433369666-The-Case-for-Investing-in-South-Africa

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BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING (BPO) SERVICES
• Business process outsourcing unlocks business value by
allowing entities to focus on core business functions and
processes, and improve overall business processes and
productivity.
• The business case for, and the economic merit of,
outsourcing business process functions to South Africa
have been demonstrated in many instances.
• The country has a mature market for BPO services
that is supported by world-class telecommunications,
financial and legal infrastructure. BPO services in South
Africa are concentrated in the financial services industry,
telecommunications and ICT.
• South Africa offers major BPO cost-saving alternatives
compared to other destinations, such as the United
Kingdom. It is also endowed with a large pool of
experienced English-language talent.
• The BPO industry benefits from strategic government
support through the Department of Trade and Industry’s
Business Process Services incentive scheme, which is
aimed at improving South Africa’s relative competitive
position in such services vis-à-vis other major competing
markets. The scheme contributes to lowering the cost
basket further for foreign investors.
• South Africa’s BPO industry has grown by approximately
22% per year since 2014 – three times faster than India and
the Philippines as major offshore BPO services countries,
according to the Everest Group. This has led many regional
and global companies to set up or expand BPO services
operations in South Africa.
• From a global perspective, South Africa is regarded as
one of the most attractive countries for offshoring services
provision, presenting a multitude of opportunities such as
back-office hubs; knowledge process outsourcing; legal
process outsourcing; ICT, software design and engineering;
game development; and transcription services.
• The value proposition for BPO in South Africa is rooted
in delivery point diversification, which allows outsourced
business functions to be performed from all parts of the
country, with Johannesburg, Durban as well as Pretoria
joining Cape Town as BPO locations of choice.
• South Africa’s regulatory environment as well as its
commercial incentive programmes are positioned to support
the growth of impact sourcing opportunities in the BPO
industry. The country has a large talent pool with a proven
record of reliable service delivery to support the growth of
impact sourcing.
FACTORS DRIVING SOUTH AFRICA’S
ATTRACTIVENESS AS A BPO INVESTMENT
DESTINATION
2. Deep domain
skills
5. Robust
enabling
environment
Source (graphic): Everest Consultancy
1. Skilled,
Englishspeaking
talent
pool
3. Significant
cost savings
4.
Developedworld
experience
The United Kingdom is the largest international market
for BPO services based in South Africa, with this market
constituting more than 60% of demand. Australia
and the United States are important potential growth
markets.
SELECT INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
IN BPO:
• Establishment of call centres
• Back-office processing facilities
• Provision of shared corporate services
• Enterprise solutions such as fleet and asset
management services.
• Legal process outsourcing
• Evolution of the industry from voice-driven
towards omni-channel delivery of services has
expanded investment prospects
• Analytics solutions services enabled by South
Africa’s skills capability, including root cause
analysis, predictive analytics, knowledge
process outsourcing and digital investment
platforms