Business process outsourcing is creating jobs and growth in South Africa while giving British companies a way to source top, affordable talent.
South Africa has a problem. While it is producing highly educated and talented workers, it’s struggling to provide them with the high-paying jobs they need. The result – many will inevitably pack their bags and seek their fortune elsewhere. However, hope comes with the rise of business process outsourcing. The market has exhibited double-digit growth in the past decade, with more expected to come. For the government and South Africa’s young workforce, this is a potential gift-horse that could transform their economic fortunes.
In 2023, South Africa registered its highest levels of education attainment ever, with record numbers of adults having secondary or higher education qualifications. Universities are producing more graduates with an increasingly skilled and qualified workforce, creating a glut of highly qualified, ambitious professionals.
However, these graduates face a difficult economic environment. Despite positive changes in the last few years, South Africa’s economy is still fragile. Unemployment remains more than 30% across many parts of the country, with domestic companies limited in the level of pay offered. The new generation of young, upwardly mobile professionals faces a choice. Either struggle to access labour markets at home or reach out overseas in search of better pay. This, in turn, creates a critical talent drain which holds the South African economy back.
It’s a familiar story for developing nations around the world. For all the efforts to improve education levels, the opportunities will always be brighter overseas than at home.
The business process outsourcing sector offers a solution which boosts the economy while giving South Africans the chance to find the high-paying jobs they crave. International companies struggling to find the workers they need at a price they can afford are casting their eyes towards South Africa.
For them, South Africa represents an exciting opportunity – an upwardly mobile country with a workforce high on ambition but short on opportunity. It helps them address multiple problems in their home markets, including financial pressures, talent shortages and the need to remain competitive in an increasingly tech-driven environment.
In South Africa, they see a chance to find people with the skills they need at a significant discount to their domestic workforce. The cost of labour varies from one sector and location to another. However, generally speaking, the cost of hiring in South Africa will be around half the levels in the UK.
The result is a win/win situation for everyone involved. According to figures from the Western Cape Regional Government, the BPO sector contributes approximately “2bn (35bn Rand) every year to the South African economy. It’s created tens of thousands of high-paying jobs across all industries and at all levels.
Whereas outsourcing was traditionally focused on relatively basic back office operations, increasingly sophisticated technology and the rise of remote working mean just about any role can be outsourced, including high-paid, professional roles such as IT, software development, financial management and accountancy.
What jobs can be outsourced to South Africa?
The most popular type of roles outsourced to South Africa is still customer service. South Africa is a multilingual country with English as one of the main languages. It’s widely spoken across the country
with a clear accent that can be easily understood by UK customers. This facilitates stronger engagement with customers, leading to improved revenue opportunities and a more profitable overall business relationship.
A highly educated workforce also lends itself to technical services such as IT support. South Africa is only a couple of hours away from European time, which means operators can be available to provide live support during work. For further-flung countries, they can provide out-of-hours support, enabling companies to maintain 24/7 operation.
South Africa has also earned itself a reputation in the financial services, especially in the main financial hubs such as Johannesburg and Cape Town. Business services are available, offering ongoing financial management, accountancy outsourcing and much more.
Software development is one of the fastest-growing outsourced sectors. UK companies can struggle to find skilled professionals in their own market. Qualified software professionals are few and far between. They can command high salaries and tend to be snapped up by the larger corporations. Small and medium-sized businesses can struggle to access the talent they need to keep up with the digital revolution. South Africa’s young, diverse and tech-savvy workforce offers access to highly capable software developers who can boost your in-house capabilities.
With unemployment remaining high in South Africa, especially among the young, and professionals struggling to find high-paying work at home, these professionals are both more affordable and available than they would be in the domestic market.
South Africa also offers opportunities in the creative industries, including marketing and content management. Real-time communication platforms such as video conferencing software and instant messaging enable instant collaboration. Marketing teams in South Africa can collaborate directly with your domestic team, giving you access to highly experienced professionals, backed by the latest technology. In the age of remote work, location is becoming less important all the time.
South Africa’s evolving business landscape represents an exciting new opportunity for any small and medium-sized business. It gives them a chance to close the skills gap on larger competitors and bring new talent into their organisations at a much more affordable price.
In summary, South Africa’s emergence in the business process outsourcing world is a benefit for everyone involved. The ability to attract diverse and high-paying jobs from around the world into its domestic economy offers the boost South Africa needs in its quest for sustainable growth. These jobs give young professionals high-paying jobs to match their ambitions and reduce the lure of work overseas. For hiring companies, this is a chance to have their cake and eat it – in other words, to save money on recruitment while accessing top talent and maintaining the high level of service their customers expect. It’s a new era for the BPO sector, which benefits just about everyone.
