BPO to be rebranded

The Business Process Industry Association of Jamaica (BPIAJ) is rebranding to the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ), effective January 1.

According to BPIAJ boss Gloria Henry, the move will make the association more representative of the diverse services being offered under the global services sector (GSS).

“The BPIAJ will be rebranded as the GSAJ and you will no longer hear of the BPO sector, but the industry is now the GSS,” Henry told The Gleaner following the official opening of Convergence International at the Sagicor Business Centre in Montego Bay, St James.

“That is all-encompassing and more representative of the diversity of our members, because we have members who are global in-house centres – supporting their centres overseas – so they are not outsourcing service per se, but support centre providing a range of services to their customers.”

The outsource entities are the most common form, but there are also entities in the higher-value segment, like legal process outsourcing, and some provide software as a service through the IT outsourcing segment.

“So as we move to attract ­higher-value services to Jamaica … as we move to reposition Jamaica as not just a contact ­centre location, but a destination for full global services sector, we feel that it’s necessary as well for our association to be rebranded, too, and more representative of our members and trajectory that we are advancing towards.”

Jamaica has seen growth in global skills sector/BPO and other IT-enabled services, and has brought an estimated investment spend of approximately US$400 million per year, with 65 ­companies operating mainly in Montego Bay, Mandeville, Portmore and Kingston. Presently, BPO accounts for more than 36,000 jobs across the island.

It is predicted that the global market for BPO will reach US$262.2 billion in 2022, which means the sector will retain its status as a lucrative industry and as a job creator.

Convergence International has been outsourcing their front-desk operations to Jamaica since January 2. They have invested over US$700,000 in building out their operations, which features state-of-the-art technology and telephony, backed by training and development, and now occupying a space from which they are poised to grow.