[kictanet] Develop the LOCAL outsourcing market

pwere at cascadegl.com pwere at cascadegl.com
Mon Feb 11 17:22:00 EAT 2008 


It is encouraging to read the debate on the growth and development of the local
outsourcing market. The Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society(KBPOCCS) has put in
place an aggressive plan to encourage companies based in Kenya, to outsource
their non-core processes. 

Indeed we have been working very closely with the ICT Board to develop the local
outsourcing industry, and, 3 weeks ago the KBPOCCS submitted to the Board, an
annual program of events to realise this. 

Some of these events include workshops,trainings, and one to one meetings with
the larger coroporates, as indicated in Paul Kukubo's email. We are glad that
the ICT Board has incorporated our local program of events, in their calendar of
events for 2008.

KBPOCCS appreciates the strides the Government has taken in developing this
sector. We also realise that it is important for Government to show further
commitment by way of outsourcing various processes including digitization of its
records, data processing etc.

We would like to highlight some of the things that the Kenya BPO & Contact
Centre Society has accomplished so far, within its very limited resources. These
include:

1. Developing a Standards and Ethics Framework for the call centre and BPO
industry in Kenya

2. Organising Kenya's participation at the Call Centre Expo in Birmingham, UK
and Outsource World Expo in New York in 2007.

3. Participating at the International Trade Centre's 'Bridges Accross Boarders'
event in Accra, Ghana in 2007.

4. Advertising in the UK trade press through Call Centre Focus Magazine -
Europe's leading magazine for the Contact Centre Industry.

5. Publicity in the international media about Kenya as a call centre destination. 

6. Publicity about the relevance of the BPO sector, in local media.

7. The Kenya BPO and Contact Centre Society sits on the Commonwealth
Secretariat's,  Sector Team that is developing a strategy for the Kenya
Government, on developing Kenya's Services export sector.

8. The BPO Society is working very closely with various international
organisations such as the International Trade Centre in Geneva, the European
Union, and the Commonwealth Secreatariat, in an effort to develop Kenya's
fledgling BPO Sector, through marketing Kenya as an outsourcing destination.

9. The BPO Society has developed a Training Framework to standardize the
training of call centre agents in Kenya.

Our main chalenge has been lack of a Secretariat. This has now been addressed 
through the tireless efforts of KBPOCCS Executive Committee, given that we have
not had funding for this, from any outside source.

 A Secretariat will now be in place from 18th February. We expect this to make a
great difference in the areas of communication with our members as well as
organization of bi-monthly activities for industry players.Our membership is now
strengthening and enabling us to commence a series of activities from this month.

This year the BPO Society intends to implement a program that will see the
development of both the local and international outsourcing market, irrespective
of the recent unrest. The Society will also be holding a series of
workshops for capacity building for its members, as well as engaging in
international PR and marketing, and, building alliances with BPO industry
associations in South Africa, the UK, India, the Philippines, North America, and
the Netherlands.

The BPO Society will also publish White Papers that address various industry issues.

We are asking our members and non-members to look out for the dates of the
various events the BPO Society will be holding. 

We are also encouraging suggestions and recomendations from our members and
non-members to incorporate in our calendar of events, to build the BPO Sector in
Kenya. 

kind regards

Peres Were
Marketing & PR
Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society


Quoting John Walubengo <jwalu at yahoo.com>:

> Very timely ideas.  Indeed we must grow the 'local'
> outsourcing markets particularly in view of the current
> doubts and jitters from international clients arising from
> the post-election crisis.  
> 
> I believe the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) turned 'local' a
> few years back when the toursit sector nose-dived in the
> mid-90s and they were positively suprised to find a willing
> middle-class. All they (KTB) needed to do to mature the
> domestic market was to tweak the rates while promoting the
> holidays during the 'low'-seasons i.e when the hotels are
> largely empty.  
> 
> Maybe the BPO industry can pull similar moves to mature the
> domestic BPO industry.
> 
> walu.
> 
> --- Paul Kukubo <pkukubo at ict.go.ke> wrote:
> 
> > Marcel
> > 
> > Thanks for this email and I am glad that you have flagged
> > two important
> > issues.
> > 
> > 1. Outsourcing creats jobs
> > 
> > 2. Local outsourcing is critical.
> > 
> > One would have to agree that the biggest potential source
> > of outsource jobs
> > in Kenya is the Corporate Sector and the Government. Both
> > are not really big
> > outsourcers at the moment. None of them is doing large
> > outsourcing of
> > customer service (through call centres) or data
> > processing.
> > 
> > The Kenya ICT Board believes that local outsourcing is
> > what will give this
> > industry momentum. I will therefore follow on the local
> > opportunities you
> > mention specifically in your email in order to establish
> > what we can do as a
> > board to support the industry. Here we need KIF's
> > partnership to establish
> > where this actual opportunities lie and to speak to the
> > decision makers in
> > the context of a private public partnership.
> > 
> > Incidentally, I have spoken to the CEO at KEPSA to agree
> > a date in March
> > when the board will to meet with the larger corporations
> > to understand their
> > outsourcing strategies if any and to help encourage them
> > to look at local
> > companies favourably. We need to know whether decision
> > makers feel there are
> > challenges to this participation by local firms. The
> > campaign to outsource
> > work locally has our support. It is part of our strategy.
> > 
> > One would have to agree that there are many reasons for
> > the Kenya
> > Governement to consider developing outsourcing. By
> > unbundling service
> > delivery, Government can deliver services better to
> > citizens. As part of our
> > strategy, the board is building a case for a formal
> > governnment approach to
> > outsourcing. This is one of the ways to create self
> > sufficiency and jobs in
> > the economy.When we present our strategic plan to the
> > industry in March, we
> > shall detail this.
> > 
> > My challenge to the IT enabled services sector, (which
> > includes Outsourcing,
> > software development, systems support etc ) is that we
> > also have to build
> > strong businesses and partner with world class firms
> > where it helps.
> > 
> > My experience in the sector is that there is lots of work
> > out there, but
> > alot if it is actually outsourced offshore. We dont want
> > a situation where
> > the Board goes out building the case for outsourcing and
> > we get in what is
> > relatively low value work, only for the higher value work
> > locally to be
> > offshored.  They way to mitigate this is to build strong
> > local business
> > lobbies (as we are doing through KIF etc), to be
> > aggressive in partnering to
> > deliver to contracts and to develop local skills.
> > 
> > As the board, we have a mandate to ensure outsourcing is
> > developed and
> > people are employed in the process.
> > 
> > As the outsourcing sector is also suffering due to
> > Kenya's reputation
> > currently, one of the mitigating actions is to build
> > local outsourcing.
> > 
> > On 2/11/08, Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > We are encouraged by the developments in the BPO
> > Sector. The recent
> > > meeting between Kenya BPO & Contact Center Society and
> > the ICT Board
> > > revealed steps in the right direction as regards
> > engagement by local
> > > entities and more specifically, Government, in taking
> > the lead in
> > > outsourcing. The positive engagement between the BPO
> > Society and The
> > > Ministry of Special Projects in establishing a
> > call/contact center facility
> > > for the easy access by the displaced and other
> > dis-enfranchised Kenyans
> > > following the recent sad events is a commendable
> > effort.
> > >
> > > I am informed that the Kenya Police was severely
> > constrained and could
> > > hardly cope with the numerous distress calls that it
> > received because of
> > > inadequate technological systems. They may also
> > similarly be looking to
> > > enhance their capability.
> > >
> > > Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a healthy
> > practice and common
> > > business sense that helps improve efficiency. Farming
> > out
> > > non-mission-critical tasks to specialised service
> > providers creates jobs.
> > > Not only if the client is off-shore, but also if the
> > client is local and now
> > > more focused on its core business, thereby becoming
> > more competitive and
> > > cost-effective. We have not seen much evidence that we
> > are scouting around
> > > at home for BPO opportunities, more urgent now that the
> > country's
> > > international image has taken a beating during the past
> > few weeks. Those
> > > locally based companies that have capabilities to offer
> > BPO services should
> > > be given more support, also from locally based clients.
> > This is good for the
> > > economy, and good for the BPO industry.
> > >
> > > Positive steps being taken by the Kenya ICT Board in
> > promoting Kenya as an
> > > Outsource destination should be fully supported. More
> > should also be done by
> > > the local business that should equally be encouraged to
> > outsource. Some,
> > > like Safaricom, had made some indications towards
> > outsourcing and nobody
> > > knows where this process ended. The Kenya ICT Board,
> > The Ministry of ICT and
> > > other ICT Sector Associations should be urged to lobby
> > for such
> > > opportunities to be given to local BPO Operators, not
> > only because it
> > > enables job creation in these hard times, but also
> > because it helps
> > > establish a local competence and capability that we
> > need before we embark on
> > > the international leg of selling Kenya as an outsource
> > destination.
> > >
> > > What are the industry players doing in encouraging
> > this? Over to you
.
> > >
> > > Marcel Werner, chairman Kenya ICT Federation -
> > www.kif.or.ke
> > >
> > > please send any office correspondence to:
> > > marcelwerner at innovation-africa.net
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Paul Kukubo
> > Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board
> > PO Box 27150 - 00100
> > Nairobi, Kenya
> > 
> > Teleposta Towers 10th Floor
> > 
> > Tel direct: +254 20 2089062/251152
> > Fax: +254 20 315147
> > Cell: + 254 733 739488
> > 
> > website: www.ict.go.ke
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> 
> 
>      
>
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