Teamwork will boost quality of services

Partnerships and outsourcing must be promoted to improve the quality of services worldwide, said participants at a fair in Beijing on Wednesday.

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, CEO and founder of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization in Jordan, said partnerships can help accomplish his dream of "accredited world class education for everybody".

The solution, he believes, is to "set up a virtual university".

"We partner with global accredited universities to deliver programs online to students worldwide," Abu-Ghazaleh said. The partnership allows large universities like Harvard to reach students who live in underprivileged regions.

Hu Bo, chairman of Ciming Health Checkup Management Group, said partnerships can help meet China's growing healthcare demand.

Hu's solution is to promote independent providers to assist with services such as clinical checkups. The providers could evolve into one-stop service centers that can help prevent cross-infection and play a key role in detecting early-phase cancer.

"China has a huge market, and partnership is needed to provide better services," Hu said.

They made the remarks at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing.

Outsourcing should also play a vital role in developing the services industry, fair delegates said.

"Global services are a large and maturing market," said Hanumantha Karthik, vice-president of Everest Research. "Global sourcing is a business imperative with benefits too strong to be ignored."

Abdelwahab Maatar, minister of trade and handicrafts in Tunisia, explained how Tunisia has become one of the main outsourcing destinations in Africa. Its multi-language environment (English, French and Italian), digital IT services, and universities and education systems can supply "highly qualified people" for the outsourcing sector.

Wim van Heumen, program director for services at the Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries in the Netherlands, said four factors - enterprise commitment, strong strategy, specialization and price - are key to success for outsourcing companies.

Pumela Salela, member of the Advisory Council of the World BPO/ITO Forum, emphasized the government role in developing the outsourcing industry, citing a program that has been promoting business process outsourcing to South Africa.

"It is government funded, employee-oriented, and supported by training companies and employment agencies to provide end-to-end solutions," she said.