USAID through the Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) is supporting a delegation comprised of members of the Jordanian public and private sectors that will be promoting Jordan at the largest ICT trade show in the Middle East. Beginning September 9, 2007, representatives from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT), Jordan Investment Board (JIB), Jordan’s ICT Business Association (Int@j) and the USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) will work together to campaign for Jordan’s ICT sector to enhance productivity, create job opportunities, increase trade and advance Jordan’s placement in the IT world.
As part of the initiative to promote Jordan’s ICT advancements and capacity, part of the promotion will focus on promoting Jordan’s Contact Centers and Business Process, and IT. As a budding industry for the country, Jordan has made great strides in a short time whereby four private companies have established working offices and contact centers. These companies are Aspire Services, CrysTellCall, E3Mar, LLC, each of which manages outsourcing in areas such as IT support, customer service, accounting, research and analysis in sectors such as ICT, Agriculture, Engineering, etc. In addition to the centers, a company named Focus Training and Development will be part of the delegation to highlight the importance of and capability of effectively training contact center staff. “This is an exciting time for all the partners embarking on this new industry,” said Sabri Tabaa, CEO of Int@j, “we can see how important it is to work together, and how vital ICT is in order to make that connection.”
As the entity that initiated the effort to create the Offshore Contact Center industry in Jordan in 2005 upon instructions from His Majesty King Abdullah II, MoICT is a major driving force in enabling the competitive environment necessary to position Jordan as a very credible outsourcing destination. Eng Basem Rousan, Minister of ICT said “Jordan offers all the right ingredients for a successful and vibrant outsourcing industry, such as our capable workforce at competitive cost as well as a the country’s robust technology infrastructure”. He also added that “this can only be achieved through effective public-private partnerships, that leverage each sector’s strengths and areas of influence to ensure economic sustainability.”
This effort to support and promote the Contact Center and Outsourcing Industry stems from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ). The support provided to Int@j includes the production of the first version of the Contact Centers and Outsourcing in Jordan booklet. This booklet offers a summary at the status of the industry in Jordan, the resources available through government support and private sector resources, and showcases four of Jordan’s early success stories with the aforementioned companies.
“The Contact Center and Outsourcing industry is one with substantial potential to succeed,” noted Rodrigo Ortiz, Chief of Party of SABEQ Program. “As the Arab countries, including Jordan, experience greater economic growth, they are looking to outsource much of their non-core work, and Jordan is the prime location to outsource to,” emphasizing Jordan’s location in the region, the highly educated and skilled workforce, and language fluency in Arabic and English with compatible dialects.
The Contact Center and Outsourcing industry, in general, has rapidly grown over the last 10 years. Countries such as India witnessed considerable economic growth when they became the contact center and back office process outsourcing destination for countries such as the U.S. With the recent vibrant economic activity in the Arab World, especially the rapid growth of the Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Customer (B2C) business sector in the Gulf region, competition and cost cutting pressures are increasing dramatically.
Companies will begin to consider outsourcing some or all of their non-core activities to specialized service providers in order to improve quality and benefit from lower cost structures available in Jordan. The financial-cost advantages available in Jordan are competitive in comparison to other Arab countries, as noted by JIB officials. The economies of scale, lower Labour and real estate costs all factor into a company’s decision to outsource; a strength that Jordan has the ability to promote.
Established in 2002, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) is at the heart of the Kingdom's transformation into a knowledge based economy that contributes to the socio-economic development of the Kingdom. MoICT is the policy maker of information technology, telecommunications, and post in Jordan. The ministry’s policy calls for market liberalization, ending monopoly and withdrawal of the government from its majority ownership position in telecom and postal operators and public-private partnerships. The government's commitment to ICT as a catalyst to development, particularly through e-learning and e-government, is creating business opportunities.
int@j (Information Technology Association of Jordan) is an ICT industry-support association that embraces Jordan 's ICT businesses, with a mission to promote their advancement on a local and international level, and enhance their capacity and performance. This goes in parallel with improving the dynamics of Jordan 's ICT market and catalyzing all Jordan 's ICT related activities. On top of that, int@j largely contributes to influencing ICT policies and strategies.
The Jordan Investment Board was established by way of the Investment Laws of 2003 and Investment Promotion Law of 1995 as a governmental body enjoying both financial and administrative independence. Prior to that, investment procedures for exemption were conducted by a department within the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The creation of this organization came about as a result of the government’s realization of the importance of increasing foreign direct investment to Jordan, and enhancing local investment in a bid to create new job opportunities, increase national exports, and the need for the transfer of technology.
The USAID-funded Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality Program (SABEQ) is a five year broad economic development initiative implemented by BearingPoint, Inc. and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By both supporting improvements in the business environment and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, to support the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.
###
