New program aims boost BPO and CC expertise

The Advanced Program in Call Centre Leadership, launched in 2007, harnesses the knowledge of industry experts, explores the latest industry research and best practice, and involves enlightening industry visits to both in-house and outsource call centres.

The modular-based program aims to develop the management skills of call centre team leaders and offers high potential call centre operators a stepping-stone towards team leadership. It develops people both in terms of their personal mastery and in their business and management capability.

According to course director, Cheryl Rae who also runs Cape Town based organisational development consultancy Cheryl Rae & Associates, the program will help organisations to deliver exceptional and sustained value to their clients and other stakeholders.

A growth industry

Rae said the industry is seeing good growth – according to the Department of Trade and Industry, the call centre subsector for example has grown at 8% a year over the past four years and now employs 54 000 call centre agents.

“A good example of this growth is call centre company Dialogue, which serves five JSE-listed groups, four FTSE 100 clients and two Fortune 500 clients – it reported earlier this year that it had more than doubled the number of calls it handled in the six months to June, fielding 24-million calls and earning net profit of R6.7m,” said Rae.

The South African government also announced recently that it had approved six BPO applications from international firms that would bring into South Africa investments worth some R400million and create 9 000 jobs over the next three years.

“South Africa is still positioned strongly as a preferred BPO and offshoring destination for the USA and the European market and managers need to be immersed in up-to-date best practice, and versed in the needs of global clients and the broad management expertise they need to address these market demands,” she said.

Skills acquired can be immediately applied

The UCT GSB program will cover a range of skills needed in the industry to enable personal and organisational success and growth, from increased self insight and self-motivation and the increased capacity to analyse and problem solve, to improved interpersonal and communication skills, the ability to motivate and retain staff, and the ability to build a customer centric focus.

The first of the program's three modules runs from 3rd – 7th March 2008 and the two others from 19th – 23rd May and 21st – 25th July.

The modular basis of the program means that delegates can both study and work at the same time, and that they will be able to immediately apply skills to the workplace.

For more information on the program, contact Junita Abrahams on (021) 406 1323 or abrahams@gsb.uct.ac.za. The website is http://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/callcentre or email .