subject: Ceilings For Telemarketing In Africa [print this page] The development of telemarketing services in the African countries has hauled themselves against some glass ceilings. The telemarketing players are finding it hard to pull themselves out of the situation. Despite the fact that African countries like Kenya and South Africa listing themselves consistently in the global BPO preferences, they are not getting the big projects consistently.
Work is sporadic and the telemarketing call center units are not really taking off as they would have wanted to. What is acting as a barrier that is stunting the growth of the telemarketing business in Africa? Let's find out!
The main problem area is the lack of proper exposure. The telemarketing services offered by the call centers in Africa do not have the global exposure that a call center in India or Singapore may have. It's like they are operating in an isolated industry, offering telemarketing aid to companies no one knows about. That has got to change. The telemarketing business of Africa needs a high-profile clientele.
Once a few of them start making telemarketing calls from the continent, others will follow suit. Several telemarketing call center units in Africa are competent to handle the business of world-class clients. However, the lack of representation in lobbies that can get them telemarketing business is hurting the African nations badly.
Another point of concern is the lack of regular work for the African telemarketing company. The telemarketing sector needs a slew of projects to justify the cost of keeping an establishment and paying for the call center agents. If the work is irregular, the call centers have to keep many of the employees waiting for work.
This is a serious waste of valuable resources at a time like this, when the economy is in the doldrums. When they are taking the telemarketing business seriously to get themselves some cash flow, the erratic work is actually draining away at their reserves. The returns on investment in making telemarketing calls are not justified and the BPO units suffer a loss.
What hurts the telemarketing company most is the price of telemarketing operations. The cost of internet and telecommunication services in the African countries are so high that call centers cannot offer competitive prices in the global market. With most BPO services across the world are operating on low-cost internet bandwidth, the African units have to pay heavily.
If they are to keep their prices at par with the rest of the world, they have to bring down their prices. The telemarketing call center cannot do that because then they will not be making any profit and will probably not even break even.
This is where the African governments can do something to help out the telemarketing sector. Some of the countries are installing fiber networks so that internet is cheaply and regularly available. The lines of telecommunication are being brushed clean too. The administrators realize that with the correct infrastructural support, the telemarketing business can stand up on its feet and be counted as a revenue earner.
