Vansheeta Kewal-Veerapen, Business Development Executive: “Labour shortage affects the BPO sector”

Vansheeta Kewal-Veerapen, Business Development Executive at Apollo Blake, explains that the Information Technology Enhanced Services (ITES) offshoring industry has become a stepping-stone for smaller countries to leapfrog into the global economy. Since independence in 1968, Mauritius, with a population of about 1.4 million, rapidly grew from a low-income, agricultural-based economy to a middle-income diversified economy led by the development of a strong IT/ITES industry.

With a well-grounded tradition in BPO services, Mauritius is among the Top 40 in the 2016 A.T. Kearney Global Services Location IndexTM. In the early 2000s, the Government embarked on a strategy to make the ICT/ITES sector a major pillar of the country’s economy, which included the implementation of targeted infrastructure and human capital development, and legal and regulatory reforms involving a mix of government and private sector players. For instance, the government understood that the sustained growth of the IT/ITES sector would rely heavily on the provision of high-bandwidth connections which has been a reality today. 

A shortage of skilled labour is a critical impediment for the local BPO sector. To face the challenge, the Human Resources Development Council has come up with the National Skills Development Programme, one of the measures announced by the government in the Budget 2016-2017 for the training of some 4,000 young people.

Year 2017 will definitely see new opportunities in the BPO sector with the Brexit and Donald Trump being elected the future President of the United States. It is an advantage for Mauritius given that Sub-Saharan African countries will benefit from such a situation. That is why we should be ready with our pool of qualified and skilled workforce to put an end to the prevalent skills-mismatch crisis and the resistance to accept the demands of round-the-clock schedules. 

One of the services offered in the BPO sector is the Social Media Management. Almost all companies today are connected to social media; Facebook penetration rates are highly relevant for multichannel services in particular, as some international firms use it as a quick gauge of the population’s ability to engage in online outsourcing. Their global experience suggests that individuals who can use Facebook should also be able to conduct basic online tasks, such as data entry and digitization. Social media can generate a positive or negative discussion that will impact a brand if not handled properly, that is why companies look for contact centres to manage their customers on social media. When responding to a customer, always go beyond what they expect, then post the follow up and final results so others can see the outcome, building further confidence in your brand.