You have the power future-proof your career prospects! If you take every advantage of every opportunity to learn new things and work on developing relevant skills, you will stand a greater chance of future career success.

A career in BPO offers you the opportunity to learn new skills and use them in a technology-driven work environment. The rapid growth of BPO’s in South Africa is expected to continue into the future with the adoption of digital and technology focussed solutions.

Contact Centre Skills are transferable to most other industries

With multiple channels of communication you will be up-skilled and future-skilled to the max! This will equip you to operate within any organisation or company.

The kind of technical Skills (competencies) that you can learn in this industry include;

• Telephone
• Email
• Internet
• IVR (Interactive Voice Response, also known as “touchtone”)
• Self- Service
• SMS (text messaging)
• Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc
• Web chat
• Smartphone Application Services
• Speech Self-Service
• Other: such as Voice to Data -Transcription

A More Awesome You!
Contact centres teach you technical skills that provide an advantage for your future success in the working world. Soft (and some not-so-soft, yet necessary) skills that you will learn include:

• Critical Thinking
• Complex problem-solving
• Creativity
• Cognitive Flexibility
• People Management
• Negotiation
• Coordinating with others
• Emotional Intelligence
• Service Orientation
• Judgment
• Decision-making

With all those skills you’ll never have to worry about lack of experience or work opportunities!

Content contributor: Valerie Grace Roscoe

With some BPO companies, worldwide travel for training and presentations at the client company base is just one of the perks of the job. Also, BPO skills are transferable to other countries – making it a good career choice if you plan to travel.

In BPO you no longer work for just one region or company. You become a global citizen the day you become part of this industry. South Africa is becoming a favourite location for many international companies to outsource business functions.

South Africa serves countries spanning multiple time zones for BPO delivery.

Companies in the United Kingdom and Australia and the United States have been outsourcing customer support functions to BPO centres in South Africa for many years. This work is evolving to include customer experience management (up-skilling, retention, chats and social media interaction, customer analytics, etc).

Why do companies outsource their business functions to BPO companies?

• It helps to keep down business costs for non-core business functions.
• BPO allows companies to access high expertise that would be expensive for them to hire on their own.
• BPO companies offer uninterrupted client care for companies that are based in other countries with different time zones.

Some BPO companies even offer virtual CEO, CFO, CIO, and other top-level management services to clients. This is especially helpful for smaller companies who cannot yet afford to employ people in these positions.

Reasons why South Africa is growing as an international BPO destination:

1. South Africa has a large availability of good quality English speaking talent with high empathy, cultural affinity, and niche domain skills, which have led to success in next-generation service delivery
2. People in South Africa have a more neutral accent compared to those in India and other countries. This makes it ideal for contact centre delivery to the United Kingdom and Australia.

South African BPO companies serve countries across many time zones.

8 Reasons to be proud to work in the South African BPO industry.

South Africa ranks highly against our offshore peers (India, the Phillippines, Poland, Ireland, and Scotland)

1. First in the extent of staff training among offshore peers
2. Second in the “Financial Services meeting business needs” ranking among offshore peers
3. First in terms of mobile phone subscriptions among offshore peers
4. A digital economy that is considered to be the most developed in Africa
5. Most favoured customer related laws – The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) which regulates how companies handle, keep and secure their customers’ information
6. First in mobile network coverage (as a percentage of population) among offshore peers
7. First in terms of strength of auditing and reporting standards globally
8. 6th best place in the world for overseas workers (expats) to work

Click here for the original BPESA report

BPO is a Growth Industry 

The growth of BPO is due to South Africa becoming a popular location for many international brands to outsource business functions. Growth is expected to continue into the future.

Reasons why South Africa is growing as an international BPO destination:

1. South Africa has a large availability of good quality English speaking talent. Many international companies have found that South Africans have high empathy, cultural affinity, and niche skills. This has led to success in next-generation service delivery.
2. People in South Africa have a more neutral accent compared to those in India and other countries. This makes it ideal for contact centre delivery to the United Kingdom and Australia

South Africa has witnessed high growth in the BPO industry over the past 4 years – growing by 22% annually. This is twice the global growth rate of the industry and 3 times faster than India and the Philippines.  The number of people employed in the South African BPO industry:

5 reasons why BPO is a career of the future

1. It’s one of the fastest-growing industries in South Africa and the world
2. It’s an industry that offers many opportunities for career growth
3. Intensive training leads to all-round professional development
4. Opportunity to specialise in specific domains/industries
5. World class infrastructure creates a great long-term working environment

Content & Information sources:
Valerie Grace Roscoe
BPESA

The BPO industry prides itself on fast-tracking careers for its talent. As a result, careers in the industry are taking off at a speed that is unmatched by most other industries. Promotions are intentionally fast-moving and quality workers are awarded the promotions and opportunities, along with the extra incentives or commissions as well as pay increases in some cases.

BPO is one of the few industries where:

• You impact the organisational life of global brands.
• You have the power to steer the course of an organisation’s global journey.
• You can become part of the success of the companies you work for
• You get to play a major role in the life of your client at a very young age.

“It is better for BPO companies to keep employees well, and happy than to keep recruiting new staff, so we rest our people and respect their personal challenges as well.” – Valerie Grace Roscoe

Tailored workspace environments, smart offices and remote working or home-based agents are examples of the work adaptations that are becoming the norm. New management techniques include self-management learning and flexible working.
Employers use flexible hours and shift work to ensure that contact centre staff do not burn–out.

Many outsourcers have very cool wellness programmes that vary from centre to centre. Some may be free to use or there may be a small subsided fee. Wellness Programmes include things like monthly massage and spa moments, Addiction Assistance services, Gym, Health & Lifestyle, Child Care, Psychological counselling, Trauma, and HIV Aids and/ or other Dread Disease counselling and support and Conflict Management and Resolution.

Content contributors:
Valerie Grace Roscoe
BPESA

Most BPO process service types offer financial incentives and commissions for achieving beyond their agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA). Many of the captive and the very best outsourced centres will provide part or full medical aid, retirement fund, annual bonus and wellness and lifestyle programmes.

Depending on the company you work for,  you may be eligible for added travel benefits when you get promoted to management level. This happens when you are flown to the clients’ operational base to:

• be part of training for programmes /campaigns
• to be a part of their awards and recognition events if you have performed at the top of your game and won awards for their company. In these cases, all expenses are paid, including flights, accommodation and sometimes even some spending money is allocated so that you may further enjoy your international or local travel experience with your industry peers.

Personal benefits
“Making new friends all over the world, learning professional excellence by picking up Best Practice is what it’s all about – and an opportunity that not many would turn down. I and many others in Contact Centres have made some firm lifelong friends. I have been lucky enough to engage with business mentors and have successfully and radically grown, both on a personal development and professional front, thanks to BPO.”  – Valerie Grace Roscoe

Salaries

Basic salaries in Gauteng are generally higher in comparison to the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The difference in salaries can be attributed to the type of work and industries serviced. Back office functions and financial services generally offer higher salaries. The majority of this type of work is done in Gauteng.
Outbound process agents usually start with a lower basic salary but have good financial incentives and commissions. KZN and Western Cape are popular outbound sales locations with high earning potential.

The average entry-level monthly salary for agents:

Between R5 000 – R9 000

The South African Department of Labour standard of paying for sick-leave, special and annual leave applies –  just like any other industry. All public holidays are included. If your centre is servicing the international market then you will work their operational hours and get time off on their bank and public holidays.
Shift work employees are often given transport to their home after shift end for either early morning end or start and there is often food stipend included for these workers too.

Personal wellness 

Many outsourcers have very cool Wellness Programmes that vary from centre to centre. Some may be free to use or there may be a small subsided fee. Wellness Programmes include things like monthly massage and spa moments, Addiction Assistance services, Gym and Health & Lifestyle, Child Care, Psychological counselling, Trauma, and HIV Aids and/or other Dread Disease counselling and support and Conflict Management and Resolution.

Extra benefits

The fun never stops!

Contact centres often have team and department challenges. These team building events provide entertainment and support fundraising initiatives. Team building develops you personally as well as professionally. They can include fancy or theme dress-up days, sporting competitions against other centres, industry awards and year-end functions. Celebration days such as Valentines’ Day, Women’s Day, Mandela Day 67 Minutes activities, Casual Day and Colour Run, are also very popular.

By Valerie Roscoe