Econet Group Launches OmniContact, a B2B Outsourcing Platform Targeting African Companies

Zimbabwe’s Econet Group is making another huge leap in the digital world. The telecom conglomerate has announced the launch of OmniContact, a business outsourcing venture.

See how businesses can leverage on OmniContact Customer Experience – https://t.co/8YREHXIpPd

— Melinda Chiva (@mchiva1990) March 14, 2019

“We are excited to unveil a service that will help big and small companies, private and public enterprises, both local or based outside Zimbabwe,” says Econet Chief, Mr Douglas Mboweni.

“OmniContact will handle those customer support aspects of their businesses for which they have no expertise.”

According to Econet, the rationale behind launching OmniContact hinged on the growing capacity of the internet and its benefits for the business world. In lieu of this, the outsourcing model helps to simplify business operations. With the power of the internet, jobs and projects can be sent to capable professional thousands of miles away.

OmniContact Head & Chief Customer Experience Officer Mr @Otis_Mak said the OmniContact would offer a wide range of services to both local & foreign-based clients across multiple sectors. @econetzimbabwe @FungaiMandiveyi @petermasaraneyi @DouglasMbowenihttps://t.co/50rTr6rHtG

— Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi (@TMMutisi) March 14, 2019

Also, outsourcing is not new. Rather the model is being employed by thousands of companies across the globe. From Microsoft to Google, several companies rely on the outsourcing model to effectively solve business objects at a faster and even cheaper rate.

And according a Deloitte research cited by Mr Mboweni, 84% of pioneering companies will outsource their services over the coming years.

Importantly, several platforms providing efficient ways for companies, both big and small, to outsource projects and jobs already exist. Andela, for instance, doubles as both a developer training company and a developer outsourcing company. It already outsources African developer talents to companies like Google, Facebook and even Microsoft.

However, OmniContact appears to be the first outsourcing company that targets African companies. Many outsourcing platforms exist on the continent, but they all target individuals, not companies.

How Will OmniContact Work

With its deep finances and industry influence, Econet has the clout needed to make OmniContact a huge success on the continent.

Using its digital platforms and a pool of highly trained personnel, and leveraging best-in-class customer experience management technology and software, the OmniContact will let organizations increase their competitive advantage by focusing on their core activities.

Industry verticals supported by #OmniContact @Otis_Mak pic.twitter.com/jWO1nrxiVk

— Gamuchirai Maposah (@gamuposah) March 14, 2019

It’s not clear however how OmniContact aims to score its pool of experts. And for many firms this the real deal breaker. Other platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and even Andela allow just about anybody register, but use several measures to ensure the best hands for clients.

Whether OmniContact will follow this model is yet to be seen.

Regardless, Econet has announced an exclusive suite of services OmniContact will cater for.

“We are bringing to the market a wide variety of services that include product sales, contact centre support, loyalty and retention programmes, social media analytics, as well as subscription renewals and collections,” Mboweni says.

He also also explained that OmniContact was already attracting new clients from all across the continent like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

But it remains to be seen how much impact the platform will make.