Call centre outsourcing practice by Zain Kenya limited
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to establish the call centre outsourcing practices, its
benefits and associated risks with a focus on Zain Kenya Limited. The study was
triggered by the large number of staff that the telecommunications companies employ in
the call centers, with their inherent administrative logistics and the fact that these centers
are not revenue generating functions, but more support functions. The concern of the
researcher was to find out how mobile phone companies have embraced the call centre
outsourcing practices in their operations and the possible challenges that would be faced
in outsourcing the call centers and subsequent benefits and risks accruing from such
arrangements.
The study covered one company in the telecommunications industry, Zain Kenya
Limited. The researcher employed the case study method and interviewed all the four
sectional heads of customer service department, namely Call centre inbound section, Call
centre support section, Back office section and the Walk-in centre section.
The findings of the study were that call centre outsourcing as a practice is relevant in the
mobile phone industry. The current call centre functions can be outsourced to a third
party as the study determined that the services are non core and not unique to
telecommunication companies. Zain Kenya Limited has adopted the call centre
outsourcing practice in which it has outsourced its call centre and back office functions.
Whereas the decision to outsource some of its call centre functions met its key objective
of cost optimization, various challenges and risks were inherent in the implementation of
the practice. The study found that call centre functions are non core and can thus be
outsourced to enable the company focus on its key critical areas.
The study recommends that telecommunication comparues implement call centre
outsourcing practice, as their key function is the provision of telecommunication
infrastructure and not support functions. The study recommends that the implementation
of call centre outsourcing is done with prudence of employee counseling to ensure a
seamless and successful implementation.
Citation
Masters Of Business Administration (MBA) DegreePublisher
University of Nairobi School of Business
Description
A management research project submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Master of Business
Administration (MBA), School of Business, University
of Nairobi