The 2019 Ryan Strategic Advisory 2019 Front Office Omnibus Survey sounded the views of nearly 500 enterprise contact center decision-makers in North America, the UK, Australia, France and Germany. The results, which gauged the most favored offshore contact center delivery locations, have been tabulated. For the second year in a row, The Philippines stands as the most popular offshore location among enterprise CRM executives. The APAC BPO powerhouse has maintained its level of popularity among contact center service buyers, due to a combination of strong English-language skills, a maintained focus on servicing end-users across major English language demand markets, and compelling price points.
South Africa maintains its second-place ranking in the 2019 offshore favourability rankings, albeit in a tie with India. In the case of South Africa, the country’s outsourcing stakeholders have made efforts at courting new investment that are clearly paying off. Buyers in the US, Canada and Australia are affirming their confidence in South Africa. As for India, its history as a quality customer experience management delivery points cannot be understated, nor can its emergence as a go-to point for many buyers from the perspective of non-voice, digital channel management.
Malaysia’s third-place ranking in the 2019 Front Office Omnibus Survey should not be understated. The country has consistently remained a location of choice for buyers seeking high-quality front-line servicing. And, considering its proximity, cultural affinity and commercial ties, Malaysia has long been a nearshore choice for Australian and New Zealand buyers. Even so, Malaysia’s outsourcing stakeholders will need to expand promotional efforts in order to maintain ongoing levels of interest in other demand markets in order to keep its top-five positioning.
Among the most important results in the 2019 Front Office Omnibus Survey’s offshore favourability rankings is the entry of Egypt into the top 5 rankings. Egypt has been on the rise for a few years, and this validates the country’s value proposition in contact center nearshore / offshore delivery. Despite many predictions of the BPO space coming to an abrupt end following the Arab Spring events of 2011, efforts on the part of the industry and government to re-invent and aggressively promote Egyptian outsourcing are paying off.
Rounding out the top 5 is another new entrant to this prestigious group: Morocco. What is interesting in the case of this offshore delivery destination is that despite very strong levels of approval from respondents in France, Morocco also garnered significant interest from Canada. This likely owes to those buyers requiring offshore service for the French-Canadian population. Morocco was one of a number of African locations that were favored by survey respondents based in French-language demand markets. Providers based in Morocco have begun making forays into servicing other European languages, notably English and Spanish. This will only help this delivery destination in subsequent rankings, as its appeal broadens.
For destinations that did not crack the top 5 in 2019, there will be a number of questions as to what is next. In order to remain relevant as an offshore BPO delivery point, buyer demand is a key facet and promotional efforts need to take this into account. Should enterprise executives — and those who influence them — overlook the value of an offshore or nearshore delivery point, not only in terms of affordability but also quality and stability, they will miss out on potentially valuable locations. In 2019 and 2020, outsourcing stakeholders aiming to gain more traction in their respective markets cannot afford to ignore this reality.
