7 minute read
BUSINESS SERVICES
These stakeholders include BPESA and its GBS community, various levels of government led by the dtic and several NGOs. The defi nition of GBS includes CX call centres, shared services outsourcing, IT outsourcing, fi nance and accounting outsourcing, back and front offi ce offshoring services from overseas-based multinationals as well as entities operating within the African continent. Some of us may not be aware of the jobs that the GBS industry has imported into this country and its future potential. This recent accolade of surpassing India is a massive coup for the country. Many of us who have been aware of the criticality of the GBS industry’s contribution to the growth of the economy can be proud of this achievement. Our esteemed President of the Republic also reinforced that this recent recognition goes a long way towards solidifying the industry’s importance to the South African economic growth agenda. However, this is where it gets interesting. Just as Wayde is now expected to be the front-runner by most South Africans even whilst his competition focuses on extricating themselves from their positions in his rear fl anks, so do South Africans now expect the GBS industry to drive home our newly found position, with our global rivals in hot pursuit. Ryan Advisory’s announcement of the results explains this best, indicating “It is also clear that buyer favourability is fl uid… South African outsourcing stakeholders [sic] cannot rest on their laurels.” Whilst our clear communication of South Africa’s GBS Value Proposition should be applauded, it will be unwise to underestimate the effort it will take to maintain our newfound position, especially in the wake of a global pandemic that has created a hotbed for increased disruption in global industries.
WHAT SHOULD SOUTH AFRICAN GBS STAKEHOLDERS BE DOING TO AVOID “THE RISE AND FALL” SYNDROME?
SoluGrowth (Pty) Ltd is one of the GBS players in South Africa. We founded the company in 2018 and we currently employ 230 employees, with the majority of our staff serving offshore clients in the US, UK, Singapore and in various African countries. As one of the players in the sector, we believe avoiding the “rise and fall” syndrome should be approached in two ways: • Firstly, by constantly innovating in the
GBS sector using technology enablers to strengthen the foundations built by our accent-neutral, empathetic and skilled workforce, which has made South Africa a fi rm favourite with international buyers.
This requires continued investment in capabilities such as customer analytics, conversational artifi cial intelligence, and augmented platforms. • Secondly, by furthering our push towards being at the forefront in the nontraditional areas of the GBS that focus on the more complex back-offi ce and niche domain services (e.g. data analytics, digital software testing, fi nancial reporting and actuarial services). There are specifi c industries that South Africa has been one of the great leaders in globally, such as banking, insurance, retail, health, etc.
GBS provides signifi cant opportunities for these industries to continue offshoring their complex back-offi ce services. This two-pronged approach has the potential to solidify South Africa’s foothold in the GBS arena, whilst creating signifi cant opportunities to increase employment and enhance our skillsets as a nation. There is no reason why the reputation of our Chartered Accountants cannot vault us to the top Global F&A destination ranking within the next few years. The advantage of improving innovation and niche services does not replace the importance of new jobs and inclusive employment growth to bring the unemployed youth into the workplace. Instead, this provides an opportunity to attract more companies to offshore to SA through (i) Attracting more globallybased multinationals to offshore their services into South Africa, (ii) Attracting global GBS companies to select South Africa as one of their delivery locations around the world, (iii) Encouraging globally operating South African companies to relocate their GBS services to South Africa and (iv) Incentivising SA companies that were early adopters of offshoring to other competing locations, such as India, to return their GBS services back home. Innovation and digital economy are not a threat to inclusive job creation but are an integral part of attracting more new jobs into South Africa. The latest proof of concept conducted by Harambee – which develops the youth as new entrants into the digital economy, such as digital software testing – is proving very successful. Their proof of concept is already serving a Canadian client utilising previously unemployed youth and will soon be helping South Africa to increase the supply of the digital workforce. As President Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly newsletter on 12 April 2021 “… the economic recovery is not about a return to what was, but about transformation to what is next”. While we are celebrating this recent accolade, let us visualise the dream and focus on leveraging the sectors that will contribute towards attaining the required jobs growth for the next decades.
SANDILE GWALA
Founder & CEO of SoluGrowth Questions? sgwala@solugrowth.com
IS THE SOUTH AFRICAN LEGAL PROFESSION READY TO EMBRACE DIGITISATION?
BLAKE HAMILTON, Candidate Attorney and CHANTELLE GLADWIN-WOOD, Partner at Schindlers Attorneys urge legal professionals to swop the paper trail for the digital world, to keep on top of a new system which has the potential to save time and money
The world is being propelled into utter turmoil with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been almost a year since the global pandemic struck South Africa, and for many months, people around the world have had to restructure their lifestyles, buying patterns, eating habits, daily schedules, working habits, and reliance on technology.
The South African justice system and the legal profession are not exempted from these reforms. The Covid-19 pandemic propelled the law into a more modern era and is restructuring the entire landscape. The required restructuring will affect the entire legal profession, including legal professionals, clients as well as court procedures.
The question is, are South Africans ready to embrace digitalisation in the legal profession? The writers postulate that the “new normal is here to stay” and it is prudent that we all shift our paradigm sooner rather than later.
PAPER IS TRADITIONAL
The circumstances that we find ourselves in today are quite frightening, especially for firms that are reluctant to embrace this change. The sad reality is that many firms are not equipped and prepared for this change. The legal profession is an old, an honourable one, and one that is (like many others) steeped in paperwork. It is a slow and uncomfortable change for most law firms and courts to move away from physical paper-based systems towards less physical and more electronic and online storage and document management systems.
Whilst many firms have been forced, by Covid, to adapt, our government offices (Master’s Offices, Deeds Offices, and courts) have been slow to adapt. The noteworthy exception here is the Johannesburg and Pretoria High Courts, which are currently working with an online paperless system called Caselines. Although we understand that there are plans to roll out this document management system to the rest of the courts in the country, progress has been slow in this regard and there is, as of yet, no publicly known target date for this rollout.
ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES
The use of electronic signatures has exploded since Covid first graced our shores, and since last year there have been extensive developments in systems offering quick and easy document signatures. However, the issue in the legal profession is fraught with dissension, because certain legal documents can only lawfully be signed electronically using an advanced electronic signature, which is currently not available for free. One can only obtain the same by subscription to a paid service, which many customers, and attorneys, cannot afford. This is also not widely known or understood and results in much confusion in the profession and even in court when people question whether the documents presented have been lawfully electronically signed. Until we have had more practice and become more familiar with these issues and perhaps come up with some creative solutions to these problems, electronic signatures remain somewhat of a mysterious creature in the legal profession.
A GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Despite the frustration, change can be very positive. As a candidate attorney at Schindlers, it is liberating to witness how welcoming the firm is to digital transformation. The firm supports and empowers its employees to work remotely and further equips employees with the appropriate equipment and preparation. The courts are overburdened with cases, which often take years to finalise. Digital transformation serves as a response to this challenge, through allowing more judges to preside over cases and possibly expedite cases. There are various platforms such as Microsoft teams and Zoom, which serve the same purpose as going to court and carrying out the court procedure. This also reduces the costs of the clients and legal professionals attending, whilst saving driving time.
