Buzz proves to be the ultimate business channel for banks

This is becoming especially true in the rapidly developing banking and financial services sector, where competition between banks to bring in new customers and retain existing ones continues to escalate. At the 'Channels' retail banking strategy conference, organised by IIR Holdings last month, regional banks and financial institutions voiced their intensifying customer acquisition requirements, but in a situation where they control cost variables at efficient levels while at the same time increase revenues and profitability ratios per existing and new customers.

Buzz Contact Centre Solutions, the leading OSP contact centre in the UAE, took advantage of the high level gathering at the 'Channels' conference to present its cutting edge service package aimed at Gulf and Middle East based banking institutions.

"Buzz is specialized in making sure that banks and financial institutions do not become overburdened with customer relationship and client acquisition costs," said Abdullah Qasim Chief Manager at Buzz. "We have taken what used to be viewed by business managers as a 'cost centre' and revamped the operations and structure of the 'call centre' to make it into a revenue generating business function."

Buzz, an Emirates Bank Group (EBG) company, is aiming for 6 million calls this year and stands to grab the number one position in the business process out-sourcing (BPO) business in the region with the strengths coming from its advanced infrastructure, technological edge and the mix of nationalities. Having proven successful as EBG's internal call centre, Buzz is now pushing to sign deals with other regional banks.

Ibrahim Gailani, Buzz call centre manager held a variety of meetings with leading banks and financial institutions in an intensive effort to expand the company's business portfolio. "The outsourcing business is still in the growing phase and there are currently only two or three other major players in the region," he commented. "We are going to see a boom in this business and demand from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain is growing very fast."

There are four main reasons for banks to outsource their call centre operations, which include:

1)Investment/Capital Expenditure Hurdles: Call centres incur huge annual operations costs because of the fixed costs of agents, supervisors and management salaries. By outsourcing on a variable cost basis, companies only pay in accordance to the volume of calls serviced.

2)Not a core competency: Dealing with customer contacts over the phone, fax or web is a bank's core competency. Outsourcing therefore makes good business sense. This holds true even for companies in the service sector who have experience in face-to-face customer interaction, but lack experience in telephone or other customer contact areas.

3)Time to Market/Capacity Restrictions: Setting up a contact centre is expensive, involving multiple vendor solutions, a systems integrator, and a full project team. This initial start-up cost is often too great an expense for most companies.

4)Move from Fixed to Variable Costs: The start-up time for a contact centre is usually quite substantial. When businesses need a much quicker turn-around time - for example, to provide services for customers in less than 2 weeks for a new product or a new campaign promotion, outsourcing is a far more realistic option. Even companies with a call centre may sometimes not have the access capacity for servicing a new campaign, and outsourcing then becomes imperative.

"Most companies who decide to outsource need to have the confidence in the outsource service provider to deliver results and that comes only through efficient operational management, outstanding staff quality, and consistent and cost efficient service delivery," continued Gailani. "Buzz has the experience, know-how, technology and human assets that will deliver confidence and results, every time."

Channels, is a leading edge conference and exhibition which comprises of a rare gathering of highly sought after speakers, top solution providers and the largest audience of senior bankers who will meet to discuss critical business issues. Channels will be run over a four-day period - three days for the conference and exhibition plus one full day of workshops.

Channels addressed particularly pressing global and regional issues in the banking industry, and the banking strategy summit dealt with globalization, profitability and technology. Experts flew in from Europe, Asia, Far East, Australia and South Africa.

Buzz Contact Center Solutions was established as an OSP for Call Center Services in March and in a short space of time, has made an impressive mark on the call centre services industry, with an impressive portfolio of clients from the banking and finance, news and media, hospitality and entertainment industries. The company recently won Perdue University's "Centre of Excellence" awarded to us in U.S. when benchmarked to Global Standards.