The 2004 International Call Centre Expo in the UK proved that SA is a preferred destination for outsourced call centre services, say local delegates to the event.
The exhibition, held on 29 and 30 September, drew over 7 000 delegates from across the world. They were mainly decision-makers who budget for call centres, customer service, customer relationship management, sales, marketing, IT support and telecoms.
Dialogue Group was the only South African company to exhibit independently, while 10 other local call centre companies (e-Centric, 3 I-Solutions, CC Nucleus, Kelly Services, Emmanuel, Bizworks, Dimension Data, Syntell Business Solutions, Pharmacall and CallingtheCape) attended the expo under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Jason Drew, chairman of the Dialogue Group, says SA`s capacity to provide world-class, best-practice technology is a given. "Now that we are recognised as a key player, the market view is that the country should position itself as complementary to the Indian industry, instead of competing with it.
"SA is undoubtedly on the map and this signifies a new phase in the growth of the country`s contact centre industry," says Drew.
"During the expo, we met with business people and promoted SA as an ideal destination to come to," says Toni Masmanides, business development manager for Emmanuel.
"We then promoted call centres in the country and provided valuable information relating to operations and management of the industry. There were industry experts who were present to answer other technical questions relating to technology and staff management."
In 2003, the combined spending power of attendees exceeded lb1. 6 billion and over 20% of the visitors were seeking to spend over lb1 million each for contact services.
Conference organiser United Business Media contracted Dialogue to contact over 26 000 names on its database to publicise the event and handle registrations.
"All those at the expo commented on the high level of interpersonal and technical skills of the agents. This affirms SA`s high standard of service delivery," adds Drew.
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