Due to a shortage of English-speaking workers, Bangladeshi call centers have been unable to penetrate the international market.
There was anticipation that a novel type of business may succeed in Bangladesh at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) was popular at the same time in industrialized nations like the US and Europe as a way to reduce business expenses. The call center industry was also a key component of BPO.
Neighbouring Bangladesh did not miss the chance to take advantage of the call center industry and succeeded in rapidly developing the sector.
Bangladesh was also affected by this wind, and several business organizations had the notion that Bangladesh could quickly become a hub for the call center industry.
But when it came time to actually starting the firm, everything fell short. Bangladesh was unable to gain worldwide outsourcing jobs as expected by Bangladeshi businessmen.
“It was a thriving industry, and we reasoned that if Bangladesh can do it, so can we. We were inspired by Bangladesh’s flourishing industry, “said Shohrab Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director of one of the top contact centers in the nation, Synthesis IT Limited.
Although Bangladesh has achieved great strides domestically in the call center industry over the past few decades, it has mostly failed to seize the global market because to a lack of infrastructure, connection, and large-scale English-speaking investment.
Vendor landscape for the call center outsourcing market
- The market is highly concentrated, and during the predicted period, this concentration will increase. To compete in the industry, vendors are using growth techniques like organic and inorganic tactics.
- Market vendors should preserve their positions in the slow-growing segments while concentrating more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments to take advantage of the opportunities.
- The market forecast research for call center outsourcing provides in-depth analyses of the major vendor profiles. The profiles provide details on the leading companies’ production, sustainability, and future prospects.
- According to numerous performance factors, the competitive scenario in the call center outsourcing market research analyzes, rates, and places firms. The financial performance of businesses over the previous few years, growth plans, product developments, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc. are some of the aspects taken into account for this study.
- Some of the key market players include Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Bertelsmann SE and Co. KGaA, Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd., Sitel Group, StarTek Inc., Sykes Enterprises Inc., SYNNEX Corp., and Transcom Holding AB.
Leading vendors and their main services:
- Bertelsmann SE and Co. KGaA: Under the Arvato business segment, the company provides call center outsourcing.
- Under its CX business sector, Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd. provides call center outsourcing.
- Sitel Group: The company offers call center outsourcing services under the brand name EXP+.
- Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.: Through its cloud-based contact-center platform, the business provides outsourcing services for call centers.
- Client service, customer acquisition, cross- and upselling, customer retention, technical support, collection services, and CX advisory are just a few of the call center outsourcing services provided by Transcom Holding AB.
Market for Call Center Outsourcing: Regional Development Dynamics
- During the projection period, North America is anticipated to account for a sizeable portion of the worldwide call center outsourcing market, with the U.S. accounting for more than 50% of this regional market. Over time, increased demand for inbound and outbound solutions has boosted income generating.
- During the anticipated term, there are predicted to be numerous attractive opportunities in the Asia Pacific call center outsourcing industry. The prospects have been improved by the growing number of call center outsourcing companies, particularly in Bangladesh and China.
Find out more about the additional factors:
Industry executives estimate that the country’s BPO market is currently worth 600 million dollars. They each have a 200 million dollar domestic market share and a 400 million dollar export market share.
Around 400 licenses were obtained when contact centers were originally launched in Bangladesh in 2009, but today there are fewer than 100 call centers operating there.
In order to produce a workforce, a number of training centers popped up in the cities when Bangladesh was conducting brisk commerce. Even overseas experts were brought in by some businesses to train young workers. Many recent grads received training in the hopes of making money in dollars as people flocked to establish training facilities.
The licensing strategy for the new industry was being developed by the regulatory body Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), which eventually issued licenses to businesspeople.
“But we were unable to seize the global market. Meetings would be held by foreigners, but finally Bangladesh would receive the task “Shohrab Ahmed Chowdhury remarked.
Industry sources think Bangladesh has struggled to keep up with the trends on the global market. They cited a dearth of English-speaking personnel, expensive investment, and complete reliance on a single submarine cable as the main drawbacks.
Furthermore, because the company was new and the employees lacked sufficient training, Bangladeshi call center representatives lacked the soft skills necessary for dealing with customers.
“An American will not speak to you in a formal language when he calls. He’ll speak to you with a regional accent, “Shohrab Ahmed Chowdhury stated.
In actuality, the issues still exist. Although some multinational businesses continue to use the call centers in the nation, their combined economic impact is negligible.
The world’s top two call center nations are Bangladesh and the Philippines. Their call centers and back-office IT services have a $200 billion market value. Bangladesh has set a $5 billion goal for itself. Bangladesh exports IT for well over $1 billion.
Numerous connection and infrastructure issues in Bangladesh, such as those involving the underwater cables, have already been resolved. The cost of internet connectivity has been decreased, and it is now stable. However, some issues persist and prevent the sector from obtaining orders from outside.
“A person with a strong command of spoken English has a wide range of employment opportunities. The difficulty then is to keep this workforce “Prince said. Many of them quit their jobs as a result of these difficulties.
Bangladesh needs to abandon its traditional educational system. He said, “When a recent graduate emerges with outstanding scores, their results do not correlate with the employment abilities.
The night shifts for women in the sector are the second biggest challenge. At our society, parents do not permit their daughters to work the night shift in call centers. There are also worries about safety.
Due to dishonest customers in the past, many call center businesses suffered greatly. They frequently did not receive the bills after concluding their work. They had minimal market experience, making it challenging for them to discriminate between legitimate and fraudulent customers.
However, call center operators have improved. For face-to-face meetings, they now dispatch representatives to the destination nation. Towhid added, “However, it is not always feasible for small call center owners to have face-to-face meetings in the US.
Towhid asserts that Bangladeshi embassies abroad may help develop-nation economies by fostering trade.
It’s interesting to note that over the past few years, the BPO industry has undergone significant transformation. More and more work orders are being placed for data entry, non-voice digital marketing, financial accounting outsourcing, etc.
Although the call center is one of the key components of BPO, other types of labor are also available, according to association officials.
Previously, contact centers were the only source of income for the association’s members. At this point, the dependency is only 30%. The remaining 70% of businesses have changed their focus. Only 15% of call centers throughout the world are employed by the BPO industry.
In the meantime, the domestic market has witnessed significant success for the call center sector. In 2009, the call center sector employed just 300 workers. At this point, there are 65,000 employees.
Towhid Hossain said, “We are competitive in the local market, but if we look globally, we are still far behind.”
The global trend of call and contact centers has also seen significant transformation over the past few decades. In the past, the US and European nations contracted out call centers to places like Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Modern technologies like business intelligence and artificial intelligence are now being used. Currently, automation and chatbots constitute the foundation of the majority of their call centers.