Amazon’s proposed call centre to enhance Cape Town’s economy

The largest retailer on the Internet worldwide, Amazon.com will open a new call center in Cape Town this October with a view to provide services to its global customers. The proposed call center is expected to add as many as 1,000 new jobs boosting the economy of the region, where the online retailer already has a software development center.

A financial website quotes the Business Process-enabling South Africa (BPeSA) Western Cape interim CEO Fagri Semaar, as saying that the proposed call center will support the US and German markets of Amazon from Cape Town. In fact, it was Semaar who has been active in obtaining the business for Western Cape as well as ensuring the smooth the progress of talks between Amazon, a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, and the Western Cape provincial government.

It may be noted here that the BPeSA is South Africa’s national coordinating industry association that represents the interests of the BPOs and has been promoting domestic as well as international call centers and BPOs to invest in South Africa.

Meanwhile, a BPeSA release quotes Amazon’s North American director (customer service division) Brent Jay as saying that it is crucial to ensure that the company’s clients are able to access their customer service agents at their convenience and whenever the clients require their assistance. Expressing his happiness over the cooperation Amazon has received from the South African as well as the Western Cape government towards establishing the voice-based customer service center in Cape Town, Jay said that the slender time difference between Cape Town and other regions of the northern hemisphere makes it an attractive destination for service providing firms.

While Jay said that the proposed customer care call center at Cape Town will provide services only in English and German and employ 600 professionals in permanent positions and offer another 400 seasonal jobs, Semaar pointed out that Amazon’s decision to invest in Western Cape highlights the quality of services provided by the BPOs in the province.

According to Western Cape MEC of Finance (Economic Development and Tourism) Alan Winde, the deal with Amazon would not only enhance the economy of Western Cape economy by creating new employments, but also in help to infuse confidence in their capability to accommodate top-notch clients. Similarly, technical research group World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck, was of the view that not only Amazon considers South Africa as feasible source of skills, but South Africa also comprises a potent market for the company’s products.