MALAYSIA'S OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY TO GROW BETWEEN 15 AND 20 PER CENT

By Premalatha Jayaraman

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's outsourcing industry is
expected to grow between 15 and 20 per cent this year as more companies
outsource their services to remain competitive.

However, to remain competitive in the outsourcing market in the future,
Malaysia will have to focus on segments where it can have an edge such as the
mid-layer segment as the low-end segment is now dominated by India.

"I foresee good growth in the outsourcing industry because it helps to drive
down cost," said Interactive Intelligence Inc's regional sales director for
Asean, David Toh Yue Heng.

He told Bernama recently that the outsourcing industry in Asia was led by
India for years but as salaries went up, people started to look at other
countries that offered better and value-added outsourcing services.

According to Toh, Malaysia's advantage is its multilingual talents.

"We can speak multiple language apart from English, Malay, Chinese and
Tamil, and some even speak Japanese and Korean," he said.

Based on a study by AT Kearney, Malaysia is ranked third in the Asia Pacific
region for outsourcing.

Asked whether Malaysia was prepared to become a contact centre hub in the
future, Toh said Malaysia has "all the ingredients to become a successful hub".

Among them were skilled workers, resources and infrastructure as well as
reasonable cost, he said.

"Hence, with all the ingredients, it is possible," he added.

Toh said the government and the people in the industry should work
hand-in-hand to achieve their aims and attract external markets.

Among the key areas that Malaysia could focus were the government sector,
and inbound and outbound markets, he said.

Toh said the ongoing efforts by government agencies to improve the public
delivery system offered opportunities for call centre operators to look into the
segment.

Traditionally, he said, most government agencies used the telephone system
for communication.

Of other segments, the outbound market is one of the key areas with
potential for growth, Toh said.

He said outbound call is one initiated from a call centre agent to a
customer on behalf of the call centre or a client.

Typical outbound calls include include telemarketing, sales or fund-raising
calls, as well as calls for contact list updating, surveys or verification
services.

A call centre may handle either outbound or inbound calls exclusively or
deal with a combination of both.

-- BERNAMA