Experts say that Egypt offers a cheaper alternative to rival locations

Egypt has become the latest country to tout for outsourcing business and some experts say it offers a cheaper alternative to rival locations.

Speaking at an event organised by Egyptian call centre specialist Xceed, Evan Kirchheimer of analyst firm Datamonitor said the country represented a more cost-effective location than Eastern Europe for UK companies wanting to outsource call centre and business process functions.

Kirchheimer said that with over 80,000 technical graduates a year, the country offered a similar cost base to India while boasting a more multilingual workforce and attractive tax breaks.

“When you outsource [functions] offshore you are not outsourcing the responsibility, so regular visits to your service provider are important,” Kirchheimer added. “In this respect, Egypt’s proximity is [also] a real advantage.”

Ahmed Refky, Xceed vice-president, said Egypt’s access to fibre-optic marine cables through the Suez Canal gives the country’s fledgling outsourcing industry access to cheap and plentiful bandwidth for international clients.

But despite these advantages, Ossama Nazmi, business development manager at Xceed, conceded that Egypt faces an image problem. “The misconception around Egypt’s [geopolitical] stability is an issue,” he said. “I have been asked by one potential US client if we could hear the bombing in Iraq.” However, Nazmi argued that a client list including Oracle and Microsoft could help to improve perceptions.