Malta has emerged as a promising destination for European contact center outsourcing.
Malta’s already solid base of operating contact centers bodes well for its burgeoning business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. In addition to in-house deployments by companies such as HSBC, there are a number of independent outsourcers already doing offshore work for a number of different industry verticals, including travel & tourism, telcos and financial services.
The fact that English is an official language in Malta, coupled with near universal fluency in Italian, bodes well for offshore/nearshore contact center service provision in Malta. Not only is Malta a location of choice for UK tourists, which can boost comfort and familiarity for this location as a place to do business, but the lack of Italian offshore options is also an advantage. Many Italian firms are looking for offshore locations in which to house some of their contact center operations, and Malta’s proximity and language skills could play into that strategy.
Malta’s inclusion in the European Union and steps to liberalize its economy are also selling points for potential outsourcing clients. In addition, its program of targeted incentives could prove attractive to companies requiring assistance in establishing operations in Malta.
As has been the case with many other countries looking to establish BPO sectors, Malta is limited by a small population and limited real estate. Thus, in order to maintain what appears to be significant progress over the past few years in developing the contact center industry, there must be efforts to attract the right projects to the island.
While Malta will not be able to compete on scale, it has the potential to add value in terms of higher end customer care and sophisticated service.
