Report Coverage
This report focuses on the South African contact centre industry, a subsector of the business process outsourcing industry. It includes information on the state of the sector, job creation, government support, and influencing factors. There are profiles of 40 companies including international companies with call centre operations in South Africa such as Aegis, CCI, Merchants, Outworx and Webhelp, and back office suppliers such as Altron and Business Connexion.
Introduction
This report focuses on the South African contact centre industry, a subsector of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry which, according to consultancy firm McKinsey, was valued in 2020 at approximately R7.8bn in revenue. Business Process Enabling South Africa, an industry body, said the sector generates R1.9bn per annum in export revenue, from contracts to outsource services mainly from the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and Australia. Robust support by government, through the incentives offered by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), has seen the sector grow despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, 7,354 additional jobs were created in the Western Cape. The Protection of Personal Information Act, which came into effect in July 2021, requires contact centres to ensure that the personal information of their customers is stored securely and removed if there is no user consent. The Act says unsolicited electronic communication as a form of direct marketing is prohibited unless certain provisions of the act are complied with. Outbound call centres (conducting sales/telemarketing) for example, need to capture clients’ preferred mode of communication (such as email or sms only), and exclusively communicate with them on that channel.
Strengths
• Significant cost savings – South Africa has one of the lowest cost of operations for English contact centre delivery.
• Solid performance due to government incentives and industry support.
• Sophisticated infrastructure and enabling environment.
• South Africa is a high-quality voice call destination.
• Time zones are compatible with the UK and Europe.
Weaknesses
• High labour rates compared to some competitors such as India and the Philippines.
• Increasingly costly and often unreliable electricity supply.
Opportunities
• Continued improvement of network to strengthen connectivity and lower costs.
• Growth due to demand by financial, legal, retail, and other sectors for contact centre services.
• More international businesses outsourcing call centres to South Africa to reduce costs.
Threats
• High telecommunications costs, increasing electricity and labour costs, and slow economic growth, could cause South Africa to lose it competitive advantage.
• Political unrest could discourage companies offshore from outsourcing business processes.
Outlook
South Africa has established itself as a lucrative outsourcing hub, and the business process outsourcing industry is expected to continue expanding, as many companies embrace remote working and migrate functions to productive locations in emerging markets. To maintain its most favoured offshore destination position, South Africa will need to ensure that it remains cost effective as a business and investment destination and continue to be able to offer skilled workers. While it is still too early to say how political uncertainty will affect the industry, Business Process Enabling South Africa’s Andy Searle said “service interruption has a cost, as do any potential lost opportunities. The biggest loss will be reputational damage. South Africa fought hard to establish itself as a stable and reliable destination, where even a global pandemic could not halt service delivery, and a concerted effort is going to be needed to get back on track.”
Full Report
R 6 500.00(ZAR) estimated $340.17 (USD)*
Industry Landscape
R 4 550.00(ZAR) estimated $ 238.12 (USD)*
Industry Organogram
R 450.00(ZAR) estimated $ 23.55 (USD)*
Historical Reports
The Contact Centre Operations Industry in South Africa 2019-08-15
R 1 900.00(ZAR) estimated $99.43 (USD)*
View Report Add to CartThe Contact Centre Operations Industry in South Africa 2017-05-25
R 1 900.00(ZAR) estimated $99.43 (USD)*
View Report Add to CartThe Contact Centre Operations Industry in South Africa 2015-09-22
R 1 900.00(ZAR) estimated $99.43 (USD)*
View Report Add to CartTable of Contents
[ Close ]PAGE | ||
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1. | INTRODUCTION | 1 |
2. | DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY | 1 |
2.1. | Industry Value Chain | 2 |
2.2. | Geographic Position | 3 |
3. | SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY | 4 |
4. | STATE OF THE INDUSTRY | 5 |
4.1. | Local | 5 |
4.1.1. | Corporate Actions | 10 |
4.1.2. | Regulations | 10 |
4.1.3. | Enterprise Development and Social Economic Development | 12 |
4.2. | Continental | 13 |
4.3. | International | 14 |
5. | INFLUENCING FACTORS | 16 |
5.1. | Coronavirus | 16 |
5.2. | Economic Environment | 16 |
5.3. | Rising Input Costs | 17 |
5.4. | Government Support | 17 |
5.5. | Labour | 19 |
5.6. | Technology, Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation | 24 |
6. | COMPETITION | 25 |
6.1. | Barriers to Entry | 28 |
7. | SWOT ANALYSIS | 28 |
8. | OUTLOOK | 29 |
9. | INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS | 29 |
10. | REFERENCES | 30 |
10.1. | Publications | 30 |
10.2. | Websites | 30 |
APPENDIX 1 – SUMMARY OF NOTABLE PLAYERS | 31 | |
COMPANY PROFILES | 34 | |
1STREAM MANAGED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD | 34 | |
ACCENTURE SERVICES (PTY) LTD | 36 | |
AEGIS OUTSOURCING SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD | 38 | |
ALTRON TMT (PTY) LTD | 40 | |
AVIRTUAL SERVICES (PTY) LTD | 43 | |
BUSINESS CONNEXION (PTY) LTD | 45 | |
CARE CALL RETAIL AND DISTRIBUTION SERVICES (PTY) LTD | 48 | |
CCI SA (DURBAN) (PTY) LTD | 49 | |
CCI SA JOHANNESBURG (PTY) LTD | 51 | |
CCI SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD | 53 | |
CENTREVO (PTY) LTD | 55 | |
DIGITAL MALL (PTY) LTD | 57 | |
DREAMSCHEME 76 (PTY) LTD | 59 | |
DURBAN TECHNOLOGY HUB NPC | 61 | |
EC THREE (PTY) LTD | 63 | |
ERNST AND YOUNG SERVICES (PTY) LTD | 65 | |
EXLSERVICE SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD | 67 | |
FSP SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD | 69 | |
FULL CIRCLE CONTACT CENTRE SERVICES (PTY) LTD | 71 | |
GIJIMA GROUP LTD | 72 | |
I-TALK CALL CENTRE SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD | 76 | |
ICONTACT (PTY) LTD | 77 | |
IGNITION TELECOMS INVESTMENTS (PTY) LTD | 79 | |
LABORIA SOLUTIONS (PTY) LTD | 82 | |
MANGO 5 (PTY) LTD | 84 | |
MARKET IQ (PTY) LTD | 86 | |
MERCHANTS SA (PTY) LTD | 88 | |
MINDPEARL SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD | 90 | |
MTN GROUP LTD | 92 | |
NEXTEC INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES (PTY) LTD | 96 | |
O'KEEFFE AND SWARTZ CONSULTANTS (PTY) LTD | 101 | |
OUTWORX CONTACT CENTRE (PTY) LTD | 103 | |
SA COMMERCIAL (PTY) LTD | 105 | |
SOLUGROWTH (PTY) LTD | 107 | |
STATE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGENCY SOC LTD | 109 | |
TALKSURE TRADING (PTY) LTD | 113 | |
TP SOUTH AFRICA TRADING (PTY) LTD | 114 | |
WEBHELP SA OUTSOURCING (PTY) LTD | 116 | |
WNS GLOBAL SERVICES SA (PTY) LTD | 118 | |
WNS SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD | 120 |