featured posts:
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Vodafone NZ’s Automation Journey with Tech Mahindra
Oct 26, 2021, by Ivan KotzevHumble beginnings Tech Mahindra and Vodafone New Zealand began their partnership in 2017 with a proof of concept for leveraging RPA in billing for one customer segment. Following its success, it evolved to a complete revamp of the telecom’s CX operating model using automation. The two companies created a shared team to discover, perform RPA feasibility checks, justify, an[...]
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Tech Mahindra Orchestrating CX Transformation: Interview with Birendra Sen
Sep 16, 2021, by Ivan KotzevEarlier this summer, I spoke with Birendra Sen, Business Leader, Tech Mahindra Business Process Services, on the building blocks of customer experience transformation and lessons from the pandemic. What are the main customer experience objectives for companies in 2021 and 2022? Birendra Sen: The pandemic caused almost a reset of customer experience objectives for brands. It acc[...]
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Webhelp Helping Reinvent French Public Sector CX
Aug 04, 2021, by Ivan Kotzev2020 triggered multiple large-scale engagements between public sector bodies and CX services providers, with contract activity growing 12.5% year-over-year to reach $4.7bn globally this year (NelsonHall estimate). Outsourcing companies provided healthcare information lines, patient track and trace, unemployment and social benefits hotlines, and loan administration for national, regio[...]
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Teleperformance Gamification: Shortcut to Knowledge and Engagement
Jul 07, 2021, by Ivan KotzevFrom wine to pharmacy sales, gamification is quickly becoming a tool for marketers to attract and retain customers in a subscription economy. Yet at its core, gamification is a leading method to teach, retrain, and engage employees. We recently spoke with Teleperformance about their gamification practice and the benefits of implementing comprehensive game-based learning. Game-base[...]
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Sitel’s SYKES deal: Analysis & Market Impact
Jun 30, 2021, by Ivan KotzevSitel’s announcement on 18 June to enter an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of SYKES stock further consolidates the global CX services leaders. It also highlights the market shift to large-scale, multinational, and financially strong players able to make the needed investments in consulting, CX technology, and automation. Here is a short analysis of the deal. The[...]
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Will the CX Services Boom Last?
May 24, 2021, by Ivan KotzevWhile the CX services industry is anxiously following the situation in India and its surge of COVID-19 cases, the start of 2021 mainly brought positive news. In this blog, I look at the strong performance across the industry and the extent to which the current growth is sustainable. 2021’s record start The three months ending 31st March 2021 was a record quarter for many [...]
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Shifts in Mobility are Reshaping CX: CSS Corp’s SMART Mobility Practice
May 12, 2021, by Ivan Kotzev2020 further accelerated transformative trends in the mobility space. Changes include electric vehicle adoption and the shift to mobility as a service and mobility on demand. Auto manufacturers, car rental firms, ridesharing providers, and public transport operations are all responding to this new market and, in support, the underlying model is changing from product to service to cus[...]
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Five CX Services Trends in 2021
Jan 13, 2021, by Ivan Kotzev2020 was a very disruptive year for CX services, marked by supply problems in the first half and a massive shift to WAH. It also proved to clients the key role of their CX services suppliers and the major benefits of outsourcing. The year started several trends and accelerate multiple others which will shape a dynamic 2021 for the industry. Here are five CX services trends for 2021. [...]
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Gig Work: From Stopgap to Pillar of WNS’ CX Services Model
Dec 15, 2020, by Ivan KotzevIn a year when the U.S. stock market pushed to a record high, the U.K. had its worst recession in 300 years, and entire sectors shut down for weeks, business planning has become less reliable while demand fluctuates unexpectedly and inconsistently. The supporting industry of CX services is directly impacted on two fronts: Challenges with supply, where the traditional multi-hund[...]
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Majorel Eyes Growing EU Banking Sector with ISILIS Acquisition
Oct 19, 2020, by Ivan KotzevIn July 2020, Majorel acquired French platform developer ISILIS, specialists in bank account switching. In this blog, I look at the new capability, the company’s focus on the banking and financial services sector, and the evolving CX services needs of EU banks. Specialist in bank account portability ISILIS was founded in 2004 initially to support non-regulated account switching pro[...]
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Online Crisis Management: Lessons from HGS’ Social Care Practice
Aug 28, 2020, by Ivan KotzevAges ago, in the pre-COVID-19, pre-U.S. election, pre-BLM protest times of 2019, the challenges of online reputation management (ORM) seemed to be brand-specific. For example, how Boeing could restore customer confidence in the 737 MAX aircraft. Today, in the second half of 2020, navigating social media during a crisis is top of mind for most brand managers and PR departments across [...]
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Positive Outlook from the Egyptian BPS Market
Jul 31, 2020, by Ivan KotzevThe impacts of the pandemic and lockdowns are creating winners and losers in terms of BPS delivery geos. Determining factors include a geo’s ability to manage the health and safety of workers, its success in minimizing economic disruption, and the flexibility of its labor regulators. For Egypt, the unfolding effects of COVID-19 on front-office BPS may be too early to judge, [...]
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‘Work from Anywhere’ for CX Services: Q&A with Tech Mahindra’s Ritesh Idnani
Jul 10, 2020, by Ivan KotzevIf there is a silver lining to the pandemic with respect to CX services, it is the changing perception of clients and providers on the pace of digital transformation and the role of frontline staff. In a conversation with Ritesh Idnani, President of Tech Mahindra, we discuss the company’s vision for what the Future of Work looks like and some of the latest trends and technologi[...]
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COVID-19 Accelerating the Future of CX Work: Teleperformance EMEA
Jun 04, 2020, by Ivan KotzevThe COVID-19 crisis is forcing a rethink of the CX delivery model with large contact centers. The fundamental question is how to maintain people’s health and safety in an open floor space with hundreds of seats, continuous face-to-face interactions, shared equipment, and 24x7 operations. For many outsourcing clients, the pandemic was the trigger to adopt work-at-home (WAH) for [...]
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Supercharged Technical Support: Augmented Reality with CSS Corp’s KYRA
May 18, 2020, by Ivan KotzevIn a new social distancing world, most traditional face-to-face customer service tasks have had to digitize quickly. This trend is not new, but for some processes, it required the adoption of emerging technology and different operational models. A prime example is customer premise visits by engineers for equipment installations, parts replacement, and technical support. For several y[...]
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Concentrix Messaging & Bots: Innovation During the COVID-19 Crisis
Apr 14, 2020, by Ivan KotzevOne of the memes during the COVID-19 crisis asks ‘who led the digital transformation of your company?’ with the options of ‘the CEO’, ‘the CTO’, or ‘the virus’. The global emergency has severely impacted CX, forcing many organizations to shut down or limit their contact center operations when they are most needed. A side effect is that,[...]
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Alorica Harnesses Technology to Engage Gen X, Y & Z Workforce
Apr 06, 2020, by Ivan KotzevHigh employee attrition rates are the norm in contact centers, with companies maintaining a constant recruitment, training, and onboarding pipeline. As generations X, Y, and Z come to represent the majority of the workforce, these new workers have different career aspirations, work values, and learning styles. For CX services providers with global delivery networks and demand for spe[...]
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WAH CX Delivery Extending Beyond North America: Lessons from Transcom
Feb 28, 2020, by Ivan KotzevAs businesses brace for the effects of the Covid-19 virus, one direct impact is already happening: the mandatory shift to work-at-home (WAH) in China created the world’s biggest remote working experiment. In CX services, this health hazard is putting the WAH model top of mind for both providers and clients. While virtual work has been gaining traction in the last few years, thi[...]
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Teleperformance Optimizes its Go-to-Market with Digital Integrated Business Services
Feb 14, 2020, by Ivan KotzevAt the end of January 2020, NelsonHall attended Teleperformance’s global analyst meeting in Mumbai. Here are some insights into the company’s progress since the Intelenet acquisition in October 2018 and the formation of Teleperformance Digital Integrated Business Services (D.I.B.S.). Repositioning as a knowledge partner Teleperformance’s reorganization in 2019[...]
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CX Services M&A Activity Hots Up: Why Telus International is Acquiring CCC for €915m
Dec 10, 2019, by Ivan KotzevTelus International announced last week the acquisition of Competence Call Center (CCC) for ~€915m. The deal marks the biggest M&A in front-office BPO (CX Services) for 2019. It is also one of several investments in the DACH region and part of a global trend for market share acquisitions. CCC gives Telus International scale for DACH markets CCC is a private CX services[...]
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CSS Corp Addresses Commercial Challenges of Cognitive CX Transformation
Nov 25, 2019, by Ivan KotzevOne of the main challenges facing front-office automation projects is the adoption of commercial terms protecting the interests of both clients and CX services providers. In an industry dominated by traditional per FTE and per hour/minute pricing, to be successful, end-to-end digital transformation requires significant initial investments, new KPIs, a stake from the vendor, and a lon[...]
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Entering the Voice Bot Age: Tech Mahindra Launches m.ai.a
Nov 01, 2019, by Ivan KotzevVoice bots are a tiny part of the customer service and outsourced CX services market today. However, they are significant both in terms of investment and the attention they are receiving from organizations. In both smart home devices (voice assistants) and traditional telephony, voice bots are growing (*see a sample of news items from October 2019 at the end of the text). With div[...]
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Democratizing Analytics: Tech Mahindra Virtual Analyst
Sep 30, 2019, by Ivan KotzevA common theme in NelsonHall’s Advances in Analytics BPS market analysis is that organizations’ need to operationalize data has matured beyond BI and simple visualization. Companies do not want to wait days to build a report and weeks, or even months, to generate insights. They need to fill the AI-analytics continuum, democratize data discovery and data manipulations, and[...]
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CX Automation in Practice: Reality Check with Webhelp
Sep 13, 2019, by Ivan KotzevThe inevitable automation of the contact center role has become such as surefire prediction in mass media, by CEOs, and even politicians, that a more realistic view of the industry may seem impossible. In this blog, I look at Webhelp’s assessment of the CX automation landscape and the realistic challenges and opportunities in the market. Customer-facing automation requires s[...]
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Comdata: How Customer Insights Are Transforming CX in Retail & CPG
Aug 05, 2019, by Ivan KotzevA common theme in the upcoming NelsonHall CX Services in Retail & CPG report is the increasing need by sector clients to generate and operationalize insights from their customers. Technology has shifted the power to consumers who are less loyal to brands and change their buying behavior more frequently, creating micro-segments. However, while having a wealth of data such as cu[...]