Infotech Lead India: A provider of Customer Experience Management solutions, the $3 billion Teleperformance with presence in Gurgaon, Jaipur and Indore, encourages its employees to become ambassadors of change as they engage with underprivileged children and participate in their education and learning process.
In an online conversation with Infotech Lead’s Baburajan K, Teleperformance India MD Sanjay Mehta shares that ‘Citizen of the World’ initiative that works through volunteering by 5,000 employees, won the company recognition as the Social Change Agent at the Asia Outsourcing Congress in early 2013.
As part of Citizen of the World (COTW) program, Teleperformance employees offer food, books, education and clothing to these children. The larger goal is to help these children meet their basic needs and reach their individual potential.
Excerpts of the interview:
On Teleperformance’s latest client wins in India
We work with some of the marquee customers from around the world, including India. I wish we could share the names, but as we all know, clients don’t allow their names to be shared for competitive reasons.
I have a unique way of looking at why a client comes to Teleperformance and stays with us. The industry expectations are changing significantly, driven by the end customer who is spoilt by unlimited choices. The focus is shifting from customer service to customer experience. Today, a product or service experience is an integral part of the brand promise that seeks to enhance seamless, uninterrupted usage and overall experience.
This change in customer mindset is leading to higher expectations from Customer Experience. The customer views the support services provided by the brand as either served or underserved, even though internally customer service may have a host of metrics to deliver.
This fundamental change has led to enhancement of Customer Experience so that it grows brand loyalty. It leads to customers staying longer with the brand, increasing its usage and share of wallet for the Client.
We at Teleperformance have shared this ethos to meet and exceed expectations of our current clients. Globally, nearly 138,000 Teleperformers are carefully chosen, trained and empowered to solve customer issues. We all realize, meeting and exceeding customer expectations is critical to business growth of our clients. This is how Teleperformance stays relevant to customers both current and new.
On people, productivity and technology strategy
Over 3 decades of experience, working in nearly 50 countries, Teleperformance leadership has spent time aligning its people to the fast changing client and customer expectations. We as leaders focus on offering Teleperformers real-time employee experience at work place as a process as well as passion.
The delivery expectations from employees require them to be excited and motivated about what they do and the leaders at Teleperformance engage with them. It is no coincidence that the senior managers — EVPs, directors, GMs of all functions without an exception — are available to the employees and the clients till the last minute of the business hours of the end customer, which for US markets is 5 am- 6 am India time.
When leaders work with the front line staff real-time, they are best equipped to mentor and support them not only at their work but also to address their aspirations as part of OneTeam.
The leaders hold themselves accountable for employee engagement, employee care measurement and feedback. At Teleperformance, we believe in being part of the solution.
Enhanced employee experience has improved performance at Teleperformance. The focus on employee experience spurs them ‘want’ to come to work instead of them ‘having’ to come to office, leading to success and winnings every working hour.
On top of all this, to help passionate Teleperformers excel in execution, the company’s experience across different geographies and multiple language markets has led to deploying proprietary employee and customer friendly suite of tools and methods.
As a megacorp we involve our clients by sharing our processes, refining them often based on specific needs and feedback, so as to ensure success.
Even before technology usage became ubiquitous, our singular focus has been the end customer. Today front line customer care agents and supervisors too have access to technology that delivers enhanced experience.
Even with all the technology investments we firmly believe in the power of the young girls and boys to deliver enhanced customer experience.
On challenges and opportunities
By leveraging the passion of a million Indians in their 20s we created a near Rupees hundred thousand crore industry and established a brand for the Indian BPO industry. Indian enterprise created business out of something that did not exist a decade ago. Backed by this experience, business opportunities for offshore customer service support in India are here to be seized.
The success of this sector has enhanced its stature and is attracting quality talent in large numbers. Today the BPO industry is better equipped with expertise and experience to sustain the next wave of growth. Every graduating batch today is superior in calibre, intellect and merit.
About 30-40 cities in India, with population of over one to three million, are ready to field contact centers to support global clients today. Promising infrastructure, availability of talent and cost competitive living coupled with track record for quality and excellence will work as key differentiator.
Investment and expansion plans
As global leaders in customer experience management, we are looking at BRIC countries to explore contact center growth opportunities. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa hold a ready platform for operations, in terms of intellectual and infrastructural support.
Only last week my colleague and Teleperformance Chief Marketing Officer Paulo Cesar Vasques shared company expansion plans as, “We are committed to the BRICS markets in both investments and in high quality operational delivery capabilities. We have great people and facilities in all these countries. From a competitive standpoint, we are the only major player with a full BRICS footprint; this presence is critical for the world’s largest companies we serve”.
SEE THE PROFESSIONAL PROFILE OF Teleperformance India MD Sanjay Mehta HERE
Baburajan K
[email protected]