Uganda has moved to implement a BPO (business processing outsourcing) strategy as Africa slowly moves toward establishing a sector that is already generating billions of dollars annually in other areas of the world.
Uganda strategy will see some 3,000 young Ugandans acquire BPO skills through training. Some 500 students are already going through course material at Makerere University where experts from India are working with lecturers to deliver the lessons. The program will act as a benchmark for other training institutions within Uganda, which may wish to develop competency in BPO training and the movement is aimed at addressing the BPO skills gap that Uganda is facing compared to other BPO destinations like India, Malaysia, South Africa and Mauritius.
Proservartner Point of View: A number of governments understand the significant economic advantages of becoming a BPO location. It has to be said that Uganda have been quite slow to market with this capability, and will need a significant government support and investment to move from where they are today to a location where organisations will wish to transfer their services. This support seems like it is there today, with the government agreeing to provide space, bandwidth and clean power with backup power as incentives for BPO operators that operate in the incubation center.
Following the Bharti Airtel deal in the regions, Africa is showing signs of growth in shared services and outsourcing. Many global organisations are considering their options in the area, and there will be increasing demand for BPO and Shared Services from locally based organisations to drive further efficiencies and operational excellence. Is Uganda well placed to capture this demand – not at the moment!
Tags: Africa, Bharti Airtel, BPO, Uganda
Posted: 7:44 pm February 4th, 2011
India’s BPO industry has evolved and matured to present higher-end services that require judgment-based analysis and domain expertise, rather than function-specific, rules-based performance parameters alone. As service providers strive to offer end-to-end services, we see BPO falling into different segments. At one end of the spectrum is the traditional rules-based transactional outsourcing; while at the other end is judgment-based transaction processing and full-service business process outsourcing.
India has won its spurs as the world’s outsourcing destination of choice. Currently the country has a commanding share of the global outsourcing market.
India is undoubtedly the most favored IT/BPO destination of the world. This raises the question why most of the big MNCs are interested in outsourcing their operations to BPOs in India. The answer is very simple- India is home to large and skilled human resources. India has inherent strengths, which have made it a major success as an outsourcing destination. India produces the largest number of graduates in the world. The name of India has become synonymous with that of BPOs and IT industry hence the name BPO India.
Besides being technically sound, the work force is proficient in English and work at lower wages in comparison to other developed countries of the world. India also has a distinct advantage of being in a different time zone that gives it flexibility in working hours. All these factors make the Indian BPOs more efficient and cost effective. In order to meet the growing international demand for lucrative, customer-interaction centers, many organizations worldwide are looking to BPO India.
A subset of outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) involves contracting the operations and responsibilities through a third party service provider. From the last couple of years, the BPO industry has evolved as the most substantial sector in the Indian market. India has emerged as the most favored location for all Bpo services across the globe. This has accelerated the Indian economy to the heights, progressively boosting the statistics depicting the growth in the years to come and it has been however forecasted that by 2020, more than 80% of the world of business process outsourcing services will be served by the Indian companies. Marked as the best place to attain superior quality services globally, the BPO industry is strengthening its foundation in India.