Mr David Ofori, Head of Operations, Ghana Digital Centres Limited, says Ghana has a favourable Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) environment due to political stability, human capital and economy.
He said currently BPO cost in Ghana was 60 to 70 per cent lower than source markets and the country’s infrastructure also makes it favourable.
Mr Ofori speaking at the opening of a two-day Tech Entrepreneurs Forum in Accra said telecommunication facilities -Ghana’s ICT sector was high by regional standards and about 80 per cent of the population lives within access of a GSM voice signal.
The event was on the theme:"Remote IT Service Delivery: Challenges and Opportunities in Africa. "
The forum organised by the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH) and its partners is to tackle issues relating to challenges and opportunities in remote IT service delivery and BPO.
It brought experts and businesses that provide internet service, of ace space for remote work, technology hubs/parks, BPO service providers, and offshore remote IT services to help shape the conversations on opportunities in the remote service delivery space for technology entrepreneurs and graduates.
Mr Ofori said remote working had become part of the ‘new normal’ for the large corporations, SMEs, and even government institutions and agencies.
He said the various forms of remote working arrangements that were put in place in response to COVID-19 were likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
The Head of Operations said going forward, outsourcing arrangements needed to include appropriate information, data security provisions and the electronic monitoring of the output of individuals.
He said the traditional focus on physical access control to secure sites would need to shift to include logical security mechanisms such as electronic access and technical controls to prevent exfiltration of information to private systems.
He said companies had plans to assemble devices in the country, using Ghana as an entry point to the African Continent due to the African Continental Free Trade Area.
"It will serve as knowledge transfer for the continent," he added.
Mr Mike Loose, the International Management Advisor, AFOS Foundation, said they were currently implementing the DigiCAP.gh project in the country.
He said this was an ICT project by the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
He said as part of the project’s objectives, ICT-related capacity-building programmes were organized in partnership with the IIPGH and its partners from the ICT industry in Ghana and beyond.
Mr Loose said these programmes targeted employment opportunities for young people and how to unlock sustainable jobs in relevant emerging technologies knowledge areas.
Mr David Gowu, the Executive Director of IIPGH, said the forum was to provide a networking platform for corporate organizations, SMEs and start-up organisations to exhibit their products and services.
He said it was also to create a platform for collaboration between tech entrepreneurs within the ecosystem to connect and synergies for service delivery and customer experience.
