Durban's reputation as a leading call centre city was enhanced recently when Durbanites scooped nine of the 13 categories up for grabs at the Dimension Data National BPO Awards. The remaining categories were shared between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Speaking at a congratulatory ceremony, City Manager Michael Sutcliffe said the City was proud of the winners, and that their achievement epitomised good customer service.
Council Speaker James Nxumalo said the industry had shown significant growth, with a potential to create many job opportunities and investment.He encouraged the winners to continue flying the city’s flag high in the industry. KZN On Source Chief Executive William Goldstone described the achievement as a “clear indication that the city and KwaZulu-Natal have the best skills in this respect. “This indicates our growth. We had four awards last year, and this year we won nine.Most importantly we’ve taken all the people’s awards. People’s awards include customer service, sales, quality assurance and IT, and are the cornerstones of any successful call centre industry in the world.”
Goldstone said the City had played a significant role in driving the growth of the call centre industry through the establishment of KZN On Source. This had translated into at least 5 000 new jobs. He said efforts continued to encourage pupils to consider careers in the call centre industry.“The city has been very supportive in providing us with financial assistance.We have also partnered with private sector companies to start trainings at schools.” Goldstone said eThekwini pupils were getting financial assistance to do extracurriculum courses relating to the sectoretterment of all,” he said.
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