PANEL: In Face of Stagnating Favorability Ratings, What’s Next for South African Offshore CX?
Release Date: 07/03/2025
Enea Dervishi - Simetrix Solutions - Is The Albania BPO Wave About To Break?
CX Files
Enea Dervishi is the Operations Director at Simetrix Solutions. He is based in Durres, Albania. Last month, Enea published an article in Customer Think titled "From Beaches To Business: Is Albania's BPO Wave About To Break?" The article kicked off a fevered discussion on LinkedIn because it did not focus on the usual BPO regional comparisons - how many airports, graduates etc... it directly compared the BPO possibilities in Albania with much larger and established destinations such as South Africa and India. Albania is on track to join the EU soon and although it is in Europe, companies there...
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Remembering Gareth Pritchard
CX Files
In this special episode of the CX Files, Peter and Mark join with David Rumble, Rod Jones, and Traci Freeman to remember how the late Gareth Pritchard influenced and helped to shape the BPO/CX/GBS industry in South Africa. We discussed how Gareth was instrumental in making South Africa a leading location for this industry and what his legacy may be in future. --- SUMMARY: The CX Files podcast episode paid tribute to Gareth Pritchard, a pioneer in South Africa's outsourcing and customer experience industry. Gareth's vision united regional fragmentation, promoting "Brand South...
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David Powers - Rooter Hero - The Three-Faced AI God In CX
CX Files
David Powers is the VP of CX at Rooter Hero. He is based in Los Angeles, CA. David is also a published author and the host of the CX Riot Radio podcast. This conversation between Mark Hillary and David came about because of a recent CX Riot Radio epsisode titled 'The Three-Faced AI God' where David talked about his experience of using AI in the contact center. David's experience shows that AI has genuine value, but there is a big difference between the genuine application of AI to improve CX and what is promised by many commentators and "AI gurus." David is both a CX leader and manager,...
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Cheryl Paarwater - Enerlytics & Call Lab BPO - How Does AI Affect Marginalized Communities?
CX Files
Cheryl Paarwater is the Managing Director at Enerlytics & Call Lab BPO. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Cheryl has championed CX in South Africa for many years and is a board member of BPESA - the trade promotion agency for business process service companies in South Africa. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Cheryl explores how BPO and CX has created many opportunities for employment in South Africa - and beyond - and this has created a very positive socio-economic ripple effect. People leaving informal jobs and entering contact centers pay tax, support their family, and help...
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Kathy Juve - Concentrix - Flashback To The First Month Of Covid
CX Files
This is the final Covid flashback where CX Files has looked back at the early days of the 2020 pandemic throughout August 2025. This interview was originally broadcast on May 15, 2020 - about a month into the pandemic and lockdowns. At the time Kathy Juve was the EVP, Customer Experience Technology & Insights Division, at Concentrix. She is now EVP of Global Solutions - also at Concentrix. Kathy is based in Orlando, Florida. In this episode, Kathy describes how the previous three weeks created the digital transformation that might usually have taken three years... April 2020 was a time of...
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Dave Rizzo - TP - Flashback To The First Week Of The Covid Crisis
CX Files
SUMMER SPECIAL - COVID FLASHBACK Covid-19 was five long years ago. In a series of short summer specials, CX Files is bringing you some memories of what was going on at a very chaotic time for the industry. During the early days of the pandemic, CX Files went from weekly to daily and captured many important observations on how the CX industry was coping across the world. Dave Rizzo is the APAC President of TP. He is based in Singapore. Five years ago the company was known as Teleperformance and Dave was based in Manila, but essentially he was performing the same leadership role for TP in Asia....
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John Devlin - Ascensos - Flashback To Day One Of The 2020 Covid Lockdowns
CX Files
SUMMER SPECIAL - COVID FLASHBACK Covid-19 was five long years ago. In a series of short summer specials, CX Files is bringing you some memories of what was going on at a very chaotic time for the industry. During the early days of the pandemic, CX Files went from weekly to daily and captured many important observations on how the CX industry was coping across the world. John Devlin is the Founder and CEO of Ascensos (acquired by Firstsource in 2024) - he is still in this position. John talked to Mark Hillary on March 26, 2020. This was day one of the first Covid lockdown in the UK - the Prime...
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Dave D'Arcy - Laughing Leadership - The Recurring "Groundhog Day" Issues In CX
CX Files
Dave D'Arcy is the founder of Laughing Leadership. He is based in Tring, close to London in the UK. Laughing Leadership was created to guide business leaders to build the environment to nurture and develop happy engaged employees. The solution is not in bean bags, slides, fruit on Friday or free tea and coffee. It is in culture. And culture is a byproduct of leadership style. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Dave talks about some of the 'groundhog day' issues he keeps reading about and seeing in CX. Why do we keep reading about the same CX issues over and over again? Why is the CX...
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Amanda Quinn - Quinn Growth Advisors - BPOs Must Specialize or Die Trying
CX Files
Amanda Quinn is the Founder and Principal of Quinn Growth Advisors. She is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Amanda talks about her work advising BPOs on how to build growth and develop a sales pipeline. Amanda advises focusing on deep expertise and specialization, rather than claiming to offer every single service and excelling at none of them. How can BPOs compete and leverage technology to improve what they offer to clients? SUMMARY: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the challenges faced by BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing) in the...
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Mike Ortegon - Yoummday - How Travel Is Taking Off
CX Files
Mike Ortegon is a customer solutions director at Yoummday. He is an American based in London and he has a focus on the global travel industry - with a long track record of leadership roles in travel companies. Mark Hillary called Mike to talk about travel. How has it recovered since the pandemic? What trends are travel companies seeing that are new for the 2020s? Are travel companies becoming more proactive in their approach to the customer experience? Why are some people around the world protesting that there is too much tourism now? Mike talked about all these issues and explored how the...
info_outlinePANEL: In Face of Stagnating Favorability Ratings, What’s Next for South African Offshore CX?
When Ryan Strategic Advisory published the most favorable offshore location study last May, South Africa had dropped to third position, compared to more recently topping the poll.
This survey features feedback from over 800 CX decision-makers and is potentially the largest survey that explores where CX leaders will consider operations.
https://ryanadvisory.com/india-is-the-most-favored-offshore-cx-delivery-point-in-2025/
India and the Philippines are now the most popular destinations, but have these giant destinations just reasserted their postiion or is something going wrong in South Africa?
South Africa is still in the top three destinations, but is this slip from the top position a significant change or a blip?
Peter Ryan called together a group of three experts to talk about the change in favorability and what is next for BPO and CX in South Africa...
Lian Rowlands
Owner and Principal Consultant at Tayma Solutions
Liverpool, UK
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lian-rowlands-a26119/
Steve Weston
Founder of ApexCX
Baltimore, MD, USA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-weston-1843152/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/apexcx-customer-experience-support-services/
Mark Essey
CEO Custom Connect South Africa
Durban, South Africa
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markessey/
https://www.customconnect.com/
Summary:
In the CX Files podcast episode from July 3, 2025, hosts Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the recent Ryan Strategic Advisory survey on CX technology and global services, which ranked offshore destinations for favorability. India ranked first, the Philippines second, and South Africa tied for third with Poland. The conversation features experts Lian Rowlands, Steve Weston, and Mark Essey, who discuss South Africa's decline in favorability rankings despite maintaining a strong delivery system. They highlight the need for South Africa to reinvent its value proposition, focusing on data security, compliance, and advanced technology to regain its top position. The discussion emphasizes the importance of government support, industry cooperation, and forward-thinking strategies to enhance South Africa's BPO sector.