MONTEGO BAY, St James — Major players in Jamaica’s global services sector are confident that it can return to its annual US$1-billion earnings despite a contraction in employment.

But they argue that this will only be achieved if the country moves beyond traditional call centre operations and embraces artificial intelligence (AI), increased productivity, and higher-value services.

President of the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) Yoni Epstein and Gloria Henry, vice-president of BPO and logistics at the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), expressed confidence in the sector’s prospects while acknowledging the challenges facing the industry, including rising operating costs, absenteeism, high staff turnover, and intensifying international competition.

They were speaking last Thursday at the GSAJ quarterly members’ meeting at Pier One in Montego Bay, St James, where both called for a strategic shift from labour-intensive business process outsourcing (BPO) towards knowledge-based and technology- enabled services.

Gloria Henry, vice-president of BPO and Logistics at the Port Authority of Jamaica, speaking at the GSAJ quarterly members’ meeting at Pier One in Montego Bay, St James, on Thursday. (Photos: Philp Lemonte)

Epstein, who recently returned to the helm of the GSAJ, noted that the industry had lost significant ground in employment but retained the fundamentals needed to regain its momentum.

“We came off a peak of 60,000 jobs. By the association’s count we are at about 40,000 today.

Government’s count says 50,000,” said Epstein as he doubled down on his rejection of the claim that AI was primarily responsible for the decline in the labour force. According to Epstein, operational inefficiencies, high electricity costs, and inadequate international promotion were more immediate concerns.

“I did not come back to this presidency to manage a decline. What we lost was momentum, not capability.

Momentum is recoverable. But only if we go and get it,” declared Epstein.

He argued that the industry generated US$780 million in earnings last year, surpassing the US$612 million earned from bauxite and alumina exports, and described global services as Jamaica’s second-largest industry and third-largest foreign exchange earner.

Epstein said the sector must abandon a business model centred on the number of employees and instead focus on the value generated per worker.

Members of the executive of the Global Services Association of Jamaica take time out for a picture following the quarterly members’ meeting at Pier One in Montego Bay, St
James, on Thursday.

He added that properly deployed AI could improve scheduling, reduce attrition, strengthen quality assurance, and allow agents to handle more complex assignments.

“The pragmatic answer to our competition is to use technology to protect the industry’s competitiveness.

Used this way, AI does not take Jamaican jobs. It protects them,” Epstein said.

He told the meeting that he is not pursuing a return to the previous employment peak at any cost.

“I am not chasing 60,000 heads again. I am chasing a billion US dollars in annual foreign exchange, and I will take that at 50,000 people doing better work,” said the GSAJ head.

He also urged the Government to give a boost to the sector by strengthen international marketing, reduce energy costs, expand specialised training, among other things.

Henry, meanwhile, acknowledged that the transition was likely to generate concern among workers but argued that Jamaica’s global services industry was better positioned to withstand structural change than some previous service sector investments.

“I recognise the anxiety surrounding potential job losses,” said Henry as she pointed out that the industry benefits from long-term client contracts, specialised operations, and established business relationships.

Henry highlighted the contribution of locally owned companies, which account for about 20 per cent of the business, saying their investment in Jamaica gives them a strong incentive to sustain operations.

She said the industry had already been moving towards more specialised work and must now combine its accumulated expertise with AI to improve performance and deliver greater value to clients.

“Our strategy is to combine deep industry knowledge with AI to improve productivity, deliver greater value to customers, and help address persistent absenteeism and attrition,” added Henry as she described the approach as the “Triple A Strategy”.