Monthly Newsletters
JANUARY 2010
Date posted: 2010-02-04Back to newsletter pageMessage from the CEO
Welcome to 2010!
2009 was another highly successful year for the BPO sector in the Western Cape. We continued to see both local and international investment, despite the economic downturn. We also made our mark at the national BPeSA awards, once again underlining the quality of the province as a BPO destination.
Following on from the success of the previous year, 2010 promises to be even better. The World Cup is coming to South Africa and we can expect a massive influx of over 400 000 tourists during the course of the tournament. This serves as the perfect platform to promote the Western Cape as a BPO investment destination.
Don’t forget to follow us on our new website, http://www.bpesawesterncape.co.za/ as always we appreciate any feedback.
Kind Regards,
Sipho Zungu
News
Call centre management programme develops local leaders
The BPeSA Western Cape campus in Athlone recently played host to the annual UNISA Contact Centre Management Programme, acknowledging the efforts of the 39 students involved in the six month training programme.
This year’s course run by Neil Lilford of the Greenfield Institute of Business and Margie Middleton; of Margie Middleton and Associates forms part of the campuses various call centre learnership initiatives.
“The requirements of the industry have necessitated the need for a customised programme like this that is able to equip managers with the appropriate skills that would lead to effective management of the call centre environment,” says Lilford.
“All those who participated on the course showed amazing levels of dedication and I would like to congratulate all of them especially, Andrea Gonsalves of MBD Holdings who won the top student award,” says Sipho Zungu CEO of BPeSA Western Cape.
According to Gonsalves it was a fantastic course which covered various key business skills including learnership styles, time management, self awareness, diversity, performance management, operation management, quality management and a number of other industry related topics.
“I’m sure that my fellow students would agree when I say this course has definitely been worthwhile and beneficial to our career development. The knowledge and information we have gained has been most valuable and insightful. To all those who helped guide us on the course I would like to extend a special thanks: Neil, Shanaaz, Margie, Celeste and the entire BPeSA WC team,” says Gonsalves.
Of the 39 students who completed this year’s course, 94% passed. “These statistics prove that we have a very high calibre of mangers going through the programme, which bodes well for both the industry in the Western Cape and South Africa as a whole.
Business advice for BPO SMMEs 2010 and beyond local leaders
Operating a successful call centre during a recession is by no means an easy task. As an industry built around cost savings and efficiency, even the smallest factor can have a significant impact on your company’s commercial viability.
In order to survive as a call centre in South Africa during 2010 you need to ensure that your business focuses on certain key areas.
Consolidate
During tough economic times a change in thinking is required. The core focus of business should no longer be customer acquisition, but rather customer retention. It is well known fact that it costs up to five times as much to obtain a new client, as it does to retain one.
Therefore one should look at developing your relationship with the existing client, through cross selling and diversifying of service offering. Once the recession is over, you will have a strong base to work from, allowing you to take advantage of new contracts in the market.
Optimise your staff
During difficult financial times you need to look at every possible competitive advantage. Build your staff up through training schemes and reward them when they excel. Instead of looking at cutting costs, maintain or even increase staff spending, while focusing on improving efficiency levels.
Call centres rely on the effectiveness of their people; by trying to cut costs you will be setting yourself up for failure.
Diversify
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, as an SMME you need to look at ways to minimise your operating risk. If possible avoid focusing on clients in just one industry. Survey the market, look for up and coming industries, where there is maybe less competition than say the financial sector.
Recently there has been a definite increase in the number of government contracts, while tourism is expected to see a major increase on the back of the upcoming World Cup. It is important to look at the market from a holistic perspective, try and avoid being reliant on large corporate clients, the rewards might be high, but the risks are also far greater.
Customer Service
During the recession, you need to do everything possible to ensure your clients are happy. Go the extra mile; get your staff to perform duties outside of the client’s expectations. Focus on quality standards and service delivery, look at your competitors and see where you can improve. This should be an ongoing process, which is constantly revaluated.
Partner with the right people
Finding the right people to work with is imperative. Look for people with proven track records, who you know and trust and most importantly can deliver on promises. Leverage of governing bodies like BPeSA and find out how they can work for you.
To survive as an SMME in difficult financial times a change in thinking is required, be flexible and innovative. Focus on providing a superior service offering and the rest will take care of itself.
Australian ISP renews outsourcing deal with Merchants SA
Australian Internet Service Provider, iiNet, has renewed its contact centre outsourcing agreement with Merchants, the contact centre division of JSE-listed Dimension Data, for the next three years.
With revenues of over A$400m (R2,75bn) and over 1300 employees across Perth, Sydney, Auckland and South Africa, Perth-based iiNet supports over 750,000 broadband, telephony and dialup services across Australia.
The centre, which was established in Cape Town, is iiNet’s fourth operation and accommodates 144 agent seats, with a total staff complement of close to 200.
iiNet’s decision to set-up a customer service centre in South Africa is part of the company’s ‘follow-the-sun’ approach, allowing the company to provide 24-hour customer service from staff operating out of local, agreeable working hours.
According to Lisa Roos, Business Development Manager, Merchants, the contact centre was initially sold on a Develop, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) basis, where Merchants would initially build and operate the centre for 12 months and then transfer complete control of the centre over to iiNet.
“This is the approach that Merchants adopts with all of its clients,” she says. “It allows the client to be involved in the process of building and running the contact centre, while eliminating the risks associated with the initial set-up and potential teething problems that may occur.”
But, as iiNet’s Managing Director, Michael Malone points out, based on the success of the centre’s operation over the past year and Merchants’ ability to deliver measurable levels of customer satisfaction, iiNet saw a solid business case for leaving the operational component of the contact centre in Merchants’ capable hands.
“iiNet has very high standards when it comes to measuring its contact centres’ performance, with customer satisfaction being the only true indication of success. If our customers are not satisfied, then neither are we,” he says.
iiNet uses the Net Promoter Score (NPS) methodology to measure customer ratings. Simply put, NPS is an innovative measure of service quality which makes it is possible for every interaction, every experience and every customer to be tracked and given a voice, leading to remarkable business benefits for forward-thinking operations. Getting ratings of 9 and 10 which is what you need to achieve the desired level of customer satisfaction are difficult to achieve.
“Merchants have consistently helped iiNet achieve high Net Promoter Scores, which speaks volumes about the level of service that our agents have been giving iiNet customers in all areas of support,” says Michael.
This success could not have come without regular dialogue between iiNet and Merchants, and the ongoing sharing of information.
“iiNet’s involvement in the process from the beginning allowed Merchants to really understand iiNet’s business strategies, adopt its values and deliver the service that iiNet customers have come to expect,” Michael adds.
“This is a huge vote of confidence, not only in Merchant’s capabilities to deliver high-quality, world-class contact centres to discerning international clients, but also in South Africa as an offshore outsourcing destination,” Lisa concludes.
Events
BPeSA – ISO 9001 Accreditation Event
Date : Thursday 4 February 2010
Venue : BPeSA Western Cape Office – Cnr. Klipfontein and Springbok Roads, Athlone
RSVP : judith@duomarketing.co.za
Training Course – Preparing Winning Proposals
Date : Wednesday 15 February 2010
RSVP : khilona@igrowth.co.za (enquiries re : Venue as well)
Membership
For any membership enquiries please contact our Stakeholder Relations Manager, Nicky Floris:
021 630 1500
nicky@bpesawesterncape.co.za
Have a great month everyone !
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