Bharti Airtel enters deal with global leaders, boosts Africa's BPO sector
A call centre in Nairobi. Bharti Airtel will outsource core customer service functions like its call centres and back office as it prepares for significant growth in the region. File Picture
The Business Process Outsourcing sector in Africa is set for a major boost after Bharti Airtel picked IBM, Tech Mahindra and Spanco as partners to handle its customer care services across its African operations.
Under the agreement to be finalised soon, Bharti Airtel will outsource core customer service functions like call centres and back office as it prepares for significant growth in the region.
Bharti Airtel, which owns and operates the Zain brand in 16 countries across Africa, has over 40 million customers and hopes to increase these to 100 million by 2013.
IBM, Tech Mahindra and Spanco are expected to introduce best practices to Bharti’s customer care sector, based on their experiences working with international organisations in the telecommunications, banking, finance, insurance and retail sectors.
Tech Mahindra, which is part of the Mahindra Group, is a communications service provider with a key focus on the telecommunications industry, while Spanco, which creates technology infrastructure, has BPO operations in India, US, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Manoj Kohli, Bharti International chief executive and joint managing director Bharti Airtel said in a press release that with this partnership the firm would provide a world class and seamless customer service experience in all 16 countries.
“Partnering with world class organisations on such a massive scale will galvanise the BPO sector in Africa and act as a catalyst for growth; our customers, and the economies of the countries in which we operate will also benefit,” said Mr Kohli.
The partnership is expected to create jobs, develop local talent, as well as build and sustain skills, capabilities and resources of the local communities.
“It will also offer our team an opportunity for career growth through exposure to global best practices and the latest technologies,” he added.
Bharti’s African operations are in Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
This is the second major partnership from Bharti Airtel’s Africa operations. In September, the company selected IBM to manage its IT systems to power the mobile communications network across the continent. “IBM’s strategic relationship with Bharti Airtel illustrates its focus on emerging markets like Africa,” said John Lutz, IBM’s general manager for managed business process services.
He added: “Our business process outsourcing unit helps clients manage functions like customer care so that they are able to channel critical resources to essential growth activities such as product design and marketing.”
