JAMAICAN-owned itelbpo walked away the winner of the Regional BPO of the Year and Caribbean BPO Employer of the Year awards at the Caribbean BPO of the Year Awards Ceremony. The event was held at the Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort on the Dutch-speaking island of Curacao, last Thursday.

Sponsored by the Caribbean Export Development Agency and the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, the awards ceremony formed part of the Outsource to the Caribbean Conference and Expo 2019 (OCC 2019), which was held May 6 – 10.

The conference brought together more than 300 industry leaders from the Caribbean’s public and private sectors, as well as investors from the USA, Canada, Central and South America, looking for outsourcing service providers in the Caribbean’s BPO sector. OCC 2019 provided strategic opportunities to network directly with potential business leads —from speed networking sessions, to speaking opportunities, receptions, training sessions, among other activities.

The Caribbean BPO of the Year Awards was adjudicated by a panel consisting of Kirk Laughlin, CEO, Nearshore Americas; Anupam Govil, partner, AVASANT; and Margaret Rose, regional director, Site Selection Magazine. The panel was also tasked with deliberating the winners of the Caribbean BPO Innovator of the Year and Caribbean BPO Investor of the Year awards. Entries for the awards closed on April 22 and within a week the judging panel had completed their assessments.

itelbpo was declared winner of the Regional BPO of the Year award after receiving the highest score from the panel. The company also copped the Caribbean BPO Employer of the Year award for year-on-year growth in jobs for the 2017/2018 period.

“To receive such accolades, going up against other elite regional players and global powerhouses, is no small feat,” commented itelbpo Executive Chairman Yoni Epstein, who was one of many guest speakers on the roster at OCC 2019. “It’s simply fantastic. These awards truly confirm that itelbpo is on the right path and is making inroads in an industry that was once thought the playground of larger companies outside the Caribbean.”

“We also recognise that with the growth we have experienced at itelbpo, both in new business and our client base, comes the opportunity to employ more people so that we can better serve our clients,” he added.

Headquartered in Montego Bay, itelbpo has grown from seven employees when it launched in 2012 to more than 2,500 people.

In 2018 the contact centre and front office BPO increased employment at its Freeport, Bahamas operation by 100 per cent as a result of new contracts secured. To date, itelbpo has expanded its work-at-home-agent network by 35 per cent since acquiring that division at the tail end of 2017.

The largest Caribbean-owned BPO, itelbpo is aiming to add approximately 1,000 new employees by the end of 2019, including 600 new agents to be employed at its Kingston, Jamaica site.

Since the start of the year, itelbpo has received some notable awards and recognitions.

In April, Epsten collected the trophy for the Frost & Sullivan 2018 Growth Excellence Leadership Award for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to that, the company was named in the HFS Top 10 Front Office Customer Engagement Operations Services Report 2019, ranking 19th overall and fifth in the Voice of the Customer category.

At the local level, itelbpo won the Chairman’s Award at the Outsource2Jamaica Awards Ceremony and Luncheon held April 12 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“The sky’s the limit for itelbpo,” Epstein said. “ As we continue to increase our footprint in the Caribbean and across the US through our WAHA infrastructure, we also aim to deepen the customer experience by reinforcing our people-centred culture, as well as by investing in technology that makes processes simpler for our customers, improves the efficiency of our employees and boosts our clients’ profitability.”