On 25 October 2012, South Africa was announced as the winner of the National Outsourcing Association’s (NOA’s) Offshoring Destination of the Year Award. The award ceremony was held in London, and attended by the biggest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) players from across the globe.
Cape Town is South Africa’s leading city for BPO and has numerous call centres for new international companies. It is also the preferred location for the expansion of various domestic and international operations in recent years. Cape Town hosts a number of leading global brands including Amazon, ASDA, Bloomberg, British Gas, iiNet, Shell, Shop Direct and T-Mobile.
Making Cape Town a destination in which the call centre industry can thrive ties in with the City of Cape Town’s efforts to build an Opportunity City, by creating an economically enabling environment in which business can thrive and jobs can be created.
Cape Town’s BPO/call centre industry has grown from 20 428 agents in 2007/8, to 27 552 in 2011/12. This represents a year on year growth of 10.5%
The offshoring sector saw even greater growth during this period, increasing from 2 963 to 4 727 agents within the same period, representing a year on year growth of 16.9%. Within the last year this sector has created 1 619 direct jobs, and has attracted investment to the value of R510 million.
Business Process enabling South Africa (BPeSA) Western Cape is a City- funded body tasked with the facilitation of growth in this sector, and is the official trade and investment body for the BPO and offshoring/call centre industry in the Western Cape. This body runs the various programmes which have attracted the afore-mentioned international brands and outsourcers to Cape Town.
“BPO and Offshoring is one of Cape Town’s key growth sectors, and we are constantly looking for ways to develop it. The City of Cape Town, together with BPeSA Western Cape, have worked tirelessly to make Cape Town the outsourcing destination of choice,” said Alderman Belinda Walker, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Environmental and Spatial Planning.
Cape Town’s offering to businesses looking to outsource
- Potential cost savings to source destinations such as the UK of approximately 50%. There is also an incentive scheme put in place by the Department of Trade and Industry which pays investors up to R112 000 (approximately £8 000) for each job created and maintained over a three year period.
- World Class infrastructure, as showcased during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, from roads and power, through to education, healthcare and entertainment, makes Cape Town a convenient place to do business.
- A large pool of skilled English speaking people.
- Two of the country’s top universities, the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape, as well as top FET colleges such as the False Bay College are situated in the city. The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business consistently achieves a Global Top 100 ranking in the Financial Times rankings survey. This culture of academic excellence ensures that businesses can find the right people to take their business forward.
- Cape Town shares many cultural similarities with the UK especially, but also with Australian and US markets, making it an ideal customer service destination for English voice-based interaction
- In addition, Cape Town is well-positioned to service European markets in terms of time zones.
Supporting this is the City’s broadband infrastructure investment. “R213 million has been allocated for the roll out of broadband infrastructure throughout the Metro. This investment will build-up extra data capacity in the city which will, in turn, boost our competitive advantage,” said Alderman Demetri Qually, Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services.
“The City’s investments in broadband infrastructure will yield considerable efficiency benefits for this sector particularly and reinforce our attractiveness as an outsourcing destination”, concluded Alderman Walker.
