French Telemarketing Law Threatens Moroccan Call Centers Amid AI Surge

This law prohibits any canvassing without the "free, specific, informed, unambiguous and revocable" consent of the consumer. The text provides for heavy fines against offenders, up to 75,000 euros for a natural person and 375,000 euros for a company. The implementation of this reform is likely to deal a severe blow to Moroccan call centers, 80% of whose activity (telesales) depends on the French market.

The impact of this law will be "marginal" for Intelcia, assured its CEO consulted by Challenge, who nevertheless acknowledged that this law will "make operators more responsible" and force them to abandon certain practices such as excessive callbacks. But the small call centers, very dependent on prospecting volumes, will probably be the most affected by this measure.

In addition to this French law, the offshoring sector in Morocco, which employs more than 100,000 people and generates 18 billion dirhams in turnover, is being tested by artificial intelligence. According to a report by Caribou Digital and Genesis Analytics, this new technology could carry out 40% of BPO tasks in Africa, thus threatening jobs.

Faced with this double challenge, the players have no choice but to reinvent themselves. Hope remains, according to Youssef Chraibi, president of Outsourcia, who recalls that the sector is recording an annual global growth of 8%. "Neither AI nor regulatory changes have weakened this momentum, even in times of crisis in Europe," he points out.