Monique Hepburn, Staff Reporter
PETERS
WESTERN BUREAU:
JAMAICA HAS scored big successes in the exploding regional call centre outsourcing business, says Philip Peters, chief executive officer of Zagada Markets.
The country has maintained its dominance in the Caribbean outsourcing business according to the 2005 Caribbean Call Centre Report, published by the United States-based Zagada Institute. Many organisations developed their own call centres, but there is a growing trend for this service to be 'outsourced' to a cheaper provider either locally or internationally.
Mr. Peters told The Gleaner in a recent interview that exciting times are ahead as companies seek to include the Caribbean as part of their global portfolio.
"Over the last 24 months, our report indicates that the 'Caribbean Nearshore' has doubled by 108 per cent to be exact," he said. The Caribbean Nearshore refers to this region's geographic position relative to the United States.
"It has grown from 11,154 agents since November 2002 to just over 23,000 as of December 2004, creating a US$500 million economic impact," said Mr. Peters. "The number of call centres operating in the region has almost doubled from 48 to 90."
The call centre Jamaica has grown from about 3,200 agents to just over 8,000, but its number of centres has only increased from 13 in 2002 to 16, he said.
Jamaican Patrick Casserly, chief executive officer of eServices Group International, said "Jamaica is the leader right now and it far outstretches other Caribbean countries."
eServices Group currently employs more than 1,500 agents and is the largest call centre company in English-speaking Caribbean.
The Dominican Republic is a major competitor with approximately 30 centres, Mr. Peters said. The major company there is Verizon Teleservices with 60 per cent of its capacity. Verizon also operates in Jamaica.
Barbados has shown the most growth with the number of its centres increasing from three to 10.
In the Caribbean region, Jamaica took 80 per cent of contracts and jobs created from U.S firms, said Mr. Peters. "In the Dominican Republic which has just under 7,000 agents, about half of their agents are focused on domestic service and the other half on U.S contracts."
Barbados and Trinidad call centre companies take 90 per cent of their business from U.S. customers.
"Jamaica owns 34 per cent of the market followed by 29 per cent in the Dominican Republic Puerto Rico has 17 per cent, Trinidad eight per cent, Barbados five per cent and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) six per cent, Guyana one per cent," he said.
Jamaica's continued popularity and growth has been attributed to several factors including its close proximity to the U.S., strong government support for the sector, institutionalised training programs and an increasingly competitive telecommunications.
"Our research, shows, though that at the end of the day, growth ultimately is realised on a sustained basis if the quality of the care delivered by agents to the U.S companies' end consumer is of a high standard. We defined the delivery of care as 'metacare'. Jamaica performs well with its metacare," said Mr. Peters.
