Improving customer service in South African contact centers: Lessons learn't from Australian contact centers

For many years now, the government of South African has identified contact centers as an important and strategic area to focus on in order to make South Africa a more attractive outsourcing destination. There are several benefits that contact centers offers to organizations and their customers. Contact centers also boost foreign investments and help to create jobs. In order to achieve these benefits, the South African government has consistently offered support for contact center industry. Although there is enormous support from government, it is disappointing that contact centers in South Africa have not been able to deliver all the expected benefits even with the support from the government. This research aims to uncover the reasons why the South African contact centers are unable to meet expectations. This research also aims to find solution to the issues identified so as to help contact centers deliver expected level of service. In order to find ways in which contact centers in South Africa can improve their services and attract more foreign investments while creating more jobs at the same time, this research investigated both the South African contact center industry and Australian contact center industry. Findings from both South Africa and Australian contact center industries were compared to identify lessons which the South African contact centers can learn from their Australian counterparts so that the expected benefits from contact centers can be fully realized thereby helping the contact centers meet expectations. Based on the comparison, this paper provided recommendations for South African contact centers. Some important areas that require further research were also identified.