Offshore Outsourcing: Kenya Shows Promise

When examining offshore outsourcing options, Kenya shows a lot of promise for cost savings, however, it has seen its IT services potential slowed by political instability and infrastructure improvement delays. When will this alternative to India and China be viable?
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With India's rising costs and employee turnover encouraging information technology executives to look beyond the subcontinent for offshore outsourcing providers, a country like Kenya could be poised to win more IT services business from abroad. Kenya boasts a big pool of English-speaking professionals and the government has invested millions to improve the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Once the political issues are addressed, Kenya could be one of the world's fastest developing outsourcing destinations due to its large English speaking population, low costs, and near shore status for European and Middle Eastern companies, says neoIT's Kublanov, putting it on par with its IT services competitors on the continent including South Africa, Mauritius, Egypt and Ghana. The East African nation could become a preferred destination for call center and smaller business process outsourcing contracts. Thus far, the local call center industry employs 3,000 professionals and has grown to $5 million since the first call center opened a few years ago, says Kublanov, leaving plenty of room for growth. The most established local providers include Skyweb Evans, Kencall, and Preciss, who serve customers in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Infrastructure improvements are coming, slowly but surely. The Kenyan government has invested $100 million in The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS), an undersea cable to connect Mombasa with Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, which is expected to bring the cost of connectivity down to the levels India pays, says Kublanov. In addition, construction has finally begun on the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), spearheaded by the world bank back in 2003, which will connect East African countries to the rest of the world via high-bandwidth fiber optic cable. The project is slated for completion in late 2010.
The Kenyan government also plans to complete a 5,000-seat technology park and export promotion zone by 2012, a move aimed at boosting the BPO industry. IDC Kenya says data centers, managed services, help desks, call centers, and application and hosting services will be key areas to watch in 2010.

Source: http://www.cio.com/article/458768/Offshore_Outsourcing_Kenya_Shows_Promise?page=2&taxonomyId=3195