The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Council is aiming to have a 100 per cent vaccinated workforce for its BPO members, according to executive director Sagufta Janif.
She said having a 100 per cent vaccination rate would help the BPO industry solve the difficulties they faced with the work-from-home model.
This could only be resolved once employees start going back to work to access the extensive facilities and infrastructure provided to support efficient BPO operation, added Ms Janif.
“Council members employ approximately 5,000 people and the good news is that almost 60 per cent of the industry’s workforce have already received their first vaccination, and some of our BPO companies are even going to the extent of providing transportation to vaccination sites for their staff and their families.”
Fiji’s major competitors in the BPO industry were India and the Philippines and Ms Janif explained these two countries had been severely impacted by the COVID crisis.
She added most of their clients were now looking at other destinations for BPO services to mitigate the risk factor involved in investing in one destination.
“Fiji’s BPO industry has expanded significantly over the past decade and contributes approximately $A66 million ($F103.3m) per annum to the Fiji economy, and this is expected to triple in the next three years.
“The BPO market in Australia is valued at $US38 billion ($F78.4b). If Fiji can capture say 5 per cent of that market over the next 10 years, that would be $US1.9b ($F3.9b) or circa $F4.2b or in relative terms, 39 per cent of the GDP in 2020.
“But we will only be able to start working towards these numbers once we start operating at full capacity,” she said. Fiji was said to be fortunate to have a well-established and rapidly growing BPO / ICT industry, with real potential to continue to grow and provide significant support to the Fiji economy.
“This is evident in the fact that Fiji has managed to secure its position by attracting major and renowned BPO investors to reposition their back-office processing in Fiji,” Ms Janif said.
“This success has been made possible through the support of the Fijian Government, the improved infrastructure and technological facilities, the leveraging of Fiji’s many natural resources, and other advantages which make Fiji the ideal choice for BPO service delivery.”
The impacts of COVID-19 were said to have made companies in Australia and New Zealand re-evaluate their disaster recovery strategies for outsourcing which have resulted in some companies in looking to explore alternate destinations.
“This presents a major opportunity for Fiji – the potential for growth for Fiji’s BPO industry is significant. A definite plus is that our service culture makes Fiji an ideal choice for BPO investment.”
