Employment is the basic need of human beings to survive in this competitive world. Competition between people and the organization has taken a rise alongside technology. Even in the pandemic, unemployment numbers were rising due to lockdowns.
During this hard time, outsourcing helped a lot to organizations and aspiring young generations to grow financially. The organization gets the manpower from outsourcing which is needed to do the work on a bigger scale. Organizations require employees to do front office and back-office operations.
Outsourcing companies hire and appoint people to do the work for the client organization. Business process outsourcing is subcontracting various business-related operations to third-party vendors. Operations include accounting, payment processing, IT services, human resource, regulatory compliances, and quality management. Companies choose to outsource to improve performance, accurate reporting, productivity growth, and to create an identity in the global market.
South Africa-based, CallForce Outsourcing Specialists, is providing customized and innovative contact centre solutions to the Global market. The company has a global footprint in over five continents, Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia, and Australia. The organization is a self-funded and 100% women-owned company.
Candice Roberts, the CEO, is a person who is behind the success and innovation of the company. Specialization in being an endeavour entrepreneur helped the company to reach outstanding achievements.
In a recent interview, we asked a few questions to CallForce Outsourcing Specialists Team, read the answers below to know more about them.
Please brief our audience about CallForce, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a trusted outsourcing partner.
Delivering innovative contact centre solutions from South Africa to the Global market is at the heart of what we do with the goal to streamline the operations of an existing contact centre or create a custom contact centre solution that transforms the experience customers have with a brand.
Our service offering is underpinned by our vision to create 500 000 career opportunities for the youth of South Africa while contributing to the growth of the South African GBS sector by 2030.
It is all implemented with our successful and proven formula that combines the right people and optimised processes with cutting-edge technology and digital skills to deliver an exceptional customer brand experience.
Our formula for success is continually optimised with an integrated omnichannel strategy supported by smart technology platforms and a tech-savvy, accent neutral talent pool that creates agility in this highly competitive landscape.
By outsourcing to the right partner like CallForce, it can be an enabler to outperform your competitors and retain your position as a leading brand.
Shed some light on your offerings and how they impact the industry and your clients?
We service and support businesses all over the globe by understanding the geographic requirements and local challenges to successfully create, implement and manage unique BPO solutions specific to our client’s business needs.
Our client experience spans across a number of different industry sectors including Telecommunications, Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), EdTech, Ecommerce, Logistics and Energy to name a few, where we are particularly focused on Asia, UK, Australia, Europe, United States and the local South African business market.
A digital mindset was our theme for 2021, not just with the implementation of technology, but the strategic planning of the right technology coupled with cultural alignment to ensure we professionally support our clients in this rapidly evolving digital world.
To keep up with changes in customer expectations and demand, it has been important that we reimagine products and services with technology as the driver and continually improve and optimise our digital journey both for our clients and for our teams to ensure the connection to our brand starts from the inside.
Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on the impact of adopting modern technologies within the business outsourcing space and what more could be expected in the future?
Technology is only meaningful when combined with strategic thinking and a human touch, that is why we must understand the pain points in order to map out the right process to create optimisation and efficiency, which speaks into the CallForce proven formula for success.
Some of the solutions we have implemented include speech analytics, AI-driven customer conversational analytics, digital engagement solutions, interview and pre-employment assessment tools, software to increase contactability, an ATS system that digitally streamlines our recruitment process, a CRM system to manage our marketing and sales efforts as well as our very own video-based digital communication and performance management tools.
The digital transformation journey is continually evolving, where our future success lies in listening more to the needs of both our teams and clients in order to effectively optimise and digitise contact centres of the future in a meaningful, humanly connected way.
Considering the current pandemic, what initial challenges did you face and how did you drive CallForce to sustain operations while ensuring the safety of your employees at the same time?
Under the leadership of Candice Roberts, our business growth trajectory has built even further momentum despite managing 3 Covid waves. CallForce has achieved 159% gross profit growth between September 2020 and 2021, having created hundreds of new jobs in South Africa.
We successfully navigated the COVID crisis and deployed a 300-seater contact centre during level 5 lockdowns within just 8 days to support our country in giving 300 families much-needed income during the global crisis.
A 100% virtual agent training program was designed and deployed to support this brand-new operation. Agility in adapting, streamlining, and distributing the ever-evolving process was key.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the business outsourcing services market?
Over the years of our entrepreneurial journey, we have learnt the importance of celebrating success even in the face of adversity such as the pandemic that has affected us all on so many fronts.
Our advice is to keep challenging yourselves, your teams, as well as your processes and their supporting technologies because refinement comes from the incremental improvements.
Identify your blind spots and take ownership of them – growth is not always a comfortable process, but fortune favours the brave.
Taking calculated risks needs courage, but you don’t have to do it alone, there is so much power in numbers.
Never underestimate the power of your network – that includes your clients, mentors and teams. By collaborating and staying connected to other business professionals it will support you as you continually develop and refine your strategy and don’t forget to factor in agility, which will be key in helping you innovate during times of unprecedented change.
How do you envision scaling CallForce’s operations and offerings in 2022 and further?
We aim to continue the momentum of our excellent growth trajectory as we extend the operations of our business into the USA, UK and Australian markets.
Our continued investment in smart technology as a fundamental enabler to digitise the customer journey and empower our people with relevant insights and learnings to support their career growth is critical as we continue to optimise the customer experience.
We are excited about the digital community we are building that supports both our hybrid office and work-from-home teams. This is enhanced through Engage – our digital communication platform, and Transform – our performance enhancement tool which brings our highly effective performance management methodology into the palms of our teams’ hands.
About the Leader
The CEO, Candice Roberts, is a thought-leader in the Outsourcing sector, currently sitting on the BPESA industry Exco committee, the board of Endeavor South Africa together with the CEO of Accenture and EY and is an Alumni and mentor for the EY winning woman programme globally.
Her entrepreneurial journey with CallForce (BEE LEVEL 1) started 22 years ago as a flexible staffing company achieving 100% year-on-year growth prior to the economic-financial crisis and procuring blue-chip clients such as Standard Bank and Vodacom in our first year.
Awards and Accolades
- BPESA/CCMG Best External Service Provider – Finalist 2017
- EY Winning Woman Programme – 2017
- EY South African Entrepreneur of The Year – Finalist 2017
- CCMG Best International Outsourcing Contact Centre – Finalist 2018
- GSA African Outsourcing Project of The Year – Finalist 2018
- Endeavor High Impact Entrepreneur
- BPESA GBS Top BPO Operator – 2019
- CCW Finalist: Best in Class Contact Center – 100+ Seats 2019
- BPESA GBS Top Offshore Campaign – 2019
- Top Empowerment Job Creation – Finalist 2020
- ISG Asia Pacific Paragon Awards Finalist – 2020 Excellence and Woman in Technologies Categories
- ISG Paragon Excellence Award – 2020
- CCW EMEA Regional Winner: Best Public Service Centre 2021
- Top Empowerment Job Creation – Finalist 2021
- Top Empowerment Customer Focus – Finalist 2021
