Chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of itelBPO Solutions, Yoni Epstein, says Jamaica has made significant strides in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, and can benefit even more by expanding its service offerings and upskilling workers within the industry.

“Over the past decade Jamaica has become more and more of a known entity in the outsourcing world, competing against India and the Philippines, and over the last seven years Jamaica has grown from a menial 12,000 people working in the industry to over 36,000,” Epstein said.

Epstein, who was participating in a panel discussion entitled ‘Inclusive Economic Growth and Job Creation’, at the 8th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference in downtown, Kingston last week, pointed out that Jamaica’s success in the BPO sector can be attributed to its geographic location, buyer interest, and financial attractiveness.

“The fact that we are very close to North America — which is our biggest provider of services — our Jamaican people, and stronger buyer interest over the years — as a result of Jamaica Promotions Corporation promoting Jamaica to the world that we are a destination for outsourcing — are all major parts of our success,” the CEO said.

He argued that as the country continues to perform well in this area, consideration must be given to other services that can be explored.

“As we grow, we need to continue to up the value chain and provide services more than just customer care. Health care, insurance, technology, high-end retail banking, travel and tourism are all potential industries,” he pointed out.

Epstein said that social media analytics, high-touch customer care and customer experience strategy are other areas to be explored to take the sector to another level.

He shared that the establishment of the Global Service Skills (GSS) project will assist in moving Jamaica to the next level by preparing workers for high-end jobs in industries such as BPO and other information technology-enabled services.

“I, along with a bunch of other individuals in government and private sector and other supporting industries, am working to utilise the US$15-million that the Government took as a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to upskill our agents in customer care, technology and software development — because if we continue to take this industry to the next level then this sector will be here for the next 20 or 30 years,” he said.

Founded in 2012 in Montego Bay, itelBPO is now a global business and the region’s largest home-grown business process outsourcer, offering end-to-end customer experience management solutions from five facilities in four countries.