BPO leader says AI will lead to more fulfilling careers

Yoni Epstein, CEO and chairman at itel/Outsourcing Management Limited, has expressed doubts that the advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) technology will result in job losses in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

He was speaking with The Gleaner in the wake of predictions by Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ) President Anand Biradar that the sector could see a fallout of 20 per cent in the next 18 to 24 months because of the rapid advancement in AI.

AI researcher and PhD student Matthew Stone forecasts a 70 per cent fallout in the next five years.

The sector employs more than 55,000 Jamaicans, and is the island's fourth largest employer behind the agriculture sector, and the tourism industry. It contributes roughly US$890 million to the Jamaican economy annually, equivalent to six per cent of gross domestic product.

Approximately 90 domestic and international companies operate in Jamaica and provide services which include information technology, BPO and customer experience management.

But Epstein contends that AI has been a feature of the industry for years, and that the advancements will make it easier to support customers and enhance their experience. He insists that AI technology “is an opportunity, not a threat”.

“The fear surrounding AI is unfounded, as soon as you learn that it is simply another tool, not meant to replace human work, but to augment it. It frees agents from repetitive work so they can focus on high-value tasks, such as problem-solving or building strong customer relationships,” he told The Gleaner.

He said that his company has embraced the technological changes occurring in the industry to improve customer experience.

“We have various levels of AI in our business today and [we're] implementing others as we continue to follow the curve or new technologies coming on the marketplace. We use AI a lot in our customer experience journey, training, recruitment, transportation, accounting, workforce management, forecasting and many other areas,” he said.

He said that itel continues to grow at a rate of between 30 and 50 per cent annually, even with the advancement of AI.

He added that the company is expanding its footprint with another 900 seats to be executed in Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Guyana and “several more deals in the pipeline”.

“The advancement of technology is an enabler,” he said.

However, he noted that his company does not handle very simple transactions for its clients, the area that Biradar argued would be most affected by the advancement in AI.

But according to Epstein, upskilling the BPO workforce is key to adjusting to and taking advantage of the changes.

“BPO companies that focus on foundational customer service skills, while equipping their agents with the necessary upskilling to work with these integrated AI systems, will come out on top,” he said.

“If anything, AI will lead to more fulfilling careers and will elevate the role of the contact centre agent into more of an advisory capacity, creating more in-depth, personalised services, and customer interactions, leading not to job loss but job transformation,” he told The Gleaner.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com