The role is for a Human Capital Manager. A senior and strategic role. The right candidate will need to be based in Cape Town, but national and international candidates will be considered subject to their willingness to relocate, if necessary.

Link to job application: http://bpesawesterncape.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=24&sid=7b4b09f1bdc3ea6a9d32404bd5d7574e

Over the past decade, the BPO industry has undergone a complete metamorphosis, changing from a cost focussed business to a quality driven one, where value is the differentiating factor.

According to Rajesh Ranhan, Vice President of BPO consultancy The Everest Group, BPO providers are increasingly looking for cost-backed advantages in order to create a better value proposition.

Ranhan believes that cost is no longer the ace consideration for buyers or providers; he feels that business has shifted towards tactical delivery coupled with value and innovation.

Pre-recession the BPO industry was dominated by talk of cost reductions, with other factors like service delivery seen more as a secondary concern.  Despite the added financial

pressure brought about by the recession, as the industry has matured, cost concerns have slowly been replaced by value and a need for improved customer satisfaction.

Retaining a customer will always be significantly cheaper than attracting a new one. With this in mind, companies should be willing to spend more on BPO providers if it means retaining their business through improved customer service delivery.

This shift in thinking was highlighted in the 2011/12 Dimension Data Global Benchmarking report where one of the key findings showed that customer satisfaction is beginning to replace cost reduction as the top self-service driver.

As a result of this development, a number of companies have been forced to review their choice of offshore locations. This has already started to happen in India, where certain prominent UK companies such as Santander have started taking voice services out of Asia.

With this in mind, we could increasingly see buyers of BPO services looking for destinations that can offer expertise in specific areas, whether its voice or back office processing. This should see emerging destinations such as South Africa, Northern Ireland and parts of Eastern Europe expanding, while the giants of Asia may start to lose a portion of their market share.

In response to this change, the really successful providers will be those that are still able to offer significant savings, but more importantly value.

In order to find this balance, BPO destinations will need to become more agile and adapt along with the needs of the market. This will mean constant innovation around technology with more companies looking towards the flexibility of the cloud for their technological needs.

Core competencies will also become more important with factors such as neutral accents and cultural affinity becoming business critical for voice based service locations. These changes will usher in a new age for the outsourcing industry where quality service delivery will be viewed alongside cost reduction.

For more useful links on Outsourcing to South Africa click here www.bpesawesterncape.co.za/home/useful-links/

Private, Public and  Non-Governmental sectors are invited to submit their most

innovative ideas to address South Africa’s high level of unemployment.

The Fund will be open for applications from Monday 2 April 2012. The call will remain

open for 8 weeks and will close on 31 May 2012. Read more here.

Trade and Industry (dti) Deputy Minister Elizabeth Thabethe has pledged to help two Indian companies to expand their operations in South Africa as part of efforts to address job creation.

She was speaking during a tour of two special economic zones in the state of Tamil Nadu in India on Tuesday where Infosys and Cognizant, India’s two leading global technology companies are situated.

Assisting the companies would in turn help South Africa with skills development, job creation as well as technological development.

“I was greatly impressed and inspired by the successes attained by Infosys and Cognizant in creating employment, skills development and innovation in rural parts of India.

If one company can create 16 000 jobs in one area alone through the provision of technology solutions as Infosys does, I cannot imagine what positive impact such an initiative can make in South Africa in terms of dealing with unemployment,” explained Thabethe.

Thabethe’s tour forms part of the dti’s five-day international Investment and Trade Initiative (ITI) that kicked off with a business seminar in Chennai, southern India, on Monday. The deputy minister is accompanied by 45 South African business people.

Skills development has been identified as a priority by government.

The South African Consular-General in India, Pule Malefane, also pledged government support for Indian companies willing to invest in South Africa.

Infosys senior engagement manager Abhimanyu Sinha said his company was in the process of expanding operations in South Africa. The company would appreciate collaboration and support from the South African government in training deserving students.

Meanwhile, Manager at the Gauteng Economic Development Agency (Geda) Elliot Mbiko said the agency would assist Infosys in setting up a facility in Gauteng.

“This is in line with the mandate of Geda to recruit foreign direct investment into the Gauteng province and create employment opportunities, amongst others,” said Mbiko.

Earlier on Tuesday, Thabethe chaired a meeting between businesswomen in the South African delegation and their Indian counterparts belonging to the Tamil Nadu Corporation for the Development of Women.

We are all used to handling customer service complaints over the phone, but many are not so comfortable dealing with complaints in 140 characters.

Over the past ten years we have focused on developing front line agents’ listening skills, voice tone, positive language, empathy, rapport, problem solving and complaint-handling skills.

Yet the transference of this skill to 140 (publicly published) characters is yet to be fully embraced by the contact centre industry, but we envisage that take-up of our training offering in this area is set to increase.

A YouGov survey, commissioned by technology provider Avanade, surveyed 1,998 UK consumers about their attitudes to customer service, as well as the types of company they tend to complain about most.

41% of people still use the telephone to complain to a company and 63% of people use email, but a significant proportion (20%) will use social media to air their gripes, with this figure rising to 36% for Generation Y (under 25-year-olds).

Separate Twitter accounts for marketing and customer services

In our experience, the monitoring and use of social media is not yet done within customer services in the majority of customer service call centres.  The responsibility for using social media  currently remains with many PR and Marketing functions (as, of course, it also an excellent tool for sales and marketing purposes).  This is also confirmed in our latest social media survey.

Some brands that have taken steps in this direction include John Lewis, who have two separate twitter accounts ‘@johnlewisretail’ and ’@JLcustserv’ .  Through the ‘customer service account’ John Lewis provide responsive apologies and then aim to take it offline or show their ability to resolve the problem through further information links.

Train agents in online conversations

However, a collaborative approach will be required if the trends continue as predicted.  The need to train customer service agents in how to deliver customer service in 140 characters will rise.  Training will need to include the tools and processes for using social media effectively as well as the content of conversations and the abilities to know when to take the conversations offline.  Agents will need to be multi-skilled in all channels for customer interaction.

Start by acknowledging the complaint

Jim Singer from AT Kearney notes, “The majority of companies we looked at are not moving toward a more interactive use of social media, even as their customers are becoming clearer about their expectation to interact with their brands.”

Global management consultants’ AT Kearney’s 2nd Annual Social Media Survey confirms that of the top 50 brands (measured by Interbrand), only a handful focus on two-way communication, and 27 did not respond to a single customer reply in the measured period.

Just by starting in dealing with the complaint will take you a major step forwards.

Gather the customer’s account number

The first action is to gather the customer’s account number.  You can do this by asking them to direct message you with their account details (if they have not already provided them). A direct message is like a secure text message, but it is also limited to 140 characters.  In order for them to direct message you, you will first need them to follow you on Twitter.

Try to refrain from asking them to call your customer services department.  If they had wanted to do this they would have already picked up the phone to call you.

Be prepared to take the conversation offline

Just because a complaint came in on social media does not mean that it has to stay there.

Moving the conversation from social media onto another channel can be very beneficial. A tweet can be a good way for them to get your attention but it is a poor communication channel.  An email or an outbound telephone call can work as a much better channel for resolving the call.

Listen to the brand being mentioned

Another option is to use tools to ‘listen’ to where the brand is being mentioned and have alerts that are then routed to the appropriate team, be it Customer Service, Sales or PR/Marketing for the right response.  This still allows PR/Marketing to control the external-facing brand tweets and updates but allows customer service teams to swiftly solve any problems and issues that are being publicly highlighted.

Whichever approach is taken, the authentic, personal touch will continue to be in demand for a winning customer experience.  While the customer service agents in the call centre are the original experts in one-to-one customer service, they will need support and empowerment as we redefine how engaging customer experiences are delivered.

Building on the successes of 2010, the company managed to sustain a strong upwards curve in 2011; growing its staff complement to over the 1500 mark, opening a new office in the Johannesburg, CBD and taking home a number of BPO industry awards for the third consecutive year.

For a full review of 2011 and there success to date in 2012, click here

Teleperformance, the global leader in customer experience, employs 128,000 people in over 50 countries and has over 600 people working at its sites in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Semaar has experienced a meteoric rise through the industry since his first job as a teleresources agent in 1999.  After progressing through various leadership positions, he joined a skills development organisation as an equal partner in 2004 and subsequently opened his own project management and IT consultancy company in 2008.

“I am very excited about this opportunity; Teleperformance is a global leader in the BPO and contact centre space and I have already started to see signs of potential growth in the, financial services, utilities, public and mobile telecommunications sectors, says Semaar. “Expansions of key accounts are also on the cards and I am confident that our operation will grow substantially by the end of 2012.”

Alistair Niederer, CEO of Teleperformance UK & South Africa commented that under Fagri’s leadership, he believes that Teleperformance in South Africa will continue to go from strength to strength and that he will be instrumental in driving the business forward. “I am delighted to welcome Fagri to Teleperformance and wish him a long, happy and successful career here.”

Alongside his own business interests, Semaar has been highly influential in driving foreign investment to South Africa; first as interim CEO of industry body BPeSA Western Cape and then as Chairman, a role he still occupies.

According to Gareth Pritchard, CEO of BPeSA Western Cape, Fagri is the perfect person for the job.  “He has an intricate understanding of both the local and international BPO sector and, as Chairman of BPeSA Western Cape, continues to play a key role in assisting us in attracting foreign direct investment.”

Minister for Economic Development and Tourism in the Western Cape Alan Winde, says the announcement of Semaar as CEO is proof that with hard work and dedication anything is possible.

“In 1999, Semaar grasped an opportunity that came his way, worked extremely hard, and has now become a leading figure in our call centre industry.  His achievement will hopefully encourage other young people to believe that anything is possible if they are willing to work hard.”

Following a highly successful 2011, the BPO industry in South Africa is set for another stellar year in 2012.

Over the past decade we have seen huge growth in the global BPO & Offshoring industry. In response to this, South Africa has formulated a very competitive Offshoring value proposition built around five core areas.

Cost Savings

Typically South Africa is able to offer source destinations a cost saving of around 50 %. This saving has increased even further on the back of the dti national incentive scheme which pays investors up to R112,000 for each job created and maintained over a 3 year period.

In Cape Town an additional incentive is available which pays for the first 6 months of telco services for new investors, further lowering the overall cost basket.

Domain Skills

South Africa’s mature domestic BPO market provides a large pool of world-class, experience and skills in the financial, telecommunications and legal domains. In terms of financial skills our tertiary education system generates large numbers of qualified actuaries, chartered accountants and other specialists each year. This is added to by sector-specific programmes in banking and insurance which assist by providing intermediate levels of skill.

There is a common misconception that the BPO sector in South Africa deals only in large scale entry level customer service work, although this does make up a large portion of the industry, it is in truth still only a part. In the last few years, we have seen some interesting developments in the UK insurance market, with South Africa being used as a high end outsourcing destination for actuaries. A similar trend is occurring in the LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing) sector, where South Africa is developing a reputation as a high end service location for legal based offshoring.

Large pool of English speaking agents

South Africa has a large pool of highly skilled English speaking graduates (345,000 graduates each year) to choose from, and is second only to India and the Philippines in terms of English speaking graduates coming out of a BPO supplier destination.

Robust enabling environment

Rapidly improving telecoms services have also added to our standing as a world class service destination. This change has been driven by the deregulation of the telecoms market, which has seen telecoms costs reduced by around 85% since 2003 and is set to improve even further on the back of further competition created by the various undersea cables.

First world experience

In terms of positioning, South Africa is well placed to service the European market and is able to fill a gap for US and Australian companies offering 24 hour customer support. South Africa also provides cultural affinity with Western markets, a key quality for a customer service destination.

“The BPO industry is a key job creator for the country and we are fully committed to helping BPeSA Western Cape and its partners in driving further investment to our shores,” says Alan Winde Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism for the Western Cape.

As the BPO industry continues to grow in 2012, so too will the competitive landscape. In response to this we need to be proactive and ensure our value proposition remains ahead of the curve. The industry is changing and we have started to see UK based companies pulling their voice operations out of India in favour of quality English speaking locations. This is a great opportunity for South Africa as we are viewed as a high quality voice destination, and as a result, if we can capture just a small percentage of this BPO exodus, we should see substantial industry growth going forward.

2012 is set to be another ground breaking year for the BPO industry, with a number of major developments expected.

Mass uptake of social media

Over the past five years there has been a global shift towards social media engagement; this in turn has resulted in a number of companies incorporating social media into their customer communication strategies. Despite this movement, numerous large scale BPO operators have yet to fully optimise social media as a customer engagement tool.

Following on from this definite industry trend, 2012 should mark the end of  traditional call centre with the contact centre becoming the accepted norm. This will result in voice no longer dominating customer service, but rather forming part of a bigger service offering.

The future of customer service will be integration, with voice, email, instant messaging and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google + all working together to serve as a holistic communication channel.

Unstable economy will increase outsourcing demand

A second global recession will drive the growth of the BPO sector in 2012 as businesses look at innovative ways to cut costs, without sacrificing on quality.

In a recent survey by industry experts Horses for Sources, 25% of organisations stated that they would be more likely to outsource on the back of the second recession. With outsourcing now seen as a tried and tested model, companies in times of economic woe will look to BPO as a way to reduce operational costs.

With increasing pressure on senior management to improve productivity whilst still cutting costs, BPO enables organisations to focus on improving core competencies, while secondary functions such as customer service are outsourced.

Pressure to keep offshore jobs onshore

On the back of another recession, worldwide unemployment levels have not shown any real signs of improvement placing further pressure on company’s offshoring their customer service. This is particularly evident in the US where a proposed bill is being discussed that would punish American companies for sending their customer call centres overseas. If this becomes law, it will have a huge impact on the Indian and Philippine BPO markets, both of which rely heavily on the US for both voice and back office services.

The proposed legislation is currently being driven by Republican Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union and would make companies that outsource their call centre work ineligible for guaranteed federal loans and grants for a period of five years.

Growth of the cloud

Cloud services for the contact centre will continue to grow in 2012 as organisations embrace the benefits and cost flexibility that comes with the technology. Cloud based solutions will also serve to level the technological playing fields as smaller operators will be able to access the latest technologies without the burden of high start-up costs.

India lose voice to rest of the world

We started to see this trend develop in 2011 with a number of UK companies moving their customer service voice operations back from Indian in favour of a quality onshore alternative. In a recessionary environment cutting costs is critical, but losing a customer is not negotiable, hence even in a recession, companies will be willing to spend money to keep their customer base. This will create opportunities for niche destinations like South Africa who are able to offer quality voice based solutions together with cultural affinity and similar time zone positioning.