Our world at Conectys is about delivering outsourcing excellence around customer experience (CX) and user-generated content (UGC). We do this every day, grow at doing it, and are up to 10 global delivery centers, 24/7 coverage, and 35+ languages. We’ve been at it for 17 years.
At that time, we can tell you that there are two essential models of any business partner, be it outsourcing or something else:
Model (1) is an order-taker. In an order-taker model, the company that hired that partner probably has very strict budgets and deadlines, and they already know how they want everything done (processes). They don’t want new ideas, innovations, pilot programs, or anything else. They just want the work done, with cost efficiency, and the numbers/targets achieved. An order-taker model does work in many cases, but it’s not going to create collaboration or trust. It’s just one group working for another group; you cannot even really call it a “partnership.”
Model (2) is co-creation or co-strategizing. In this model, you find a partner and you have researched their background and expertise, so you bring them in on bigger decisions. You ask their advice on programs, strategy, launches, rollouts, timing, staffing, and more. You might be using the partner as customer support agents, but you roll those support agents into product meetings, sales meetings, and marketing meetings — you let them inform other teams as to what they are hearing from customers.
Model (2) is what we do. It’s ultimately more valuable for the company hiring for it (and you still receive the cost efficiencies). You cannot “collaborate globally” if the main company and the partner are not on equal footing in terms of communication, strategy, and development of programs. That’s the essence of global collaboration. Partners are not on equal footing in terms of communication, strategy, and development of programs.
That’s the essence of global collaboration.
Two quick examples:
We wrote a white paper recently about how customer support functions — which are often viewed as a cost center and not necessarily business-critical — can actually help inform product roadmap, marketing campaigns, and sales strategies. Here’s the paper for reference.
Now, we’ve also been working with a client in the gaming industry for about seven years that’s a great example of what co-creation and co-strategizing look like. On that client arrangement, we proposed expansion of coverage hours. Russian, French, and German moderation used to be 10 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday. Because of trends we were seeing and client needs, we first expanded until 10 pm on Monday to Saturday, then added a Sunday moderation coverage too. The client was pleased with how proactive we were. That client’s main focus was CSAT metrics, so we eventually also evolved our “trainer” function into a “quality control” function, which is where the client wanted it to head. These moves speak to trust, partnership, and collaboration.
Check out some more relevant posts:
The race to be more digital
The core element of modern business is a race to be more digital -- the term is often “digital transformation.” This all looks different depending on the size of your company, usually: Smaller companies are trying to complete the process steps, [...]
Call and contact center metrics that matter
Data is the new oil We keep hearing that and saying that in business circles. The biggest companies in the world these days certainly have maximized their use of data -- both consumer-level and organizationally -- to excel financially and grow. [...]
Content Moderation Trends for 2021
Content moderation became a huge topic in the early days of 2021, especially around social platforms (i.e. Twitter) and their banning of certain public figures (i.e. then-U.S. President Trump). Entire episodes of podcasts were dedicated to content moderation, executives from some [...]
The rise of the on-demand economy and what it means for outsourcing
Back in 2015, The Wall Street Journal did a nice deep dive on “the on-demand economy,” which essentially refers to companies like Amazon, Uber, et al. You can get what you want -- a car, or a box of diapers -- relatively soon after you want [...]
Check out some more relevant posts:
The race to be more digital
The core element of modern business is a race to be more digital -- the term is often “digital transformation.” This all looks different depending on the size of your company, usually: Smaller companies are trying to complete the process steps, [...]
Call and contact center metrics that matter
Data is the new oil We keep hearing that and saying that in business circles. The biggest companies in the world these days certainly have maximized their use of data -- both consumer-level and organizationally -- to excel financially and grow. [...]
Content Moderation Trends for 2021
Content moderation became a huge topic in the early days of 2021, especially around social platforms (i.e. Twitter) and their banning of certain public figures (i.e. then-U.S. President Trump). Entire episodes of podcasts were dedicated to content moderation, executives from some [...]
The rise of the on-demand economy and what it means for outsourcing
Back in 2015, The Wall Street Journal did a nice deep dive on “the on-demand economy,” which essentially refers to companies like Amazon, Uber, et al. You can get what you want -- a car, or a box of diapers -- relatively soon after you want [...]