MANOUVRES by governments in Nigeria and Kenya, among others, in the information technology sector as well as the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup will be key to the revival of struggling IT giant Spescom.
This is the view of analysts following the company’s release of a routine set of disappointing financial results where revenue and profits dropped.
Despite this, market watchers are confident of a turnaround,” said Frost and Sullivan analyst Spiwe Chireka.
She added, “Following years of poor performance, Spescom is continuing its turnaround. Expansion of its services and addressable markets to include more offshore clients, and preparation by companies for the nearing Confederations Cup and 2010 are the key areas for growth.”
Chireka believes that Spescom’s strategy to expand its managed and hosted services in this area will play a particularly important role in securing future growth. The current said.
“It is likely that investment into in-house contact centres will become increasingly difficult to justify and this will see more companies outsourcing their operations,” Chireka says.
“Operators in the US and other developed markets are also expected to increasingly consider offshore contact centre services in an effort to manage costs. South Africa is becoming an attractive offshore contact centre and BPO destination.”
Spescom recently made its revival intentions known with, Libra, a programme to record mobile conversations, which is the first of its kind in the world.
“The growing use of mobile telephone services by consumers, coupled with new regulation such as that which requires that all calls in the financial services industry be recorded, is expected to drive growth for
the operator,” said Chireka
