Your technology provider turned its back on you – now it’s your turn

Smartz Solutions: More than just a CCaaS platform.

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African businesses, you've just been put on notice. With the recent public announcement made by a popular contact centre technology provider, African businesses have been left outraged. If your contact centre has fewer than 200 agents, you either size up, pay more or you no longer qualify for services.

And yet, this isn’t just about minimum seat requirements. It’s about something far bigger. This type of disregard by such a large provider doesn’t just affect small and mid-sized contact centres – it puts all African businesses at risk, regardless of their size.

This is about a long-standing issue where African businesses have been trapped in a cycle of dependency on legacy technology providers, locked into excessive fees, restrictive contracts and inflexible systems.

Whether you have 50 seats or 5 000, your future is uncertain. Because your business is not their priority.

For too long, the power balance has been wrong. But now, it’s time to turn the tables.

In South Africa alone, the contact centre industry employs over 240 000 people, with projections to reach 300 000 soon, generating nearly $2 billion in revenue (outsource-consultants.com). Notably, many of these centres are small to mid-sized operations, with an average size of 77 agents (Wits University). These businesses form the backbone of customer service and economic activity, delivering critical support across industries like financial services, retail, telecommunications and public services.

But this isn’t just a small business problem, it’s an African business problem.

The recent announcement doesn’t just target smaller operations, it signals a fundamental shift in how international service providers view African businesses as a whole. Regardless of size, every business relying on legacy providers should be asking: What’s next? If they can discard part of their user base today, what stops any international provider from tightening the screws even further tomorrow?

So the message has become clear; African businesses, no matter their scale, are not a priority.

Even before this latest announcement, African businesses were already paying the price for dependency on legacy systems.

• High costs: Enterprise-grade solutions designed for global markets come with price tags denominated in USD, making them increasingly unaffordable for local businesses grappling with currency fluctuations.
• Lack of flexibility: Legacy systems demand long-term contracts with little room for negotiation, meaning businesses are often forced into rigid pricing structures.
• Slow to evolve: The very nature of legacy technology means updates, integrations and adaptations take longer and cost more. In an era where customer expectations change almost overnight, this is simply unsustainable.

The good news? African businesses are not without options.

Smartz Solutions has been listening, adapting and evolving with businesses globally since 2006. The company doesn’t see small and mid-sized contact centres as an afterthought – it sees them as the core of the industry.

• No minimum seat requirement: Whether you have 20 agents or 2 000, Smartz Solutions' platform is designed to scale with your business.
• Region-based pricing: No more paying inflated costs. Smartz Solutions operates in the local African market, with pricing models that make sense for African businesses.
• Flexible cloud and on-premises options: Cloud shouldn’t be a forced migration. It should be a choice. Smartz Solutions gives businesses the freedom to stay on-premises, go hybrid or transition to the cloud when it makes sense for them.
• Proven success in replacing legacy providers: Smartz Solutions has successfully replaced over 1 000 seats in major contact centres, with more transitions currently under way.

This is the difference between a company that listens and a company that dictates.

For years, African businesses have been held hostage by legacy contact centre providers. The rules were simple: pay up, play by their terms and maybe – just maybe – you’ll get the functionality you need.

But now, you don’t have to accept it.

If your technology provider is telling you that you’re not worth their time, why should you give them your money?

Smartz Solutions offers a reliable, flexible and future-ready alternative – one that puts your needs first, without the restrictive contracts and the arrogance of dismissing smaller contact centres.