The Call Centre Sector

This report focuses on South Africa’s call or contact centre industry which accounts for 80% of business process outsourcing (BPO) operations and contributes more than R46bn annually to the country’s GDP. Foreign investment continues to drive growth across the industry, which employs more than 200,000 people. Contact Centre Management Group (CCMG) statistics show that there are almost 1,900 call centres in South Africa. Of these 21% are corporate or captive call centres and 40% are outsourced call centres dedicated to outbound sales and telemarketing. While Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban are the major call centre hubs in the country, the Western Cape has the highest number of international clients.

Developments in the Sector

In the global industry, South Africa’s main competitive advantages are seen as its cultural affinity with the United Kingdom, its pool of educated English speakers and increasingly its specialised skills, especially in the financial services sector. 75% of foreign investment in the call centre sector originates from Government support in the form of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Business Process Outsourcing incentives. The five year extension of these incentives until 2019 is expected to result in further growth especially for the 18 to 35 age group where job creation is most needed. The growth of social media, web-based solutions and other developments in technology continue to drive change in contact centres locally and around the world.

Report Coverage

The report on the South African Call Centre sector focuses on the current state of the sector, developments within the sector and factors influencing the success of the industry. The report profiles 21 companies including listed company Aegis Outsourcing South Africa (Pty) Ltd which operates as an inbound call centre outsourcer and has approximately 15 clients in the telecommunications, automotive, leisure, pharmaceutical, financial, utility and insurance sectors. Also profiled are unlisted companies including TT Callcentre (Pty) Ltd t/a Tele-Tech which operates as a call centre and offers direct marketing services.