Call Center Corner

In our latest podcast, we had the opportunity to chat with our good friend and call center partner John Coulter of Five Star Call Centers.  John is Vice President of Business Development for Five Star Call Centers and has worked in this industry for years.  Five Star has been a force in the call center BPO industry for decades and is aggressively expanding their Latin American footprint with the addition of their new call center site in Mexico. 

In this session, John and I discussed a variety of important topics designed to showcase the reasons WHY an organization would want to do business “south of the border” and the significant value proposition in doing so for their clients.  The Latin American market brings a lot to the table for the BPO industry including excellent higher education systems and participation, exceptional language skills including a very high concentration of quality English speakers, diverse and engaging cultures as well as a very large population of people who are conscientious and hard working.  The work ethic and dedication of the Latin American people are really second to none; anywhere in the world.  In addition, with a few exceptions, salary compression issues have not become a widespread problem so the economic value proposition is still a very viable one. 

To learn more about doing business down in Mexico and Latin America, check out my conversation with John and discover why going Near Shore, is a phenomenal option to explore for any contact center need.

Call centers around the world have been through a great deal over the past 2 years. The pandemic and the sudden need to move tens of thousands of their people to a work-at-home environment have forced all companies to take a serious look at their operations, people practices, technology and so much more. In this episode, we are fortunate enough to speak with our good friend Eric Sims, the CEO and Co-Founder of Leading Edge Connections. Leading Edge is one of the premier BPO partners in our network and in this episode, Eric does a great job of articulating how his company had to re-evaluate their entire operation when the pandemic hit and how they came out on the other side; better than ever. We had a ton of fun in this episode as Eric is hilarious, but the content of his message is right on point. If you are leading a call center operation post-pandemic, listen to our latest podcast to gain serious insight into what other companies have done to achieve post-pandemic success!

In this episode, we are joined by Emily Keller, LinkedIn's Head of Talent Solutions Enterprise Customer Success. We discuss the complex relationship that many companies today have with their customers and how these complexities have forced organizations to think more holistically and proactively relative to their customer management strategy. As Emily tells us, it’s not just about average handle time, # of calls per hour, or even the traditional quality assurance metrics anymore. Customer engagement, using data to predict customer behavior, leveraging innovative approaches to driving customer satisfaction, and many more; are all key to driving a true “Customer Success” approach. The customer experience paradigm has changed, and smart organizations are changing with it. Are you? To find out, check out our latest podcast to learn more about how to establish a true “Customer Success” approach in your organization.

Our special guest for this episode is Jeff Velodota, the Director of Sales and Marketing for one of our call center outsource partners; Telecom INC.  Along with Doug Deker (President of Call Center Power and outsourcing GURU), we explore how performing the due diligence process on a potential BPO outsource partner has changed pre vs post-pandemic.  While many of the typical due diligence tactics are tried and true and work well today; some aspects of the due diligence process have drastically changed.  In this episode, we offer suggestions and tools anyone can use, to navigate these changes.  A few examples include vetting a BPO company’s proficiency and comfort with operating remotely.  How well have they adapted to the “new way of work” desired by today’s call center agent? Do they have tools and practices in place to safeguard customer information in a remote environment?  How do they drive employee engagement and build a positive culture remotely; and much more. In addition to using Call Center Power to facilitate a quality BPO outsource partner search for your organization, listen now to this podcast episode and get the information you need to ensure your next outsource partner search goes smoothly.

In this final episode of our podcast series on Africa, we had the opportunity to speak with Humphrey Davis, Global Head of Sales and Marketing for CCI Global. Humphrey is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge on doing business in Africa and the Middle East. In this episode, Humphrey and Brian discuss what people around the world get wrong about Africa, how Africa is quickly busting those misperceptions, and how the people of Africa have begun to mobilize to support and grow the call center industry there into a global powerhouse. We also have some fun discussing our exploratory trip to Nairobi and Durban as well as reminiscing about our career tracks in the call center industry. Humphrey is a very engaging and knowledgeable guest and this was a great way to end our podcast series on Africa.

In this episode, we speak with Lizelle Strydom, Managing Director of a very innovative organization called Career Box. Career Box is an excellent example of the innovative and supportive ideas and real-world tactics that the African people are taking to build up not only their call center industry but more importantly, their local communities.  Lizelle is an amazing person and the work she is doing here in Africa is something the rest of the world should pay attention to. Listen now to start your African call center journey!

In this episode, we speak with Chris Nillesen, Chief Legal Officer of CCI Global. With our joint exploration trip to Africa as the backdrop, we share our collective experiences and observations of the African people, business climate, technology, infrastructure and so much more.  Listen now to start your African call center journey!

Brian and Doug interview Spencer Nielsen from Liberty Call Center Solutions to discuss operationalizing the quality assurance function in a contact center.