ICT in Kenya

Lack of laws to effectively deal with cyber crime in the country could create hurdles for outsourcing.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are finding it difficult to assure foreign clients of security of information and data due to the gray areas in ICT regulation in Kenya

As a result, players in the nascent sub-sector are investing heavily in internal systems to ensure security and integrity of information.

“This calls for very stringent internal controls by a call centre to ensure that employees do no abuse the information,” says Mr Nicholas Nesbitt, chief executive office of KenCall, Kenya’s pioneer call centre based in Nairobi.

Because of the nature of their business, call centres are required to maintain high levels of integrity to win clients’ confidence. Some of the information and data are critical financial details that would make or break a company or organisation.

However, Kenya is yet to enact serious laws that safeguard against cyber crimes, which are expected to rise with the landing of the fibre optic cables.

“We are engaging the government and its agencies on this and we expect that something will come out soon. This will be an advantage to operators as we shall have passed the credibility test,” Mr Nesbitt said in an interview at his office.

Regulations bordering on technology have been underscored as key to unlocking Kenya’s BPO potential in the global market. Economic zones like the European Union have set basic standards that for call centres that handle clients from their member states.

Call centre businesses has been growing in Kenya over the past six years. While a number of BPO firms have fallen by the wayside, few remain and are hoping to gain from new laws and the arrival of fast-speed internet.

“About five years ago when we started business, there were about 30 players in the sector. However, today very few have survived the times,” says Mr Nesbitt.

The sub-sector continues to face challenges, the latest being large corporates that are establishing their own contact centres. This has resulted in low volumes as well as high turnover of staff between companies.

Kenya’s call centre market earned Sh450 million in 2007 and this is projected to more than triple by 2014 to reach Sh1.4 billion, according to a Frost and Sullivan 2008 analysis .

The low margins had been blamed on prohibitively high bandwidth costs but this will be salvaged by the use of fibre optic cables.

“We are excited about it and personally I believe that business will grow by about 300 per cent. We are receiving lots of requests from the international market,” says Mr Nesbitt.

While outsourcing centres have remained an emerging business across the globe, it is yet to pick locally as firms often rely more on foreign clients.

“There is also a general lack of a call centre culture in Kenya, with customers preferring face-to-face service,” says Frost and Sullivan, the research firm.

“This aspect has limited the growth of the domestic market, with companies unable to justify the setting up of contact centres due to the limited uptake of the services.”

By JOSEPH BONYO — Nation media group