Joe Tawfik, who addressed and represented the Middle Eastern contact centre industry at the prestigious Asia Pacific Outsourcing Executives (APOE) 2012 annual summit in China, shared his experiences and key learning’s from having helped establish an outsourcing industry in Bahrain through Silah with BPO industry heavy weights from countries such as Australia, USA, India, and the Philippines.
Tawfik reiterated the strong potential for Bahrain to become an outsourcing hub in the GCC.
“I am strong proponent of Bahrain becoming the next major outsourcing hub for the region. Silah is already leading the initiative by tapping into the great talent pool available and developing this talent to provide Arabic centric outsourcing services at a world class level,” Tawfik, said.
This insight was particularly relevant for the members of the Wuhu Municipal People’s government. As co-organisers of the summit the Wuhu government has invested in over RMB 1.3 billion (BHD 77 million) creating a service outsourcing industry park to create a future industry and employment in the city.
Tawfik’s keynote speech also talked about the importance of creating a solid mechanism for good talent sourcing and training as one of the key foundations for a new BPO industry.
He, however, warned against competing only on price.
“In our experience, Silah has reaped far greater rewards by educating BPO executives about the power of effective customer experience management and how it can form a sustainable basis for growth and greater profits. When it comes to customer service, price shouldn’t be the only measure for success.”
APOE’s mission is to create formal and informal networks between outsourcing executives in the Asia Pacific region, to aggregate and share good practices in the outsourcing industry and to encourage collaboration between members. The APOE identified the valuable contribution Tawfik made by sharing his experiences in Bahrain.