Modern BPO Contact Center: Achieving Competitive Advantage with Digital Transformation

Benefits & Challenges that Come with Digital Transformation

Digital transformation brings substantial opportunities to contact center BPOs, and ultimately, to the enterprises that rely on operational outsourcing. These opportunities include better management of business data, more efficient processes, the making of wiser, more data-informed decisions, and ultimately business growth for BPOs. The customer care BPO market alone is expected to grow to around 30.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2027, Statista reports.1 But this growth can bring several challenges – for contact centers this includes agent overwhelm.

Additional challenges businesses face due to the explosion of data and digital tools also opens the door for improvement through a partnership with a forward-thinking BPO. As one simple example, today an enterprise might manage three different contact center platforms, two different CRMs, a data warehouse, and three billing systems, not to mention dozens or hundreds of other CX data sources. Breaking down the barriers between those disparate systems and giving BPOs a 360-degree view of what’s happening within an enterprise and even across all of their clients is a strategic game-changer.

For BPOs to bring success to their clients, optimum performance is critical in every quarter or cycle. The modern BPO should look to increase its competitive advantage by embracing digital transformation. This includes implementing a cross-channel solution and improving agent experience in the process.

How BPOs can thrive in shifting industries
How Regulation F is driving change in the debt collection industry

In the face of changing regulations in the debt collection industry, specifically Regulation F, enterprises are rethinking their approach to quality management.2 Today, it’s critical to adapt and thrive in the modern communications landscape. This can be accomplished by making key investments in technology and partnerships that improve efficiency while increasing value and revenue. The learnings can be leveraged across industries.

Use preferred communication channels
In response to Regulation F, debt collection agencies must be prepared to embrace regulatory change to leverage preferred communication channels and better serve today’s consumers.3 This is long overdue. As an example, FICO reports that nearly 35% of those contacted by financial service providers say that the method of communication used is not convenient for them.4 End customers benefit from increased options that meet their needs and preferences and enterprises have the opportunity to add value while improving customer experience.

Shifting focus from compliance to operations

Accenture is predicting growth that stems from “structuring the entire organization to create experiences that capture consumers’ evolving demands across all aspects of operations,” in this post-pandemic world.5 What they describe as a “white space” is really just the wholesale industry shift from risk-averse customer interactions driven by compliance. The rising

$30.4B The customer care BPO market alone is expected to grow to around 30.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2027.

Breaking down the barriers between those disparate systems and giving BPOs a 360-degree view of what’s happening within an enterprise and even across all of their clients is a strategic game-changer.

expectations for ease and convenience means operational changes need to include better tools for self-service, unified multi-channel communications, as well as robust controls for opting in or out of a specific channel.

Improve efficiency

Enterprises are not only tasked with improving the customer experience and increasing engagement, they must work to gain efficiencies across the entire business. This type of operational excellence can be accomplished by investing in tech and IT partnerships. SAP Insights is reporting that the role of the CIO is more critical than ever, with a new focus on identifying business performance opportunities.6 Organizations that can leverage the technologists’ expanded role can improve efficiencies across the board starting with contact center touch points including advocating for stronger customer portals, proactively integrating CRM data to manage customer data and communications, and leverage AI-powered tools for self-service.

For the evolving BPO industry, partnering with the right IT solutions provider can help organizations improve customer communication and operational efficiency. This step is critical to move from digital implementation to digital transformation.

Living up to the promise of “omni-channel” in a land of disparate systems

Omni-channel solutions promise to provide an integrated approach to data and customer-centric processes, but too often implementation of omni-channel solutions falls short. McKinsey reports that, “…call centers generate plenty of data, but companies don’t have a systematic approach for aggregating that data into a single source of truth so that managers can make sense of it. Other companies buy a set of ad hoc solutions and assets to solve individual problems, rather than developing a strategic approach built around a single integrated platform.”

BPOs who are more mature in their digital transformation journey have invested significant time and resources integrating their communication channels into fewer systems. Other BPOs don’t know how to obtain the information they need from their current systems without a special IT and business intelligence request, coding, and querying data in multiple data warehouses. This is where a cross-channel solution provides real value to BPOs and their end customers. “Most organizations, for instance, run voice-of-the-customer analytics to calculate first-call resolution (FCR) and customer satisfaction metrics, but they don’t use that customer feedback to redesign processes or take other steps to make a more transformative impact.”8 An experienced cross-channel partner can provide access to the information that BPOs truly need – saving time and money and increasing productivity.

FICO reports that nearly 35% of those contacted by financial service 
providers say that the method of communication used is not convenient for them.

Here are four key steps for transitioning to a cross-channel solution:
1. Identify the right cross-channel partner for your organization.
First, assess your potential cross-channel partner based on:

• Work they’ve done with BPOs before
• Enterprise-level compliance certifications including HIPAA, SOCII, and PCI Compliance
• Assess global/regional data sovereignty, data segregation, and partitioning approaches.

2. Do an inventory of all your current communication systems with your cross-channel partner.
At this step, it’s important to take stock of all communication endpoints and determine if any of your current systems are compatible with the cross-channel solution that you’re considering. Will you need a custom solution for integration, or is there an out-of-the-box solution available?

3. Share technical information about your various communication platforms with your cross-channel partner.
Provide your partner with information about how the channels were built, how long they’ve been in use at your organization, and more. This is a good time to bring up any unique or specialized workflows or data sources that could present an integration challenge in preparation for the next step.

4. Finally, work alongside your partner to combine your communication endpoints into a cross-channel tool.
Diligently working through the previous steps will help shorten the integration process, getting you quickly to increased efficiency and productivity and a seamless customer experience.

The endgame goal for a cross-channel solution is for organizations to have one dashboard that shows performance across all portfolios and allows you to drill down quickly to find the answers you’re looking for.

How digital transformation will serve the end customer

Digital transformation is bringing new, more sophisticated communication channels and tools to BPOs, enterprises and their end customers. Ernst & Young shares in their article “What to do in 2022” that “successful transformations will be founded on deploying technology at speed, rolling out innovation at scale, and putting humans at the center of decision-making.”

Transformation can translate into additional layers of technology which make cross-channel solutions all the more important. Here are four important ways digital transformation will enable BPOs to help enterprises better serve the end customer:

• Adopting cloud and pure SaaS solutions help BPOs work with more speed, agility, and scalability – and with reduced cost barriers.
• Modernizing applications provides access to industry-ready solutions, so customers can simply buy solutions instead of building them on their own.
• The advent of end to end customer experience analytics is a game-changer for contact center BPOs. Navigating cross-channel touch points across the full customer journey is difficult, and made even more complex as an enterprise scales. Getting a holistic view of all data sources and systems with historical and real-time data, across the full journey can be a transformational competitive advantage.

88% of service teams say the pandemic has exposed their technology gaps.

“…call centers generate plenty of data, but companies don’t have a systematic approach for aggregating that data into a single source of truth so that managers can make sense of it. Other companies buy a set of ad hoc solutions and assets to solve individual problems, rather than developing a strategic approach built around a single integrated platform.”

• Digital transformation will help BPOs develop modern approaches for change management training and development and change management consulting – helping customers manage the transformation of their goals, processes, or technologies.

If that’s not enough, this cross-channel SaaS based digital transformation will also help BPOs expand their customers’ business and spur accelerated innovation, cost reduction, technical debt reduction, and enabling of data insights by providing:

• Adoption of new services
• Speed through scalability
• Speed through connectivity
• Continuous deployments
• 100% uptime

Digital transformation for BPOs involves understanding how the various communication channels and tools are working within your business so that you can use the right channels and tools for the right situation. You have to make sure your team is properly staffed and trained, with the ultimate goal of better serving your customers. Agents are a big part of a BPO’s success. And while digital transformation is generally a good opportunity for better customer service, it can be the fulcrum that balances agent success and agent overwhelm.

How the agent experience becomes a competitive advantage

73% of all people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Among U.S. customers, 65% find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising. The people on your front lines, speaking directly to your customers are a tipping point for consumers. Investing in them means investing in your success.

The agent’s job experience is just as important as your customer experience because they are the voice of your company. When things get difficult for your customers, they get difficult for your agents. As a case in point, calls rated as “difficult” by customer service reps increased by 100% during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Improving agent experience is the biggest challenge for the BPO industry. Digital transformation has led to an increase in disparate communication systems and has exposed the technology gaps, bringing the quality of agent experience into focus. According to Salesforce research, 88% of service teams say the pandemic has exposed their technology gaps.13 The increase in communication tools and responsibilities has led to an increase in workload for agents.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.4 million employees in the US left their jobs in 2020. Ian Cook, writer for the Harvard Business Review poses that is due to stress,

79% of service professionals say that it’s impossible to provide great service without a complete view of customer interactions.15

increased workloads, and burnout.14 In the world of contact center BPOs, they are tasked with employing enough agents to deliver excellent service, but they too are seeing this trend impact agency hiring and retention. But are we setting employees up for success? 79% of service professionals say that it’s impossible to provide great service without a complete view of customer interactions.15 Remote agents are tasked with scouring multiple information channels to find answers to difficult questions (since all the easy questions are answered by automation). This is one of the unfortunate negative consequences of digital transformation for BPOs. What can be done about this?

Providing a better agent experience does more than just put people behind headsets, it gives you a competitive advantage. According to PWC, “nearly 80% of American consumers say that speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service are the most important elements of a positive customer experience.”16 When you meet the needs of your customers, it pays off. Organizations who prioritize experience can expect to demand “up to a 16% price premium on products and services, plus increased loyalty.”

The upshot? Where there are satisfied agents, there is better organizational performance.

Conclusion:

Building a roadmap for success

With digital transformation, the future is bright for BPO contact centers. However, it’s critical to realize the challenges associated with digital adoption – the increase in disparate communication systems, new regulations, strains on agent experience, and more. As the industry evolves, a qualified experience analytics partner will help you build a roadmap for success.

SuccessKPI is uniquely positioned to solve these challenges. We put AI and machine learning to work to eliminate cross-channel data silos, and give a 360 degree view of visibility into the customer journey, and help BPOs achieve competitive differentiation as a result

How the agent experience becomes a competitive advantage 73% of all people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions.10 Among U.S. customers, 65% find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising.11 The people on your front lines, speaking directly to your customers are a tipping point for consumers. Investing in them means investing in your success.