WHY OUTSOURCE
FINANCIAL BENEFITS:
- Achieve up to 60% savings in OPEX
- Improve cashflows through reduced investment into infrastructure, systems development, staff training and absenteeism
- Free up your internal resources for revenue-generating services
- Streamline your core business processes and decrease time wasted on non-core functions
BUSINESS SUPPORT:
- Real-time access to a team of industry specialists, chartered accountants, attorneys, and experts in operations, human resources, IT and compliance
- Assurance from partnering with a reputable organisation run by a professional senior management team with a proven track record
- Support from a skilled workforce with relevant industry experience
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
- Achieved from minimal downtime through business continuity and overflow capacity support
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE:
- Achieved through enhanced GDPR and data protection practices and policies
THE BENEFITS OF DURBAN FOR BPO
Durban has been one of the leading locations for manufacturing and trade purposes and this has contributed to its growth as an international BPO location. It is characterised by a large talent pool and low cost. Durban offers quality skills in the contact centre space, especially for sales work, but is also focusing on increasing growth in niche functions. It offers good quality of life at a much lower cost as compared to other major South African cities such as Cape Town.
Superior quality of life
- Offers the best quality of life in South Africa as per the Mercer Quality of Living Survey 2019. Additionally, it is ranked highly in terms of city cleanliness.
Ease of doing business
- Ranked 2nd in dealing with construction permits and getting electricity amongst key cities in South Africa.
Development of the Technology Sector
- Development of an Innovation and Technology Business Incubator (InvoTech) funded by the Durban University of Technology and Small Enterprise Development Agency.
- Set up of Durban Technology Hub or SmartXchange, which provides enterprise development services to SMEs in the ICT sector.
Unique labour pool characteristics
- The contact centre industry has thrived in Durban, mainly due to the neutral accent and superior English-speaking skills.
- Additionally, the labour pool is characterised as being good at “sales processes” due to cultural reasons, which has made it an attractive choice for sales work in the voice space.
OTHER BENEFITS OF DURBAN FOR BPO
KEY POINTS
- 3.8 million Population
- 2.3 million Working age population
- 3 807 GDP (in billion rand)
- Key universities/colleges ‐ University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban University of Technology
- Transport infrastructure ‐ Established and advanced transport infrastructure characterised by good quality roads and railway system, and international air and trade ports. Additionally, direct flights to London have been introduced by British Airways, complementing the existing 84 flights to London, Sydney and Tampa
BPO FACTS
- > 55 000 Relevant degree holders available for hire at entry-level every year
- 3rd Largest employed talent pool in the global BPS sector at ~14,300 FTEs
- 65-75% Lower costs than tier-2 cities in England and the lowest cost of operations in South Africa for contact centre and IT work
KEY BUSINESSES BASED IN DURBAN
- > 55 000 Relevant degree holders available for hire at entry-level every year
- 3rd Largest employed talent pool in the global BPS sector at ~14,300 FTEs
- 65-75% Lower costs than tier-2 cities in England and the lowest cost of operations in South Africa for contact centre and IT work
- Aspen Pharmacare
- Bidvest Insurance
- Combined Motor Holdings
- Defy Appliances
- Dube Tradeport
- Hollywood Bets
- Mr Price
- RCL Foods
- Transnet Pipelines
- Union Airways
“Durban has its act together in the BPO space and is expected to grow the fastest among all the cities in South Africa.”
Outsurance
“For the UK, in particular, there has been a stigma around the Indian accent. South Africa, as a destination, because it has such a neutral accent, especially Durbanites have such a neutral accent, means the UK population is receptive to speaking to individuals from South Africa, and in particular, Durban.”
UK-based contact centre
SOUTH AFRICA’S GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES VALUE PROPOSITION
STRONG FOUNDATION IN CONTACT CENTRES AND NICHE AREAS
- Deep domain knowledge in financial services
- Global delivery expansion from contact centres to non-traditional areas such as legal and healthcare, game development, mass communication and broadcasting, and learning management
SKILLED AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORKFORCE
- Fluent English-speaking talent with neutral accent and high empathy levels
- Cultural affinity with the UK, Australia, and increasingly, the US
- Availability of large, and trainable talent pool, with strong understanding of technology
- Availability of talent across multiple cities; additional talent pool via impact sourcing
SIZEABLE REGIONAL AND DOMESTIC MARKET OPPORTUNITY
- Gateway to the African continent
- Large domestic market with increasing demand across telecom, BFSI, and retail industries
- Growing demand for digital solutions such as mobile payment systems, big data, and analytics
SIGNIFICANT COST SAVINGS
- 60-70% lower costs than the UK and Australia, 25-35% lower than leading CEE locations
- Incentives further reduce costs to bring them in the range of costs in the Philippines and India
SOPHISTICATED INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
- Availability of robust infrastructure and high quality of life
- Government support at national, regional, and sectoral levels to boost infrastructure and skills development
- Global contact centre standards ‐ ISO 18295 is based on South African standards. Multiple companies are POPI and GDPR compliant and have achieved ISO certifications
STRENGTHENING ICT AND DIGITAL CAPABILITIES
- One of the best ICT infrastructures in Africa
- Shift toward tech-enabled value addition to enhance customer experience: Evolving capabilities in omnichannel, customer analytics and next-generation solutions such as cloud, cybersecurity, AI, ML, and big data and analytics
DEEP DOMAIN SKILLS
South Africa prides itself on its ability to offer both entry-level customer service work as well as complex back-office and niche domain services.
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1st in the world for Auditing and Reporting Standards (World Economic Forum) |
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GDPR Compliant |
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World renowned data protection laws aligned to the UK and EU |
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Global pioneer and leader in international Customer Contact Centre Standard ISO 18295 ‐ 1:2017 |
| 2500+ | qualified actuaries |
| 7000+ | legal graduates per year |
| 12 800+ | master's degree graduates per year |
| 43 000+ | chartered accountants |
| 45 000+ | research and social sciences graduates per year |
| 250 000 | registered doctors, nurses and paramedics |
COST
KEY POINTS
South Africa offers major cost savings to source destinations such as Australia, the UK and the US of at least 40-45% on a steady-state operating basis (including overheads). This is supplemented by a national BPS incentive through the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) which pays prospective investors up to R290,000 per job created.
- Significant cost arbitrage for voice and non-voice services
- BPO ‐ 45% lower voice-based contact centre operating costs than those in tier-2 UK and US cities
- BPS ‐ 40% lower non-voice business processing costs than those in tier-2 UK and US cities
INFRASTRUCTURE
South Africa’s infrastructure is world-class, from road and power through to education, healthcare and entertainment, making it a conducive business and investment destination.
