EMEA Emerges Contact Center Hotspot
-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
Move over India and the Philippines; countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in Africa are emerging as the new favorites of the outsourcing industry, says a new report from Frost & Sullivan. The EMEA contact center market as it is called, an acronym for Europe, Middle East and Africa, earned $11.2 billion this year, and is expected to touch $16 billion by the year 2012.
If India was in the spotlight for its large English-speaking population, then the Egyptians and Tunisians are being sought after for their French linguistic skills and the Europeans are wanted for their Spanish capabilities. The United Kingdom is happy to outsource to South Africa, while the Netherlands and other countries in Europe are finding favor for the provision of financial services, communications, and information technology.
From the looks of things, it’s not just the Asian countries that have a massive pool of low-cost, highly skilled workers. The EMEA countries are giving them a run for their money (workforce?) in this regard.