When you’re considering outsourcing your customer contact operations, South Africa often stands out as a smart choice. The country has rapidly emerged as a premier destination for contact centre outsourcing, with Grand View Research indicating the market is worth 1.2 million (USD) and projected to increase to over 2 million by 2030.
It offers a high-quality talent pool, excellent English proficiency, and strong cultural alignment with the UK, all at a competitive cost. South African agents are particularly effective for complex customer interactions where rapport and understanding are crucial. Moreover, South Africa’s time zone alignment with Europe offers practical operational benefits, allowing for real-time management oversight without the challenges of severe time differences.
But here’s the thing: not all outsourcing is created equal.
If you’re talking to a UK-based contact centre provider that claims to have operations in South Africa, it’s easy — and completely understandable — to assume they own and run that overseas site themselves. After all, that’s the picture often painted.
In reality, many of these providers are simply acting as brokers. They subcontract your work to third-party contact centres, sometimes without ever setting foot on site or having direct relationships with the staff answering your customers’ calls.
And that’s where the problems start.
This layered approach introduces significant risks to your operation:
What begins as a solution for efficiency and cost-savings can quickly become an operational headache, costing you more in the long run as you’re forced to pull out of South Africa to do some damage control.
So, how do you differentiate the subcontractors from the direct providers?
Outsourcing should be a partnership, one that brings efficiency, scalability, and consistency to your operation. But when layers of subcontracting come into play, you lose visibility, control, and alignment. You’re not just outsourcing your labour; you’re outsourcing your accountability.
This distance between decision-makers and frontline staff creates a dangerous gap where quality can deteriorate, standards can slip, and your carefully cultivated brand experience can become unrecognisable. So, before you sign, ask your prospective partner the following:
If they don’t own it, they don’t control it. Ownership matters because it directly influences culture, priorities, and investment. A third-party site may be delivering for multiple clients, which means your standards may not always come first. Ask to see documentation of the ownership structure and ask for transparency about all parties involved in service delivery. If they hesitate to provide clear information, consider it a red flag.
This sounds like a technicality, but it speaks volumes. If the provider isn’t the employer on record, then they don’t determine pay, performance incentives, or even working conditions, all of which impact morale and service quality. Staff who feel valued and fairly compensated deliver better customer experiences. Without direct employment relationships, your outsourcing partner cannot truly guarantee agent engagement or performance.
Many UK providers are one step removed from daily operations. That means the person managing your campaign might be managing a subcontractor relationship, not a team. Ask who handles day-to-day supervision, quality monitoring, and performance management. When meeting key members of the team, ensure you are introduced to the actual operational leadership who will oversee your operation.
Can they demonstrate consistent oversight, robust training frameworks, and real-time performance management, or are they simply trusting a third-party to deliver? Request evidence of quality management systems, compliance procedures, and examples of how they’ve addressed performance issues in the past. The best partners will have transparent processes they’re eager to share.
Consistency across channels, campaigns, and customer interactions only happens when there’s shared infrastructure, leadership, and a single operating model. With subcontracting, it’s a roll of the dice. Ask how they ensure that all customer interactions meet the same standards, regardless of channel or time of day. Enquire about a demonstration of their unified approach to quality management.
Clarify the management structure and your points of contact. The more layers between you and the frontline agents, the more opportunity for miscommunication and misalignment. Are you partnering with a provider, or are you now managing the middleman, who’s managing someone else? It’s a far cry from true partnership.
This is critical. Every additional party in the chain increases your exposure to risk. Request evidence of security certifications, audit results, and incident response plans. Ask specifically about subcontractor management and how they ensure compliance throughout their supply chain. Can they prove the same levels of compliance you’d expect in the UK?
Outsourcing should extend your brand, not dilute it. Discuss how they measure success beyond basic operational metrics. The right partner will be interested in your business goals and how their service contributes to your overall strategy. Brokers focus on cost and margin. True partners focus on outcomes and value.
South Africa remains an excellent outsourcing destination when approached correctly. The key is working with providers who have direct ownership and management of their operations there, ensuring clear accountability, consistent quality, and genuine partnership.
By asking these critical questions upfront, you can distinguish between true operators and mere brokers, protecting your customer experience, your brand reputation and, ultimately, your bottom line.
Remember: in outsourcing, as in most business decisions, the cheapest option rarely delivers the best value. Choose partners who offer transparency, control, and proven capabilities in the markets where they claim to operate.
At CC33, we believe your customers deserve more than a hidden handoff. That’s why we’ve taken a different approach. We own and operate our site in Durban, South Africa. It’s our team, our leadership, and our standards, fully integrated with our UK operation.
With CC33:
At CC33, we’re proud to do things differently. If quality, accountability, and long-term partnership matter to you, we’d love to show you how we work. Let’s talk about how we can build something better.
