Malaysia’s outsourcing industry to grow between 15-20 per cent
Malaysia’s outsourcing industry is expected to grow between 15 and 20 per cent this year, as more companies outsource their services to remain competitive.
However, to remain competitive in the outsourcing market in the future, Malaysia will have to focus on segments where it can have an edge, such as the mid-layer segment, as the low-end segment is now dominated by India.
“I foresee good growth in the outsourcing industry because it helps to drive down cost,” said Interactive Intelligence Inc’s regional sales director for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), David Toh Yue Heng.
He told Bernama that the outsourcing industry in Asia was led by India for years, but as salaries went up, people started looking at countries which offered better and value-added outsourcing services.
According to Toh, Malaysia’s advantage is its multilingual talents.
“We can speak multiple language apart from English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil, and some even speak Japanese and Korean,” he said.
Based on a study by AT Kearney, Malaysia is ranked third in the Asia Pacific region for outsourcing.
Asked whether Malaysia was prepared to become a contact centre hub in the future, Toh said Malaysia has “all the ingredients to become a successful hub.”
Among them were skilled workers, resources and infrastructure as well as reasonable costs, he said.”Hence, with all the ingredients, it is possible,” he added.
Toh said the government and the people in the industry should work hand-in-hand to achieve their aims and attract external markets.
Among the key areas that Malaysia could focus were the government sector, and the inbound and outbound markets, he said.
