 at 11h00am
  • The Phone House - 14th November 2006 at 11h00am

All information regarding site visits will be given to delegates closer to the time.

RSVP to Rhomeez@callingthecape.org.za . We need to be informed of cancellations at least two days before the event.

(iv) Calendar of Events (subject to change!!!)

Please find a list of the future events that we are planning below. We don't have all the details of each of the events at this point but will be sending out more information closer to the time.

Leadership Development Workshop
Wednesday 1st November 2006, 08h00 - 16h30
Theme: HIV/AIDS - Best Practice for Call Centres
This workshop is aimed at Team Leaders & Call Centre Managers

Leadership Development Workshop
Wednesday 7th February 2007, 08h00 - 16h30
Theme: Call Centre Management
This workshop is aimed at Managers

CallingtheCape Awards Banquet Launch
Friday 30th March 2007, 09h00 - 11h00
Venue: CallingtheCape Offices

Leadership Development Workshop
Wednesday 23rd May 2007, 08h00 - 16h30
Theme: Performance Management & Labour Law
This workshop is aimed at Call Centre Managers

CallingtheCape Awards Banquet
Saturday 4th August 2007, 18h30 - 00h00
Venue: Ballroom, Cape Town International Convention Centre

CallingtheCape Stakeholders Forum
Tuesday 28th August 2007, 16h30 - 19h00
Venue: CallingtheCape Offices

Leadership Development Workshop
Wednesday 19th September 2007, 08h00 - 16h30
Theme: BEE Codes of Practice

PROBLEMS billing your call costs and do you have agents abusing your phones???

DIGILOGIC distribute a software suite called ASPIVIA that accurately bills your call costs, specialising in environments with many different suppliers charging in several different currencies.

"This is the only solution that we have found that enables us to manage our complex Telecoms environment, report & control on abuse and bill our campaigns accurately. Digilogic's value added services are hugely beneficial and with our expansion into Durban and Johannesburg, we know we can rely on Digilogic to help us expand confidently keeping tabs on our costs." - Paul Oosthuizen, Financial Director Dialogue Group.

The software is also able to identify personal calls and abusive and fraudulent calls made by agents and reports on them. The result is a drop in Telecoms spend across the board.

Please contact Sean on sean@digilogic.co.za  or call 021 434 6712 or 083 657 3097 for more information.

To advertise contact Rhomeez Hendricks.

This month's new members are:

If you are interested in becoming a member of CallingtheCape please contact Rhomeez Hendricks.

(i) 300 Learners to Benefit in Call Centre Job Scheme's Third Year

The success of a call centre industry learnership scheme which saw 51 of 89 recent graduates landing full-time contracts before they finished studying means the scheme will be increased to 300 learnerships next year.

The Career Assessment Development Education & Training (CADET) scheme, funded by the Services SETA and supported by the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, was implemented by Calling the Cape and companies in the call centre industry to ensure a steady supply of skilled staff as the industry grows, as well as to create employment opportunities for previously unemployed learners.

"There's been significant new investment into Cape Town in the past two years and there is huge demand for skilled and experienced call centre workers," says Calling the Cape executive director Luke Mills. "The industry has recognised that we need to keep renewing the supply of skilled people to sustain that growth in future. We also need to ensure that we're creating jobs for those who need them most, so it's fantastic news that we'll be able to accommodate at least 300 learners next year."

This year the scheme combined four weeks of a seven-week accredited training programme at NQF2 Level, followed by several months of in-service training with one of 15 companies participating in the scheme. The in-service training led directly to full-time employment for at least 51 of the learners, and another 23 are waiting for contracts to be finalised with their host companies, leading to an overall success rate of 89%.
Nothandi Magodla of Magodla and Associates, who is responsible for helping the remaining 15 learners find jobs, says she is confident that most will be placed by the end of September. "It's been a great success," she says.

"We're very, very proud of all the learners and how far they've come," says CallingtheCape Talent Development Manager Sonja Lawson. "Everyone in the group came from a disadvantaged background and had limited or no office work experience, let alone call centre experience. The success rate is a real testament to the talent and commitment you can find in previously unemployed people."

Mapule Mtshakazana, named the scheme's Top Performer at the graduation ceremony held In late August, worked as a cleaner and tea lady before being accepted into the Cadet scheme. Now employed full time at the City of Cape Town's technical operations centre which hosted the second part of her training, she aspires to a management position in the industry. One of her prizes is a R4 200 bursary from the International Colleges Group, which she will use for part-time studies towards a second-level qualification next year. Other prizes included R1 000 cash, two seats for the national SACCCOM awards to be held later this year and a night's stay for two at the hotel where the awards will be held.

CallingtheCape has now opened applications for the third round of the CADET scheme, which is set to expand significantly next year. Anybody interested in applying for the scheme should contact CallingtheCape via email to help@callingthecape.org.za , fax their CVs to 021 422 3744 or visit the web site at www.callingthecape.org.za

(ii) CallingtheCape employs Talent Development Manager

CallingtheCape sought to recruit a Talent Development Manager (TDM) to head up our Talent Development Project Team in Cape Town.

We are pleased to announce that the position has now been filled by Sonja Lawson. We take this opportunity to wish Sonja the very best in her new role at CallingtheCape who started on 1st September.

Sonja will be responsible for setting up, implementing and managing Skills Development & Learnership Initiatives including the roll-out of our BPO&O Job Centre Network, based in Cape Town.

(iii) CallingtheCape Stakeholder's Forum

We had a very good turnout at the Annual CallingtheCape Stakeholder's Forum which took place on 29th August at the Wesgro Offices. This is an annual event where Stakeholders are invited to have their say and enjoy a glass of wine and snacks with us. It's also an ideal networking opportunity to meet other CallingtheCape Members, Goverment representatives and other Stakeholders.

Luke Mills, Executive Director of CallinghteCape gave a brief update on the CallingtheCape Awards, our CADET programme, our boost in funding by government and the future of CallingtheCape and the BPO&O Industry in the Western Cape.

Also present were our Silo Directors who gave feedback on the latest developments with members of their respective silos.

A very interesting highlight of the evening was a case study presented by Nikki Hendricks of OC2 who shared her experience in setting up and managing an SME contact centre. Nikki is a really inspiring speaker and she showcased the benefits that compnanies can derive by working with SME Outsourcers.

Have a great month.

Rhomeez Hendricks
Communications Officer
Telephone No: +27(0) 21 487 8655 : Switchboard No: +27(0) 21 487 8600
Fax No: +27(0) 21 422 3744 : Mobile No: +27(0) 82 927 8021
Email address: rhomeez@callingthecape.org.za  Website: www.callingthecape.org.za


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