The pilot saw over 290 Merchants employees successfully completing the new Edexcel Level 2 BTEC Award in Contact Centre Skills an internationally recognised contact centre qualification.
 
The award is the first project of the City of Jo'burgs newly formed contact centre 'Skills Hub'. The hub is responsible for the growth and development of contact centre agents in Johannesburg, addressing the need for increasing numbers of highly skilled agents for the Citys growing contact centre industry.
 
'Skills Hub' partners include ContactinGauteng - the contact centre authority for Johannesburg, and Edexcel - one of the largest international awarding and certification bodies in the world.
 
The first point of contact that a customer has with any organisation is increasingly its contact centre. In an age where the customer is king and excellent service is becoming non-negotiable, the role of the contact centre agent has become all the more important.
 
Just as a contact centre cannot operate without agents, it cannot boast world-class services if agents are inadequately trained to handle calls, says Penny Holburn, head of human resources at Merchants.
 
Holburn said that with an Edexcel accreditation, contact centre agents feel that they are on a clear career path, and that a position in the industry is no longer just a 'step' into the job market, but rather a leap onto a rewarding career path.
 
With initiatives such as this, the Johannesburg contact centre industry is building a reputation of having internationally accredited and skilled contact centre agents, says Holburn. In turn, this makes us far more marketable in the local and global outsourcing industry, leading to more contact centre contracts for the City.
 
The Merchants employees, along with other contact centre agents from Absa and IBM, received their awards from Cyril Ramaphosa at a ceremony held at Wits University.
 
In an impressive result two Merchants agents - Thabo Leping and Hlanganani Miyambo - achieved top marks of 100% in the Edexcel examination. Felicia Nthebe, a call centre agent and a team leader at the Merchants operated Vodacom contact centre, also achieved an impressive score of 90% in the Edexcel examination.