Cape Town-based software development firm ZaiLab wants to change where contact centres are located.
The company which offers cloud-based contact-centre and communication solutions, in 2017 announced that they, together with training provider Zoe Incubation Centre, would be building a contact centre and training facility in Delft, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, located next to the Cape Town International Airport.
The project, which has BPESA, The City of Cape Town and Old Mutual Finance as collaborating partners, aims to not only create jobs and contribute towards skills development, but to also bring contact centres closer to township communities.
“As we know most of the agents that work in contact centres actually come from the townships, so why not build a contact centre in the township – it makes sense right?” says company founder and CEO Nour Addine Ayyoub.
Technology makes this possible, says Ayyoub.
“We were able to achieve this because we designed a cloud-based solution that’s fast, flexible and adaptable. I saw that fiber and Wi-Fi networks were becoming available in communities and we were not utilizing this infrastructure for anything sustainable. That’s when we started talking to Zoe Incubation Centre about doing something useful and beneficial with the infrastructure that the city provided,” says Ayyoub in a Tech Financials article.
The call centre will launch at the end of February 2018 and will create employment for 67 agents based in the Delft area. Old Mutual has already come on as a client, says Ayyoub.
According to Tech Financials, in the long term they hope to create more jobs by incorporating home-based agents who will work from home, schools, and other areas close to Delft.
“This is an ideal opportunity for stay-at-home mothers, the physically challenged, and staff who prefer to work from home.”
WATCH: A look at the Delft community-based contact centre.
