Hello, efficiency

MORE DEMANDS on corporates to address an increasingly complex telecoms landscape, plus a huge shift towards knowledge-based fulfillment, is driving the need for outsourced telecommunications advisory and management services in SA.

Cheaper phone calls for smarter business

Smart businesses are continuously looking for new ways to maximise efficiency and minimise costs. And today the smart money is on VOIP, says Wally Beelders, executive director of Vodacom Business. Internet telephony isn't a new technology, but it has only fairly recently become reliable and ubiquitous enough to be a serious choice for business. Beelders says outsourced IP telephony solutions are gaining popularity among small businesses, especially those which lack the in-house staff and internal resources needed to operate such a complex system on their own. Many VOIP service providers offer hosted PBX services that let customers take advantage of advanced VOIP features without buying or maintaining any in-house equipment.

Wally Beelders,  Executive Director, Vodacom Business

Adi Leshem, corporate business development manager for ECI Telecom, points out that managed services to the telco market has its special flavour by the nature of the business itself. "The network is part of the business core capabilities and not only providing infrastructures," he says. "Experience with leading new technologies and integration capabilities are key differentiators of suppliers in the telecom outsourcing business."

He adds that the African telco market is a growing one and has the characteristics of a fast developing market, so issues such as capital investments in intense infrastructure set-ups, internal operations set-ups such as gaining and maintaining professional expertise, and fast time to market are crucial in such a business environment, and managed services is a significant enabler.

It makes sense then that South Africa can also expect to see more call centres outsourced. According to Andrew Holden, MD of Bytes Outsource Services, call centres are growing in popularity and outsourcing the call centre operation is going to become an increasingly popular choice in South Africa in the near future. "Operating a call centre in a company of about 200 employees can become an onerous financial burden because it's difficult to maximise its value. The infrastructure can be costly since it must be acquired, implemented, maintained and periodically upgraded, and employees need to be found, acquired, trained and retained. These are expenses related to non-core activities that are more likely to be pushed to third-party service providers as belts tighten," he says.