UK-based consultancy, Ryan Strategy Advisory, has unveiled a whitepaper prepared for Bahrain-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company, Silah Gulf, presenting the role of the Kingdom in driving growth of global BPOs.
Titled, ‘Leveraging Bahrain for Customer Experience Excellence,’ the whitepaper highlights the strengths of Bahrain as a regional player with strong links to GCC countries and the attractive propositions the country offers for global clients.
Peter Ryan, Founder and Principal Analyst of Ryan Strategy Advisory said: “Customer experience management faces significant challenges that impact end-user interaction and empowers agents, especially while dealing with the challenges of Covid19. Many enterprises are actively exploring new delivery points looking beyond their own backyard and considering locations that have the capacity to provide talent that is willing to address the needs of end-users in an efficient and enthusiastic way.
“Bahrain offers the perfect platform for strengthening customer experience excellence, building on its reputation as a country that has adopted new approaches to customer experience and geographic delivery.”
Feras Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of Silah Gulf added: “We commissioned this in-depth study to validate the competitive strengths of Bahrain’s BPO industry and the value-add the nation offers in supporting organisations to promote customer service excellence.
“With the pandemic changing the way organisations work, it is important that customer service is prioritised even more, and a strong BPO support can help them achieve this seamlessly. In this, Bahrain’s location and heritage in BPO operations serve as a strong value proposition, offering organisations cost-effective solutions to strengthen customer service standards.”
The white paper outlines how Bahrain has emerged as one of the countries to watch for in nearshore contact center delivery within the GCC and in targeted Western European locations.
“The country provides the right balance of value and innovation to enterprises from around the world that are searching for the next country of choice for delivery of contact center services. Factors such as easy accessibility, diversity of population, multilingualism and affordable cost structure along with a relatively youthful age demographic make it a feasible option,” the white paper said.
The key factors that define Bahrain’s strengths as a BPO destination, which includes ease of accessibility, with the significant expansion of the international airport providing travellers with direct flights to-and-from most major cities in the region.
The diversity of the country’s demographic, with expats from various parts of Asia, Europe and the US, and the direct benefit of diversity on contact center delivery - its impact on the number of languages on the ground in Bahrain - also allows for greater efficiencies by centralizing multilingual needs in one hub. With nearly one-third of the population under the age of 25, the nation ensures a talent pool large enough to satisfy growing needs.
The country is also among the most affordable offshore locations within the Gulf region for performing contact center work. It is estimated by providers on the ground that the price / agent / hour equates to roughly $12.50 for customer care. Bahrain provides the right balance of value and innovation to enterprises from around the world that are looking for the next country of choice for delivery of contact center services.
“Customer experience management has changed significantly since the past year, and it is likely to continue its ongoing shift. It is in this spirit that leading Bahrain customer experience management provider Silah Gulf comes to the market with an offering that reflects the needs of enterprises in the GCC and wider world,” Ryan added.
“The reality of customer experience delivery going forward is one that favours providers that are willing to differentiate their offerings. No longer are enterprises likely to work with generic, run-of-the-mill outsourcers that are focused on large volumes of interactions done as cheaply as possible. Rather, the future favours those that are prepared to offer front-line service excellence, alongside value-add process and technology offerings.
“If there is one facet of contact center service delivery that is more apparent than ever, it is that enterprises are looking for providers that have capacity in non-traditional locations. Currently, Bahrain is emerging as one of the countries to watch for nearshore contact center delivery within the GCC and in targeted Western European locations.
“In fact, the most recent Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office BPO Omnibus Survey, published in 2021 indicates that out of over 50 different offshore and nearshore locations, Bahrain is a top 10 choice for enterprise contact center executives in both the UK and Australia. That Bahrain is on the short-list of delivery destinations in two of the most sophisticated demand markets points to an increasing awareness of what Bahrain can bring to the CX table,” he noted. –