Egypt, Award Winners of the UK Outsourcing Destination 2008

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Posted Thu 6 November 2008 @ 2:03 p.m. by Megan Lacy

Egypt was awarded the Outsourcing Destination of the Year 2008 at the UK National Outsourcing Association Award night held in London.  The Award night was at the end of October and attended by over 350 executives and outsourcing professionals.

It's interesting news and it takes me back to our TUANZ Contact Centre Conference where we had Andrea Midgen from Vodafone NZ talk us through the benefits and reasons behind Vodafone's decision to go offshore for their outsourcing provider. 

Reading further on about the win, it was noted by the judges that Egypt was chosen due to ‘It’s young population, a large multi-lingual workforce, a solid infrastructure and a competitive cost structure is fortified by unequivocal government support, making Egypt a compelling destination for outsourcing services.”

hmm...I understand the need to have overseas destinations helping with call volumes. Vodafone chose Egypt, Telecom chose Manila in the Philippines, just to name a couple.  But I will always struggle to support full contact centre operations going offshore. I believe New Zealand has the technolgoy and the people resources to be competitive in the contact centre world.

All the same, Egypt are leading the way and that gives us all something to think about.

Click here to read further details on the win.  Do you want to know more about UK National Outsourcing Association, click here.

Categories: International | Profile

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3 comments

  • JSS says:

    Compelling reason to outsource in Manilla etc is the reduction in cost to serve, yes we do have the talent and technology but cannot compete in the cost arena.

    Added: 7 November 2008, 3:32 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

  • Raton says:

    I really hope one day customers will be considered to their real value. I am a firm believer in local call centers. Just the fact that I have been staying with Contact Energy for years now, uniquely because every time I need to call their customer service, I konw that: I will be speaking to someone who understands me, someone who will be friendly because it is not in the middle of the night for them, someone who is very likely to know what NZ is like and the context of my call / problem(s) ... and in most cases when calling Contact Energy customer service, I will also have a laugh and happily consider calling back. I never had that feeling when calling overseas. And being myself a "foreigner", I don't have any preference where the service comes from, I am only interested in resolving my problem in a friendly manner ...

    Added: 10 November 2008, 10:02 a.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

  • Ariki Gell says:

    The costs savings of offshoring never materialise as lower prices to consumers. Commentators are already saying that in a recession companies will have to improve customer service to attract fewer consumer dollars. I still dont believe Vodafone went through the exercise of seriously trying to find a location for a 200 seat call centre in New Zealand. Proof please Andrea? It doesnt matter, there are cost advantages of building up the contact centre workforce in New Zealand, especially now the dollar has dropped and unemployment is expected to increase. I dont believe there are comparative economic advantages in trading with Egypt, but there are in microeconomic ones in buying and employing locally, or trading with countries that buy significant amounts of New Zealand products and services.

    Added: 10 November 2008, 6:06 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive
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