MECC 06 session to focus on regional contact centre outsourcing opportunities

    Dumped value of 'ID':
'75345';

Dumped value of 'images_loop':
[];

Dominick Keenaghan, President of show organizers
INSIGHTS, commented 'according to our research, the total number of call centre seats in the region is growing at over thirty percent per annum at present, but even higher growth is being seen in the outsourcing sector. Many of the region's major players such as Xceed and Raya are witnessing a rapid expansion in their activities due to international outsourcing contracts, and several other large call centres in the Levant/Egypt area are being set up to enter this market. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of most of the countries in the Gulf where the economics of uncompetitive labor and real estate costs combined with high international telecoms rates mean that this part of the Middle East is unlikely to witness sizeable, international outsourcing activity growth at present.'

Continued Keenaghan, 'growth in call centre outsourcing in the Gulf will have to come from the region itself due to its inability to complete with other international players such as India and the Philippines, except in specialist topics such as Arabic-delivered service. The better news here though is that there is enormous scope for contact centre outsourcing in the region given some imaginative decision and deal making by potential suitors.'

Contact Centre Outsourcing arrangements are notorious for finger-pointing showdowns and seemingly endless re-negotiations. According to
INSIGHTS however it does not have to be like this if both parties take the time to understand the other's viewpoint and make agreements based on the fundamentals. The Contact Centre Outsourcing workshop at MECC 06 sets out to help regional companies minimize these costly, debilitating situations by reinforcing key outsourcing concepts, explaining how the business case needs to be prepared, giving guidelines on how to choose an outsource partner, presenting tips on how to manage the outsource partner and looking at ways to expand and develop an outsourcing relationship going forward.

Keenaghan concluded, 'Contact Centre Outsourcing is proven as a cost-effective business model but only if the arrangement is based on careful planning, flexibility, trust and partnership. Miss any of these ingredients out and the companies concerned will join the all-too-long list of failed outsourcing arrangements. Get the relationship right and, as many have demonstrated, business can move to a higher, more profitable level.'