CCI Global

CCI GLOBAL

CCI SOUTH AFRICA

The Call of

Africa PRODUCTION: Colin Chinery

Seen increasingly by foreign investors and multinationals as a port of entry into the African continent, South Africa is fast becoming the new call centre destination of choice for large international firms. “We are very bullish about South Africa, and aim to be the dominant player on the continent,� says Martin Roe, Global Group CEO of CCI, the largest international outsourcer in South Africa.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: OUTSOURCING

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With South Africa’s unemployment figures remaining bleak, could the pace-setting Business Process Services industry deliver much needed vitality and inspiration?

The Government clearly thinks so, backing inward investment through the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Business Process Services (BPS) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) initiatives, and working with the sector to establish BPS as a key job creator and economic driver.

When Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies hailed BPS as a key sector for attracting investment and creating new jobs - notably in the 18- to 35-yearold age groups where job creation is most needed - venue and audience could not have been more fitting or receptive.

The Minister was speaking at the unveiling of the R200m custom-built call centre at Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, showcase of the country’s premier international contact centre operator, CCI South Africa.

Part of Mauritius-headquartered

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CCI Global - whose clients number leading brands in Britain, Australia, the USA and Kenya as well as South Africa - CCI has grown from fifty seats to over 6,000 in 12 years, with more than 7,000 permanent employees across six fully functional sites, and a seventh soon to come on line.

BIG AND BIGGER “We are already the biggest BPS operator in South Africa, but this doesn’t stop our ambition,” says CCI Global Group CEO, Martin Roe. “We aim to be the dominant player on the continent.”

CCI South Africa specialises in the operation of inbound, outbound and blended multi-channel contact centres which improve clients’ business operations and contact centre effectiveness by delivering efficient outsourcing solutions.

“Our offering includes consumer sales, service and digital customer management, and we are trusted to deliver high quality services to global household names.”

If its African ambitions are vast, CCI launched here at a time when the

market for international outsourcing in South Africa was limited. But looking for an alternative offshore destination to India where they were already off-shoring, CCI Global quickly saw the potential.

“They came to South Africa and liked it so much that they did a deal with a local outsourcer. Fast forward a couple of years and they set up their own contact centre outsourcing business.

“The first significant customer was now familiar name in the UK Telecoms market but at the time a new entrant to the recently deregulated telecoms market. This company was successful in selling to UK consumers and servicing them, and CCI grew alongside it,” explains Roe. From a single client, CCI moved on to acquire other British clients, growing organically over eight years with a focus on the UK and later Australia, a market with some similarities to the British, and where it has achieved notable success.

SA’S ACE South Africa’s time zone and a cultural affinity with Britain and mainland

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INDUSTRY FOCUS: OUTSOURCING

Europe are assets. So too is the large English speaking/accent neutral skills pool, a decided advantage over BOP Asia Pacific strongholds such as India.

English-born, and with an impressive sector pedigree, Martin Roe became Global Group CEO in May 2015. Alert to the strategic relevance of the South African and broader African opportunity, CCI set out a strategy to become the largest and most respected outsourcer on the continent.

Centrepiece is a drive for massive trans-continental growth. “From South Africa, where we have some 3000-people servicing South African blue chips, we are growing our footprint across Africa. We acquired a business in Kenya that we are growing, and we’ll be doing the same across a number of other African countries over the next several years.

“We will be doing this for two reasons; multinational companies want to be in Africa, and secondly we see Africa as an interesting destination for international outsourcing. We have proved this in South Africa, where we are the biggest international outsourcer and from where we service UK and

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Australian clients.

“Recently we started servicing US and North American clients from South Africa, and over the next four to five years we see other African countries developing an international capability,” says Roe. Continuing the growth path of the past decade, CCI aims to double its operational size within the next three years. Plans are under way to expand to other parts of the continent through acquisitions and organic growth, with another large African purchase expected in the coming 12 months.

Roe is clear about the characteristics and attributes he is looking for. “It has to be a growth opportunity for us. And we have got to be able to add value by bringing our significant scale and experience to a market and make a substantial difference.

DOMINANT IN KENYA “We have done this in Kenya, where we went in, bought a small player, applied our DNA and infrastructure and are now the dominant player. This is the model we want to follow elsewhere.

“We are already very well advanced in terms of our analysis of individual geographies. The Kenya acquisitions were part of a broader plan in which it was one of the top eight.

“We have another seven we are looking at, predominantly English language destinations at this stage, with Francophile Africa as a Phase 2 plan.

What interests us are large populations with a significant emerging middle class.”

Smaller African countries are less attractive because the scale is not there, says Roe. “But if one of our customers wanted us to move into a smaller African country, we would do so. But we are a big company looking for big opportunities, and so scale is the most important characteristic we are looking for.”

With both scale and building blocks in place, he believes South Africa is set to be the next large-scale English language destination to follow.

“South Africa has been doing outsourcing for some 15 years, which is not long. But it is only recently that it has attained a level of scale that makes it attractive to some of the very big markets, and in particular the USA, which we see as being the biggest international opportunity that exists today.

TAKE-OFF READY “What we also have here in South Africa is a fantastic domestic market which doesn’t exist in India and the Philippines, and this underpins the international expertise we have now got.

“And cracks are appearing in the Indian and Philippines market, which means there’s an opportunity for a new entrant such as South Africa to move in.

We are ready for take-off.”

With staff supportive values at the centre of its operations, CCI has a high staff retention rate. “Our performance is driven by our people and our aim is to create a work environment where people are happy to come to work,” says Roe.

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It’s an employer appeal showcased in the new Durban facility coming on line, the seventh centre in South Africa. Martin Roe is enthusiastic.

“We designed it ourselves; a 13,000 m2 state-of-the-art building including restaurant facilities, fully-equipped gym, a dance studio, hairdressing salon and nail bar, and with doctors and nurses on hand to service our people.

“We believe it may well be the finest workspace in Africa; a piece of real estate comparable with, or better than, anything else you will see on the planet,” he says.

In 2015, CCI Call Centres won the Investor of the Year category at the South African Premier Business Awards, an award that encourages expansion of investment into the economy, and recognising the effort and commitment by local and global companies to create jobs.

“We are a business where the average age of employees is 24, and there’s absolutely no shortage of motivated, high-potential, talented young people.

“However, there is a requirement for having some level of intervention to bring them from where they are today to those higher performing employees we demand.” The outcome is sister company, Career Box, through which CCI runs a workreadiness programme equipping new employees with the skills to enter the world of work.

“With numerous opportunities available for progression, we created our own methodology some years ago whereby we search for and take really high potential people and train them.

“The people are there, and it’s in the interests of all organisations in Africa, and particularly us, to spend the time and effort to train them, because they do end up by becoming extremely high performing individuals.

“We have structured career paths

for all our people, so that they can come in at a relatively junior entry level and over a number of years through our programme, reach the level of company director,” Roe insists.

With South Africa’s central bank unexpectedly cutting its benchmark lending rate last month – the first in five years – citing weak growth, and President Jacob Zuma describing it as in a state of “duress”, the national economy continues in the doldrums.

But for CCI, Roe sees opportunity amid adversity.

“We are in an industry that can do very well in turbulent times because a value proposition to our clients is that we will help them sell more, and help them spend less, both of which are vital in a recessionary or nearrecessionary environment.

“Our business has grown in South African from almost zero employees

to nearly 3000 in less than two years. Right now, the whole world is feeling uncertain, particularly the UK after Brexit. Frankly at the moment I am more concerned about my UK business than my South African business.

“We are growing at 30 to 40% growth year-on-year - it’s all growth.

We are very bullish about South Africa, and we are in a good place. We are an African success story, and we are very proud of it.”

CCI GLOBAL +27(0) 31 286 1600 enquiries@cci-sa.co.za www.cci-sa.co.za

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Issue No.61

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JEGIE PADMANATHAN:

People Are The Power

of Bidvest Prestige ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

CCI South Africa / Thebe Tourism Group / RPP Developments / ALG Estates

A S F E AT U R E D I N

ENTERPRISE AFRICA

AUGUST 2017