[kictanet] Day 2 of 10:-BPO discussions, Legal and Regulatory Frameworks

[muriuki mureithi]

Thanks Walu for the early morning call 

Q4 - yes , one of the key markets we are targeting i.e. UK is a party to the
European wide data protection arrangement.  This arrangement has stringent
requirements for cross border data exchange  and particularly to   members
who are not party to that arrangement. Kenyan law on data protection as you
rightly state is non-existent.  

Certainly the fact the key players in the market prefer to operate their own
contact centres apart from the daring example of Telkom Kenya is a damning
reminder that we have to do a lot of work to convince ourselves first before
we go out and  convince others that we can handle their sensitive data. 
In a multi-country study we did for  university of the Maryland; The bpo
phenomena in Kenya: Emerging flagship to drive ICT development -A case study
in 2007,   the legal framework   need to address a number of  issues notably
- data protection, indemnity for operators , bonding framework for staff -
the police conduct certification is only good for matatus not high end
confidential bpo work ,  incentive framework eg use of epza , fiscal etc

With the legal loop holes the study found that some Kenya bpo were forced to
register an operation in the target market such that, that operation was
contractually responsible for the projects being done in Kenya. This immense
can be overcome by an improved legal framework.

Now is an opportunity   we should not lose to build a supporting legal
framework for bpo

Cheers 
MM

-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.k
e] On Behalf Of Walubengo J
Sent: 03 June 2009 08:05
To: mureithi at summitstrategies.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] Day 2 of 10:-BPO discussions,Legal and Regulatory
Frameworks


Morning all,

Yesterday was like my 1st day in school - what a rich learning experience!
Thanx to Waema, Nyaki, Barrack, Otuoma, and MM whose contributions were
quite enlightening. Of the two questions asked, it appears that we need both
comprehensive ICT and BPO Policies and Strategies.  With regard to National
BPO strategies and targets we learnt that there was quite some detail at the
Ministry of Planning and the BPO Society which could benefit members if made
widely accessible.

Today we move from the Policy to the Legal, Regulatory Frameworks. The
Research study found very comprehensive Legal and Regulatory environment in
S.Africa, India and Mauritius that supported their BPO industry.
Specifically, laws that took care of eTransactions, eCrime, Copyrights and
Data Protection were well established. Furthermore their BPO Industries had
adopted stringent Quality Assurance Frameworks for BPO and Contact Center
Operations.  

The Researchers found that the case for Kenya was relatively comparable -
with the recently enacted KCA Act (2009) that deals with eCrime &
eTransactions leading the way, others like the Copyright Act (2001) as well
as the Freedom of Information Bill cuurently at an advanced stage providing
an encouraging Legal/Regulatory environment. 

Which brings us to the following two questions:

Q3: With submarine cables landing next week and given the above
legal/regulatory frameworks, how comes Kenya is NOT experiencing the
anticipated boom in the BPO sector? What should we do to get local and
foreign investors to show more confidence in the BPO industry?

Q4: Could there be gaps in our Legal, Regulatory and Institutional
frameworks that need to be addresssed?

Put in black and white- Why hasn't Safaricom, Orange, Zain and several local
Banks who have all opened their own very large Call-Centers NOT shown
confidence in the BPO sector by outsourcing their operations to local BPO
operators?  What of the Government itself? Why cant it outsource non-core
functions to the local BPO operators before trying attract foreign investors
to do the same?

The floor is open, we have only today to get comments/answers to these
issues.

walu.



      

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