BPO uses smart tech to grow

To paraphrase the famous playwright George Bernard Shaw, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, outsource”. For many companies, business process outsourcing (BPO) allows them to contract certain back-office and front-office functions – such as customer relations, HR management and even accounting – to third-party solutions providers. This in turn frees up resources which can be used to enhance core competencies. In South Africa, the BPO market is a fast rising one, and is ripe to be augmented with technology The kind of AI used in process automation may not be smart enough to pass the Turing test, but it does involve increasingly more complex processing algorithms, iterative learning and sophisticated data abstraction, replacing decision-making and administrative skills that have, until now, necessarily been performed by people. But isn’t AI going to sterilize the main benefit of BPO in SA and that is creating jobs? Joining Michael Avery on this discussion is Johan Steyn, a smart automation and artificial intelligence thought leader and management consultant; Reshni Singh Director: Global Business Services at Department of Trade Industry and Competition and Incoming CEO of BPES (Business Process Enabling South Africa); Llanley Simpson. Director: Mining and Mineral Beneficiation in The Department of Science and Innovation