Call centre outsourcing practice by Zain Kenya limited

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to establish the call centre outsourcing practices, its benefits and associated risks with a focus on Zain Kenya Limited. The study was triggered by the large number of staff that the telecommunications companies employ in the call centers, with their inherent administrative logistics and the fact that these centers are not revenue generating functions, but more support functions. The concern of the researcher was to find out how mobile phone companies have embraced the call centre outsourcing practices in their operations and the possible challenges that would be faced in outsourcing the call centers and subsequent benefits and risks accruing from such arrangements. The study covered one company in the telecommunications industry, Zain Kenya Limited. The researcher employed the case study method and interviewed all the four sectional heads of customer service department, namely Call centre inbound section, Call centre support section, Back office section and the Walk-in centre section. The findings of the study were that call centre outsourcing as a practice is relevant in the mobile phone industry. The current call centre functions can be outsourced to a third party as the study determined that the services are non core and not unique to telecommunication companies. Zain Kenya Limited has adopted the call centre outsourcing practice in which it has outsourced its call centre and back office functions. Whereas the decision to outsource some of its call centre functions met its key objective of cost optimization, various challenges and risks were inherent in the implementation of the practice. The study found that call centre functions are non core and can thus be outsourced to enable the company focus on its key critical areas. The study recommends that telecommunication comparues implement call centre outsourcing practice, as their key function is the provision of telecommunication infrastructure and not support functions. The study recommends that the implementation of call centre outsourcing is done with prudence of employee counseling to ensure a seamless and successful implementation.