“Whether you’re managing 3,000 or you’re managing 20, the fundamentals are the same”, so says Founding Chairman and CEO of itelbpo Smart Solutions, Yoni Epstein. In this episode Yoni shares his entrepreneurial journey and a few of the important lessons he has learned along way. He also discusses challenges that limit the ability of Caribbean countries to transition into higher value outsourcing services; and why Caribbean countries should continue to focus on call/contact centres into the future.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

Offshore outsourcing is an industry of many Caribbean economies that some of us love to hate. Some of that discontent has its source in the low cost operations that came to the region in the early and mid-1990s. However, and over the past nearly 30 years, the industry has evolved and has become an important creator of employment in many countries across the region.

To a considerable degree, many of the large outsourcing operations that have established a presence in the Caribbean are foreign-owned. In fact, some of the largest and most popular call centre firms, such as Alorica, Conduent, Concentrix and Teleperformance, to name a few, have operations in the region, employing tens of thousands of people, thereby allowing them to be productive members of society.

Globally, the business process outsourcing (BPO) segment of the wider outsourcing market was valued at USD 221.5 billion in 2019, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.0% between now and 2027 (Source:  Grand View Research). As a result, many countries are eager to attract more offshore outsourcing investment, particularly in the call centre and contact centre segments, which is considered one of the region’s strengths.

Having said this, the call centre and contact centre segments are generally considered low-paying when compared with the broad range of services that can be outsourced,. Services requiring more specialised skills and expertise can demand higher rates. As a result, and in some Caribbean countries, such as Jamaica, that have a fairly well-established call/contact centre industry, there have been increasing calls for the country to move away from call/contact centres and target some of the higher value services in areas such as, finance and accounting, legal processing and software development. However, so far, those higher value segments remain considerably smaller in the region, when compared with the size of its call/contact centre segment.

Hence, in this episode, we will be discussing offshore outsourcing in the Caribbean region, from a Caribbean perspective, with Yoni Epstein, of itelbpo Smart Solutions.

 

Introducing our guest

With over 20 years’ experience managing contact centre services, Yoni Epstein, is the Founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of itelbpo Smart Solutions, an award-winning BPO firm, headquartered in Jamaica.

Established in June 2012 with about seven employees, the company has grown to over 3,500, across six countries: Jamaica, The Bahamas, Mexico, Saint Lucia, the United States and Canada. The company offers a range of communications services, such as voice, email, and chat, and serves a broad range of industries, including travel and tourism, health care, financial services, online retail, telecommunications, and utilities.

Over the years, itelbpo Smart Solutions has won several awards, including, “Central American & Caribbean Contact Center Outsourcing Services Growth Excellence Leadership Award” by Frost & Sullivan in 2018 and 2019; Caribbean BPO of the Year — Overall Winner (2018), Caribbean BPO Employer of the Year (2018), and it was also named among the top 20 BPO’s globally in 2018, by HFS.

Yoni has been ranked among the 50 most influential executives for the Latin American and the Caribbean region, and has helped to enhance the region’s global positioning. Currently, he sits on several government boards, and is the Chairman of the Global Services Sector Project, a 5-year project focused on talent upskilling.

 

Insight into our conversation

In having the opportunity to speak with the founder of a Caribbean-grown outsourcing operation, which has enjoyed tremendous success, we sought to pick Yoni’s brain on a broad range of issues, including his own entrepreneurial journey, along with discussing the state of offshore outsourcing in the Caribbean, and what the future might hold for both the region and for itelbpo. To that end, key questions we posed during the course of our conversation included the following:

  1. How did you end up starting itelbpo
  2. What services itelbpo does offer?
  3. Itelbpo has been recognised locally and regionally. To what (factors) would you attribute those achievements?
  4. How would you describe yourself as a manager, as the leader of your organisation?
  5. What do you consider your greatest strength? And your greatest weakness?
  6. What has been the biggest lesson you have had to learn in running itelbpo?
  7. What is the best piece of advice you have received with respect to itelbpo and/or you leading the company?
  8. What are some of the challenges in having an offshore outsourcing business that the average person might not fully appreciate?
  9. In light of COVID-19, how has itelbpo, and the wider offshore industry in Jamaica, been affected?
  10. Has itelbpo begun to feel the impact of artificial intelligence and automation? Has it had evolve due to those technologies? If so, in what ways?
  11. Is it still a good idea for Caribbean countries to build their investment promotion strategy to attract call centres primarily?
  12. Although there are regular calls for Caribbean countries to do more higher value work, it appears that we have made very little inroads in those areas. Why do you think that is the case?
  13. Are there any plans for itelbpo to expand its offering from voice-based or call centre-related services?
  14. What might the future of outsourcing look like? And how do you see itelbpo playing in that space?

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits: Richard Blank (flickr); itelbpo

Music credit: Ray Holman