In my predictions for the customer experience services industry a year ago, I noted that political risks will replace security concerns as the biggest external threat to the industry. Looking ahead to 2018, regulatory changes and government policies will have a lasting impact on the selection of delivery locations, country investment plans, and market presence. Here I take a closer l[...]

  I recently attended HGS’ forum on the trends and challenges in CX for the European Consumer Packaged Goods (FMCG) market. In the company’s West London center, clients and prospects including Colgate, Danone, L’Oréal, Nespresso, Nomad Foods, and Mars discussed the ways customer service can drive ecommerce and augment sales. Digital as a force for disruption[...]

  Recently, I had a chance to visit Arvato’s U.K. and Ireland HQ in Slough, ~20 miles (30km) west of London, to witness its customer experience operations and how the company is applying digital channels and automation. A mix of public and private sector clients Arvato U.K. & Ireland provides customer experience services, finance and accounting (record to report, order [...]

This month, Capgemini is launching a new version of its omnichannel cloud platform, Odigo™. I interviewed Erwan Le Duff, Head of Prosodie-Capgemini, about the new platform features, the evolution of self-service, and the future of customer experience. Below is a video of highlights from the interview, followed by a brief introduction to Odigo and a full transcript of the interview.  [...]

  Post-sales support functions are typically cost centers: large, labor-intensive operations with significant overheads and no financially attributable benefit to the bottom line. This environment is changing, with  organizations gradually understanding the revenue generation opportunities in support services such as technical support and afterlife maintenance. I recently had a co[...]

The traditional (and now universally accepted as outdated) model for multi-channel support looked something like this, with differences primarily between the types or number of channels: However, as customers became digital and mobile, the model has shifted to something like this: This model originated with marketers and retailers, where omnichannel means the ability to purchase in t[...]

  NelsonHall recently attended Teleperformance’s annual analyst event in Xi’an, China. The location was selected to highlight the strong growth of Teleperformance in China, and to showcase latest initiatives to extend its influence in this very distinctive customer experience market. Early entrant in China’s BPO market Teleperformance entered Beijing in 2007 wit[...]

On June 8th, Italian BPS provider Comdata announced the acquisition of the French group Izium, which includes the CMS provider B2S, for ~€200m. The acquisition will be the first entry for Comdata in France and will lift the company to a top 5 CMS provider in Europe with estimated proforma revenues of ~€750m for 2017. Entry into a mature and healthy French CX market Under the de[...]

  In April 2017, TeleTech acquired healthcare BPS provider Connextions for $80m. The acquisition makes healthcare the second largest vertical for TeleTech, expected to reach ~21% of their annual revenue at ~$300m. I spoke with TeleTech recently to discuss the acquisition and their focus on the healthcare space. TeleTech’s Healthcare Business at a Glance TeleTech’s hea[...]

The idea that the future model of customer experience includes a high level of automation is already widespread. A whole ecosystem of developers and vendors is catering to an emerging mass market of bots and virtual assistants. And users and brands are discovering more applications of automated support over text and voice as bot libraries grow rapidly. While the learning curve for users is [...]

NelsonHall recently attended the HGS Analyst and Advisory Summit in NYC. The event combined client perspectives with an update on the company’s healthcare business, a review of the latest offerings within its DigiCX suite of digital services, and discussion of the changing nature of customer experience (CX). Optimizing the healthcare payer member experience In 2015, HGS acquired a [...]

  Last week, NelsonHall attended the Sitel Summit in Miami. Titled ‘Expanding the Digital CX Frontier’, the event was an opportunity for Sitel to update the analyst community on their new structure, introduce new senior executives, show its new global HQ, and share first-hand experiences of successful CX digital journeys. From contact center company to a group of global[...]

  While Facebook banks on the smartphone camera to digitalize offline relationships, and sales people use Snapchat to sell real estate, the main challenges for marketers to reach this level of interaction are structural – how to visualize huge amounts of disparate data to get actionable insights fast at a granular level. Here I take a look at how one CMS vendor, WNS, is tackling [...]

On 10th March, German energy BPS and ITO provider Regiocom completed the acquisition of customer management services (CMS) vendor SNT Deutschland to create a €230m provider focused on the German market. Here I take a closer look at the deal, and at the wider picture of consolidation and growth currently taking place in the German CMS market. An Energy BPS Specialist Regiocom G[...]

  Last month, NelsonHall visited TeleTech’s delivery center in Sofia, Bulgaria, to discuss the company’s main European operations and the advantages and challenges of Bulgaria as a customer management services (CMS) delivery destination. From Sofica to TeleTech TeleTech acquired a local provider, Sofica Group, in 2014 and rebranded it in 2016. Sofica was one[...]

by Vicki Jenkins & Ivan Kotzev NelsonHall’s principal Customer Management Services analysts take a look at how the CMS market will shape up in 2017, with predictions for CMS delivery & transformation from Ivan Kotzev, and industry-specific predictions from Vicki Jenkins.   1. CMS Delivery & Transformation Predictions For CMS, 2016 marked a substantial shift i[...]

  Three watershed moments in online sales and support happened in November and went somewhat under the radar. At the beginning of the month, StatCounter reported that mobile surpassed desktop browsing for the first time at a global level. Then for the Singles Day in China, e-commerce retailers JD and Alibaba not only announced record sales, but the latter opened up the event internatio[...]

  NelsonHall recently attended Alorica’s analyst day in Guatemala City for an update on strategic developments. Here I take a look at how Alorica’s EGS integration is progressing, at the company’s U.S. nearshore strategy from LATAM, and at plans to drive CX transformation through consulting and analytics. EGS acquisition: a path to the global CMS top 3 As we covered[...]

  Last week, NelsonHall attended the latest BPM Summit in Cape Town organized by BPeSA (Business Process enabling South Africa), the official trade body for the outsourcing and contact center industry in the Western Cape. The event provides an opportunity for potential investors, analysts, providers, and government officials to interact. Here I take a look at the appeal of South Africa[...]

  From January 1st 2017, Xerox will separate its business process services (BPS) business into a public company called Conduent (trading under the ticker CNDT on NYSE). Conduent will have approximately ~$7bn revenue and over 96k employees. I recently spoke with Chuck Koskovich, Executive Vice President Customer Care Services at Xerox Services, about the implications of the split o[...]