The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different. August 2015
As we approach the 10th anniversary of our company, TELUS International Europe decided to reflect on the future of our industry, identifying the latest industry trends that point to its transformation. When the outsourced contact center industry started to flourish it was all about cost cutting for companies. Now, it s much more; it s about how contact centers can play a vital role improving centers are positioned for change ready to act as strategic partners to the brands that they serve. Grégoire VIGROUX Marketing Director for Europe TELUS International customer journeys and adding value to the overall customer experience. Outsourced contact
Introduction Welcome to a contact center outsourcing world in which internationalization, multilingualism and industry specialization take precedence over small, local and monolingual structures; where corporate culture meets Generation Y; and where the key players are no longer phone factories but experts in customer relations, acting as true consultants and sources of innovation. The call centers of the 21st century are almost unrecognizable from the centers of previous decades. Call centers have adapted to new technologies and the emergence of new communication channels including email, chat and social media. As a result,the term call center has been replaced by contact center to better reflect the range of customer touch points with today s brands. And more change is on the way. We don t have a crystal ball but from where we sit as providers of customer care outsourcing serving some of the world s largest and most respected brands, we can draw from our firsthand experience to predict several big trends that will shape outsourcing in the years ahead. What is certain, however, is that a contractors search for a low-cost service provider delivering immediate gain will gradually fade, giving way to a more strategic model of outsourcing focused on adding value while delighting customers. 2 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Difference no. 1 Industry specialization Clients not only expect vendors to have deep expertise in providing great customer experiences, but also, they expect vendors to understand their industries, including the day-to-day market challenges they face. Only then can vendors deliver an authentic and expert customer experience. Once upon a time Companies have used contact centers when they had more customer calls or IT help desk queries than they could handle, or when they wanted to outsource customer service or technical support to a specialist, leaving them free to focus on their core business. It was a simple model where outsourcing vendors were simply evaluated on their low-cost ability to provide basic customer service. But today, they are evaluated on their strategic ability to deliveron the customer journey and add value to the overall customer experience. Industry specialization in the partner selection process As one example, TELUS International has supported the customer care needs of the games industry since 2005. We ve supported all platforms and business models from console, to mobile, to social, to MMO and from free-to-play to pay-to-play. Our games clients are some of the largest in the world, including award-winning developers, publishers and studios. The point is we know how to support the games industry. We ve been with several of our games clients since their start-up days, and we ve supported them as their games took off, growing programs from a handful of agents to thousands in the span of only a few years. We share similar expertise in other industries as well. From focusing on what s important for our telecom clients L2R, ARPU, client loyalty, retention and customer service excellence, and not to mention, our parent is one of Canada s leading national telecommunications companies, to being ISO 27001 and PCI DSS Level 1 certified to serve our financial services clients. For clients, a general pre-requisite when selecting a contact center partner will be the vendor s relevant industry expertise. Industry specialization provides better alignment between partners with everyone understanding client issues and opportunities. 3 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Difference no. 2 Multinational and multilingual According to research of the European Commission: 42% of consumers never purchase products and services in other languages except for their native one 56.2% of consumers said that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price For a contact center, the only way to get multinational clients is to be multinational itself Globalization is in full swing in the contact center field with market integration and increasing international competition daily realities. For the most part, contact center providers with a global footprint will be better positioned to serve growing multinationals. At the same time, forward-looking contact center providers are also choosing to internationalize, expanding their delivery centers and language capabilities to become stronger financially and adapt to the new demands of their clients international development. With global growth, contact center scalability also increases in importance. Smaller contact center providers may have reached their limits as clients look for providers that can grow as they grow. The contact centers of tomorrow will have strong financial backing that will guarantee the reliability and continuity of operations, the level of expertise required, the continuous investment in innovation and technology, and of course, the geographic diversity and multilingual capabilities to serve global customers. Speak to global customers in their own language The traditional model of monolingual call centers, where only one language is supported by each center, is already gone. In Europe, some players have begun to offer services in dozens of languages from a single site (a model called one stop shop delivery ). These services are usually offered in South Eastern Europe, a region that excels from this point of view, due to the large number of multilingual individuals. Among the thousands of existing languages, most contractors require fewer than 50 to be supported in the contact center. For many providers, this is still a lot of languages to offer. However, global contact center providers with platforms capable of serving dozens of languages (preferably from a single site) are well-positioned to provide the global multilingual solution that major contractors desire. Why multilingual is so important? We know customers today demand 24/7/365 support and expect it anytime, anywhere and from any device. But now, more than ever, customers also demand support in their native language. Consider this fact: a 2011 study from the European Commission found that 42% of consumers never purchase products and services in other languages. Therefore, companies with the ability to support customers in their preferred language have much to gain especially with an experienced multilingual contact center provider to help. 4 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Difference no. 3 Business transformation The Hackett Group, a leading global strategy and operations consulting firm, believes that the next wave of BPO transactions will encompass both Transform and Shift and Shift and Transform business process outsourcing strategies. This expected change in sourcing strategy will have a profound impact on how strategic sourcing strategies are formulated and executed. A growing trend The Hackett Group, a leading global strategy and operations consulting firm, believes the next generation of BPO transactions will encompass both Transform and Shift and Shift and Transform business process outsourcing strategies. This expected change will have a profound impact on how strategic sourcing strategies are formulated and executed. To survive, contact centers can no longer limit themselves to being mere suppliers or subcontractors. Today, they must fully understand the processes of their clients and be able to evaluate and improve them. The goal is to deliver real economic levers to their clients, acting positively on costs, as well as on the quality and productivity of their work. A growing trend Business Process Improvement (BPI) is the vehicle for delivering value through the application of various measurementand analysis techniques in designing and managing operational processes using recognized process improvement methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, and Business Process Management. It aims to deliver improvements in business processes in terms of speed, quality, cost and flexibility while building the capability required for continuous improvement. BPI analyzes existing client processes in order to identify opportunities for improvement in the quality or quantity of output. It then creates training aids to close any gaps in skill levels,implements any necessary technology enhancements, and then maps out the processes needed to achieve desired outcomes. The presence of a BPI capability will be an important factor when considering a contact center outsourcing partner. A handful of contact centers in Europe,including TELUS International, have already anticipated this development, shaping their entire supervisory staff using Six Sigma methodology. To respond to the growing need for such expertise, some contact centers have already established Business Transformation departments. This trend will continue. Contractors will prefer working with a partner who can not only execute existing work procedures, but also bring added value through business transformation services. 5 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Difference no. 4 Generation Y - the new customer service stars. At TELUS International, we recognized this demographic shift early and geared up to manage a new workforce. With such a young workforce, we ve found that focusing on the unique attributes of our Gen Y team members and consciously treating them differently than their predecessors pays off in helping them deliver great customer service. Consider the facts Generation Y (also called Millennials) born between 1980 and 2000, are a game-changing force both as employees and customers. As employees, they typically make up over 80 percent of the workforce at customer service organizations. As customers, Gen Y is heading towards their peak earning years, controlling and influencing a lot of spending up to US $200 billion per year worldwide. Gen Y characteristics Excellent multi-taskers. Gen Y grew up using computers, cell phones and gaming consoles. They re confident using technology even dependent on it. The net impact is strong multi-tasking skills. Shorter attention spans. The Internet provides heavy stimulation and puts everything at Gen Y s fingertips. As a result, Gen Y has grown accustomed to rapid shifts in their attention where focus tends to decline after about 15 minutes. More collaborative and patient. At the group level, Gen Y works very well in teams. They re strong connectors (due to social media) and enjoy teaming up to solve complex customer service cases. This collaborative quality often enables them to be more patient with customers and to deliver a positive customer experience. Social and multi-channeled. Gen Y s consumption patterns and service needs have already altered the customer experience philosophies of many organizations. Companies now provide service in multiple channels like chat and social media. And, as much as possible, Gen Y wants personalized service with the ability to easily share their positive experiences. The benefits of adapting to Gen Y Gen Y has grown up with a unique set of character traits, personal beliefs, life expectations and career aspirations. Creating a corporate culture that embraces Millennials and their workplace preferences will be a key factor in determining the success of customer service organizations. Companies that cannot attract and retain Gen Y agents will suffer from high rates of attrition and diminished service quality. Those that adapt will find a bright talent pool willing to take their company to the next level of customer experience. 6 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Difference no. 5 Corporate culture holds the key to success. A growing body of research suggests that employee engagement leads to better customer service including increased customer loyalty measured by repeat purchases and higher customer lifetime values. A study conducted by Cicero concluded that: Engaged employees are 18% more productive, 27% less absent and provide a 260% revenue advantage Companies with highly-engaged employees grow at a rate of 3.4 times faster compared tothose companies with disengaged employees The culture value chain. The world s first framework for valuing culture in the contact center realm. The Culture Value Chain a collaboration between TELUS International and industry analyst firm, Frost & Sullivan, is the world s first study and framework that demonstrates how a highly-engaged corporate culture in the outsourced world can deliver top-line business benefits. The study maps a framework demonstrating a direct connection between corporate culture, engagement, attrition, CSAT and revenue. Corporate culture will emerge as a strong differentiator when choosing between contact center providers. Brand-savvy companies are placing a clear emphasis on cultural compatibility between themselves and their outsourcing partners. Why? Outsourcing partnerships enjoying the greatest success tend to be aligned when it comes to corporate values and culture. When aligned, conversations about cost-savings take a backseat to conversations about brand building and customer delight. Typically, when an outsourcing partner becomes an extension of its client s corporate culture, employee engagement increases. In turn, this has a huge impact on the quality of customer service, including the ability to directly impact profitability. There are a growing number of examples where highly-engaged team members create superior experiences for their customers think of the Apple Store or the Zappos online retail experience. Maintaining a great corporate culture is so important because it s a cycle. Happy employees create happy customers. Happy customers keep coming back and they spend more, which creates happy investors. When investors are happy, they share more with employees, which makes them happier. says Kelly Wolske from Zappos Insights Team. 7 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Final thoughts More and more companies are discovering that it is not enough to transfer their processes to a contact center supplier and consider customer care a done deal. Smart companies are looking for strategic partners to help grow their business and positively influence their brand perception in other words, to build their competitive advantage in the global marketplace. This requires a higher level of engagement than many contact center providers are accustomed to delivering. Therefore, the contact centers of tomorrow will need a detailed understanding of their clients businesses, have the capability to drive innovation and transform processes for the better, and of course, delight customers with superior customer service talent. Based on the trends we identified here, contact center partnerships of the future will no longer be subcontractor based. Rather, clients and providers will form true strategic partnerships, with contact centers acting as authentic brand ambassadors. This will require that the benefits of corporate culture alignment prevail as a competitive advantage in outsourcing engagements, even taking precedence over quantifiable productivity indicators. Metrics and service levels will always remain dear to our industry but will now share the stage with corporate culture and employee engagement as key factors in customer happiness. Do you agree with our trends? We d love to know. 8 TELUS International 2015 - The future of the contact center outsourcing industry. 5 ways it will be different.
Our company TELUS International Europe is a multilingual contact center, BPO (business process outsourcing) and ITO provider, delivering high quality services since 2004. The company has almost 2,000 team members across five delivery centers: Sofia and Plovdiv (Bulgaria); Bucharest and Craiova (Romania), as well as offices in Manchester and Cannock (England). TELUS International Europe offers contact center solutions, ITO and innovative customer service support for global customers in over 30+ languages. TELUS International Europe is a proud member of the TELUS International family. TELUS International is a global business process outsourcing company with more than 17,000 employees around the world, including in Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Philippines. With over 175 million customer interactions supported annually via voice, email, chat and social media, across the telecommunications, utilities, high tech, gaming, finance, retail, e-commerce, travel and logistics, and health care industries, TELUS International enables customer experience innovation through spirited teamwork, agile thinking, and a caring culture that puts customers first. As the global arm of TELUS, TELUS International is backed by a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with CAD$12.1 billion ( 8.9 billion) of annual revenue and 13.9 million customer connections. For more information, please visit www.telusinternational-europe.com. Contact us! Grégoire VIGROUX Marketing Director for Europe TELUS International Mobile: +40 743 02 7006 gregoire.vigroux@telusinternational.com Please visit our website:
Our Bucharest location (5,300 m2) has numerous rooms with specific moods. Our offices include relax areas and others dedicated to original and diversified entertainments like sports, cinema and video games and there even is an ice rink.