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Discover the Leaders of Auscontact Association

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Discover the Leaders of Auscontact Association

 

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, effective leadership and sound decision-making are critical to the success of any organisation. Within the contact centre industry, the role of the board members of Auscontact cannot be overstated.

As the primary governing body of the organisation, these individuals are tasked with driving strategic direction, ensuring compliance, and fostering a culture of innovation and growth.

The current Board of Directors are:

Sean Mather

The Chairperson of Auscontact Association, has over 25 years of experience in the ICT and Contact Centre industries. He is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Omada One Inc. Sean has significant experience in managing and implementing contact centre programs, including projects focused on internal process improvement, operational effectiveness, service improvement programs, and technology selection.

Matthew Penman

The Deputy Chairperson, is the General Manager, Customer Service Department, for Auto and General Insurance Services. He has been actively involved in the contact centre industry for the last 18 years, and his passion for the industry has driven his involvement in the ATA and now Auscontact Association since 2006. He possesses a wide range of knowledge and experience across government and private enterprises and has experience in both outsourcing and offshoring, having spent a year in South Africa building a 150-seat contact centre.

Tanya Eglinton

A Non-Executive Director of Auscontact Association, is the General Manager Customer Contact at Bank of Queensland. Tanya is a human centred and passionate leader who has demonstrated the ability to deliver innovative change through a wide range of contact centre roles. Some of Tanya’s achievements include the implementation of a work from home model, on and offshore centre deployment, telephony replacement, and digital transformation. Tanya has worked predominantly in financial services having previously worked as Head of Everyday Banking at ANZ.

Tim Powell

A Non-Executive Director of Auscontact Association, is the National Contact Centre and Operations Manager for Teachers Mutual Bank. Tim has over 25 years’ experience working strategically and operationally across Customer Experience teams within the Banking & Financial services sector both here in Australia and in the UK. Tim is a dedicated advocate of the Auscontact Association’s vision in being part of the united voice for the customer contact industry in Australia. He brings with him the ability to apply critical thinking through a governance lens across topics that relate to the internal demands of Contact Centres as a collective industry.

Steve Mitchinson

A Non-Executive Director of Auscontact Association, is a Director at BBB Advisory. Steve has over 25 years active involvement in the contact centre industry, including previous terms as Director and Chairperson when the organisation was known as the Australian Teleservices Association and played a pivotal role in establishing Auscontact. Steve has extensive board experience beyond his previous time with the ATA, including 3 years as National Chair of the Australian Institute of Credit Management. Steve is currently Chairman of the Canningvale Community Bank (Bendigo Bank) and has served on numerous government and industry boards with distinction.

Tracey Madgwick

A Non-Executive Director of Auscontact Association, is the Executive Director, Operations and Improvement for Smart Service Qld in Queensland government. She is a senior professional with extensive leadership and business management experience in the contact centre industry. Tracey is passionate about business transformation that enhances the customer experience and delivers quality outcomes. Throughout her career, Tracey has built a strong network and has been committed to helping shape and grow the industry through representation on various committees.

Michel Stutz

A Non-Executive Director and Director of Stutz Consulting, has 22 years of experience in the local and international contact centre industry. He has worked with customers, managed data, and voice networks, and provided front floor and general management. Michel has been working independently for the last 4 years, supporting, and implementing CX-related projects in contact centres and SMEs, as well as corporate services work. He is also a supporter of Invest Victoria and aims to stimulate foreign investment. Michel is passionate about the industry and has been on the Auscontact Board Innovation Sub-Committee, helping find ways to operate during the pandemic and beyond. He aims to promote a culture that supports innovative ideas and initiatives that add value for members in the long term.

Paul Wright

Is the Head of Customer Care at Futurity Investment Group, with over 25 years of experience in the Customer Service industry. He has managed large 24×7 call centres and back-office administration including billing, connections, data management, sales, new business support, and credit/collections. As a strong change manager, Paul is focused on strategic planning, service improvement, and excellence. He aims to bring a diverse view on customer service challenges to the Auscontact Association and integrate back-office operations into a customer-centric approach. Paul’s leadership style and change management skills make him an asset to the Board, as a thought leader, mentor, and experienced professional willing to share his experiences.

Gerard Smith

Has over 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. He has expertise in IT, sales and marketing, ecommerce, project management, contact centres, human resources, technology implementation, and knowledge management. Gerard is currently the Chief Information Officer of Teachers Mutual Bank Limited and leads the Sales, Marketing, and Digital teams for four banks. He aims to increase sales, drive business development, and improve the user experience. Gerard is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and loves understanding people.

Rachel Aziz

Chief People and Culture Officer at Recoveriescorp, has over 14 years of experience in the contact centre industry, working across Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Fiji. Her passion is to connect people with purpose and effect positive change for customers and the community. Rachel has led the cultural transformation at Recoveriescorp through strategic values alignment initiatives, creating a high-performance workforce. She is an expert in remuneration, capability, talent management, OH&S and governance, and is a valued executive for her empathetic leadership style. Rachel is also passionate about gender diversity and mentors emerging female leaders.

Simon Kriss

Director of Innovation at Serco, has over 30 years of experience in the global contact centre industry. He has worked in various levels of the industry, from a call taker to running global operations across several countries. Simon was the inaugural Chair of the CCMA and is currently focusing on industry thought leadership and advanced management techniques for modern Government contact centres. He is also an experienced Board member, having completed his GAICD and is a certified wine judge, with a passion for all things wine.

Effective leadership and sound decision-making are crucial in the rapidly evolving business landscape. The board members of Auscontact Association play a pivotal role in driving strategic direction, ensuring compliance, and fostering a culture of innovation and growth in the contact centre industry. The current board members bring extensive knowledge, experience, and passion to the table, with each member contributing unique perspectives and skills to the organisation. Together, they form a strong team dedicated to advancing the interests of the industry and ensuring its continued success.

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Learning & Development Investment

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Learning & Development Investment

Employees are more likely to stay with organisations who invest in their training and development, with 84% of workers saying they are more committed to an employer who invests in their professional growth.

A recent report by Dell Technologies predicts that 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. A prediction that is both exciting and ominous for organisations across the globe. Innovative technology is fueling rapid change and the contact centre is no exception, with advancements changing the way customers interact. The incorporation of technologies such as AI-powered chatbots, ChatGPT, GPT-4, advanced speech recognition, conversational AI, AI supported scripting, and increased digital design, are transforming the way contact centres operate and service customers.

As these technology advancements continue to transform contact centres, the one certainty is that the importance and demand on human skills will increase. Empathy, problem-solving, EQ and effective communication, will be essential to build lasting customer relationships and drive service excellence. The work a contact centres human workforce needs to handle will change, however many customers still want to interact with a human agent for complex issues, for emotionally charged situations, or to build connection.

So, what does this mean when it comes to building those human skills, strengthening capabilities, and investing in people? Learning and development strategies have never been as important as they are now. They are essential to help organisations prepare for an uncertain future, and to ensure that companies are in a position to give customers the level of human touch they expect, but also as a way to engage workforce.

Employees are more likely to stay with organisations who invest in their training and development, with 84% of workers saying they are more committed to an employer who invests in their professional growth, and 70% confirming they would look elsewhere for work if training opportunities were lacking and/or not available.

 

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO RETHINK YOUR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY?

  1. Create a growth mindset culture in your workplace, where continuous learning, growth and development are fostered. A growth mindset culture encourages employees to embrace challenges, learn from mistakes, and constantly improve their skills and abilities.
  2. Have a dual model learning and development strategy that considers both soft and hard skills. Hard skills, or the technical skills required to do the job are a necessary component of your organisations training program. These hard skills ensure your staff have the practical understanding and ability to perform their job. You invest heavily in hard skills when you have new employees or when your workloads change for existing employees. Ensuring you have a clear strategy for soft skills will make the biggest different to your workforce. Soft skills are crucial for how your employees interact and work with others, and enable them to build rapport, trust, and empathy with your customers.
  3. Continuous Learning. A great learning and development strategy includes a focus on continuous learning which involves providing employees with opportunities to develop new skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis, rather than just in response to immediate needs. Build development plans in performance agreements and ensure conversations with your people focus on understanding goals, career aspirations and assessing current capabilities. A strong learning and development strategy will include a framework that supports continuous learning.
  4. Leadership development. Key to building the culture and engagement that allows your learning and development program to be a key component of your employee offer, is the leadership supporting it. This means your leadership development program is crucial to the success of all other learning and development. Most organisations have some form of corporate leadership programs, these will often be generic in nature, however, will provide some foundation leadership requirements. A strong learning and development strategy will include ways to access tailored, targeted and specific leadership courses that align to your environment and the gaps of the individual. Building this leadership capability is ongoing and requires continued investment.
  5. Realistic time investment. It takes on average 40 days for people to integrate learnings from training into their day to day roles, so organisations need to rethink how quickly they move staff through training. Getting this right will be a game changer when it comes to the confidence and readiness of your employees, and contributes to retention, engagement and customer outcomes. Once the hard skills have been built, create a follow up program that reinforces learning, invest in smaller, more regular training, followed by the time to practice newfound skills.
  6. Visibility of formal and informal learning and development. Not all the learning and development your people access will be through formal training sessions, and it is crucial that you build visibility of on-the-job training, peer learning, and buddying type activities as essential elements of your learning and development strategy. Your staff are learning all the time, so ensure your organisation has a culture of supporting learning, development and engagement to nurture this.
  7. Partnered Delivery. Organisations cannot afford to cater to every learning need of their employees, and building internal learning and development functions that do cover every aspect of your business needs is cost prohibitive to get right. Identify partners in the industry that you can work with to access industry specific or functional training options. Industry partners will have updated courses, regularly delivered that is often more cost effective and relevant that an inhouse model. Keep abreast of what industry bodies are offering and build this into your learning and development strategies.
  8. New technology can be leveraged by organisations for learning and development, removing cost and access barriers for geographically dispersed employees. Face to face is no longer the only option and short sharp sessions can mean employees are only stepping out of the workplace for defined periods of time. Balancing learning and development options has never been as easy as it is today with online training programs and support communities.

 

In a competitive labour market, employees have more choice when it comes to job options, and most consider more than financial remuneration when choosing an organisation to work for. Learning and development is fast becoming a strong contributor to a strategic employee value proposition. Contact centres already struggle with high attrition rates, attraction challenges and somewhat rigid environments, investing in the capability of your people will not only deliver strong business results, but can contribute to creating a long term, visible career pathway for employees.

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The Future of Contact Centres in Metaverse

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The rise of the metaverse is fast becoming one of the top business strategy conversations for contact centres, with many corporations scrambling to get on board and meet their customers wherever they may choose to reside.

Contact centres are pivotal to the metaverse as they can provide customer support and assist in resolving issues for the users within on alternative universe. For many companies that are sitting on the sidelines, what has become most apparent is that early adopters are the big winners in gaining customer loyalty, keeping agents happy and driving better business outcomes.

The metaverse is expected to be worth around $1 trillion by 2030. With over 4.7 billion people using the internet globally, the metaverse is set to become the next big thing. Companies are investing heavily in the metaverse, and many businesses are looking at ways to set up their contact centres in the virtual world.

Contact centres in the metaverse can be set up to provide real-time support to customers. The virtual world can offer an immersive experience where users can interact with agents through avatars. It can also provide a more personalised experience for customers as agents can access customer information in real-time, providing a more customised experience.

At the recent Big Data and AI World in Singapore, I spoke on the ability for customers to experience-set with contact centres, choosing who they want to speak to, in what tone of voice and language. This is revolutionary for customers and doable for contact centres seeking to heighten the experience of customers and improve agent attrition rates.

One of the biggest advantages of contact centres in the metaverse is the ability to provide support across different platforms. Users can access the metaverse through various devices, including mobile phones, computers and gaming consoles. By having contact centres set up in the metaverse, customers can receive support no matter which platform they are using, and at what time of the day they choose.

Companies like Amazon and Facebook have already started investing in the metaverse, and it’s only a matter of time before others follow suit. Amazon recently announced its plan to build its own metaverse, which it calls “New World”. The company plans to use this virtual world to provide a more immersive shopping experience for its customers.

The metaverse can also provide a more efficient way of handling customer inquiries. Agents can use the virtual world to provide customers with visual demonstrations, making it easier to explain complex issues. This can lead to faster resolution times and improve customer satisfaction rates.

In addition to customer support, the metaverse can also be used for employee training and development. Companies can create virtual training environments to teach new hires about the company’s products, services, and policies. This can lead to a more engaged workforce and can improve overall productivity.

The challenges of setting up in the metaverse

Setting up a contact centre in the metaverse is not without its challenges. Companies will need to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to ensure that they can provide real-time support to customers. They will also need to train their agents to work in a virtual environment and develop new policies and procedures to ensure that they are providing the best possible support.

The scarcity of IT coders needed to transform a company’s contact centre and create a new environment is yet another burden for contact centres setting up in the metaverse.

As companies navigate their metaverse strategy, early adopters are spending millions on setting up to become major players. This cost is set to come down as new, easy to use technology platforms allow for fast deployment of contact centres in the metaverse.

6 Steps Every Contact Centre Needs To Take

To set up a contact centre in the metaverse, the following steps should be taken:

  1. Determine the type of metaverse platform to use: The first step to setting up a contact centre in the metaverse is to choose a platform that fits the needs of the business. Platforms like Second Life, VRChat, and Sansar are popular choices for businesses looking to set up a presence in the metaverse. Each platform has its own unique features and target audience, so it’s important to do research to determine which platform is best suited for the business.
  2. Build a virtual space: Once a platform is chosen, the next step is to build a virtual space for the contact centre. This space should be designed to provide a comfortable and visually appealing environment for customers to interact with agents. Virtual spaces can be built using in-platform building tools or by hiring a team of designers to create a custom space.
  3. Hire and train agents: Agents who will be interacting with customers in the virtual space must be hired and trained to use the platform and to provide exceptional customer service. Agents must be able to respond to inquiries and provide assistance in real-time while maintaining a professional demeanor.
  4. Integrate with existing systems: Contact centres that are already using customer relationship management (CRM) software and other tools must integrate those systems with the metaverse platform. This will ensure that agents have access to customer data and can provide seamless service.
  5. Advertise the presence in the metaverse: Once the virtual space is built and agents are trained, the contact centre must advertise its presence in the metaverse. This can be done through social media, email campaigns and advertising within the metaverse platform itself.
  6. Monitor performance and adjust as needed: As with any new business venture, it’s important to monitor performance and adjust as needed. Contact centres in the metaverse should track metrics like customer satisfaction, response time, and ticket resolution rate. This data can be used to make adjustments and improvements to the virtual space and customer experience.

Customer experience: Uniquely transformable

Customer experience in the metaverse is a new and unique experience that is different from traditional customer service interactions. In the metaverse, customers can interact with agents in a virtual space using avatars, which can create a more personalised and immersive experience.

One advantage of the metaverse is that it allows customers to receive support from anywhere in the world, without the need for travel. Customers can also receive support at any time, as contact centres in the metaverse operate 24/7. –which in itself is game changing.

In the metaverse, customers can receive support through a range of channels including voice, text chat and video chat. These channels allow customers to choose the channel that they are most comfortable with, and agents can tailor their communication to match the customer’s preference.

Additionally, the metaverse can provide a more visual and interactive experience. For example, agents can use virtual objects to illustrate points or to demonstrate how to use a product or service. This can help customers to better understand complex issues and increase their confidence in the company’s products and services.

Another advantage of the metaverse is that it allows for more personalised experiences. Contact centres can use customer data to tailor interactions to the individual customer’s needs and preferences. If a customer has previously contacted the company about a specific issue, the agent can quickly access that information and provide a more personalised response.

The metaverse is a new and innovative way for companies to provide customer support. By offering personalised and immersive experiences, contact centres in the metaverse can build stronger relationships with their customers and set themselves apart from their competitors.

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Revolutionise Your Contact Centre Recruitment with Airdeck

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The ever-changing world of contact centre recruitment demands that HR managers constantly seek innovative ways to attract and retain top talent. One platform that is disrupting the recruitment landscape is Airdeck.

Airdeck is not your ordinary HR tool – it is transforming how HR managers approach recruitment. With Airdeck, HR managers can create dynamic and engaging presentations that effectively promote their company and differentiate them from competitors. No more boring, text-heavy presentations that fail to capture the attention of potential candidates. Airdeck allows HR managers to create visually stunning presentations that showcase their company’s innovation, investment in candidate experience, and unique value proposition in a way that captivates and inspires candidates.

Imagine being able to provide candidates with a comprehensive overview of your company in one interactive presentation, reducing the need for lengthy and time-consuming in-person interviews. Airdeck makes that possible. It streamlines the recruitment process, saving valuable time and resources. Candidates can get a glimpse into the company’s history, culture, and values, creating a sense of connection even before they step through the doors. This not only helps HR managers identify the best fit for their company, but also creates a memorable candidate experience that leaves a lasting impression.

But that’s not all – Airdeck is also a game-changer for onboarding new employees. HR managers can create step-by-step presentations that facilitate understanding of job duties and expectations, making it particularly valuable for remote employees who may lack in-person training opportunities. This means that even remote employees can have a seamless onboarding experience that sets them up for success from day one. HR managers can include interactive elements such as videos, quizzes, and polls to make the onboarding process engaging and memorable, resulting in better retention and improved employee satisfaction.

Moreover, using Airdeck for onboarding enables HR managers to save time and resources by sharing the same presentation with all employees, ensuring consistent messaging across the organisation. This is particularly beneficial for companies with high employee turnover or frequent new hires, as it helps maintain a standardised onboarding process that delivers a consistent experience to all employees, regardless of their location or department.

Airdeck offers HR managers a robust platform packed with features that can streamline and optimise HR processes. Some key features that HR managers can leverage to elevate their HR operations include:

  1. Customisable branding:

    Airdeck enables HR managers to customise the branding of their presentations to align with their company’s logo and colours. This creates a cohesive and professional appearance that can impress candidates and new hires, reinforcing the company’s brand identity.

  2. Analytics:

    Airdeck provides detailed analytics on each presentation, giving HR managers insights into how candidates or new hires are engaging with the content. This data allows for identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress, helping HR managers to continuously refine their presentations.

  3. Collaborative editing:

    Airdeck supports collaborative editing, allowing multiple team members to work on a presentation simultaneously. This fosters teamwork, saves time, and ensures that all stakeholders are aligned, resulting in polished and cohesive presentations.

  4. Interactive elements:

    Airdeck offers a range of interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, and videos that can be seamlessly incorporated into presentations. These elements enhance engagement and memorability, helping candidates or new hires to retain information effectively.

  5. Mobile-friendly:

    Airdeck presentations are designed to be mobile-friendly, enabling candidates or new hires to conveniently view them on smartphones or tablets. This is particularly beneficial for remote employees or those who prefer accessing content on their mobile devices, enhancing accessibility and flexibility.

  6. Integration with other platforms:

    Airdeck integrates smoothly with popular platforms like Salesforce and Hubspot, making it effortless to incorporate Airdeck into existing HR processes. This seamless integration streamlines workflows and enhances productivity, without disrupting established HR operations.

Airdeck is a game-changing HR tool that is revolutionising the contact center recruitment landscape. Its dynamic and visually stunning presentations enable HR managers to effectively promote their company and create a memorable candidate experience that sets them apart from competitors. With streamlined recruitment processes, time and resource savings, and seamless onboarding for remote workers, Airdeck is a robust solution with customisable branding, analytics, collaborative editing, and interactive elements. As the contact center industry evolves, Airdeck provides HR managers with an innovative and powerful tool to attract, retain, and onboard the best talent.

Don’t wait – elevate your HR operations and stay ahead in the competitive talent market with Airdeck in 2023!

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MetTel and Talkdesk: The Perfect Partnership for Customer Experience Excellence

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The Perfect Partnership for Customer Experience Excellence

MetTel and Talkdesk join forces to offer the MetTel Cloud Contact Centre, a fully managed network service that leverages AI to optimise and prioritise critical customer service processes. This collaboration will allow MetTel to expand its portfolio of cloud and AI capabilities while offering Talkdesk‘s advanced contact centre technology to its customers.

According to Gartner, the contact centre market is expected to reach $34.6 billion by 2026, with AI-infused solutions representing a growing segment of the market. The adoption of cloud delivery and hybrid and remote work is accelerating this growth, with a projected 17.9% global CCaaS end-user spend CAGR through 2026.

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OpenAI Launches GPT-4: How It Will Change Customer Experience

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OpenAI, a tech company that specialises in AI development, has launched GPT-4, the latest iteration of its ChatGPT AI. GPT-4 is 40% more accurate than its predecessor, GPT-3.5, and is 82% less likely to respond to requests for disallowed content. These new features make the AI smarter and safer, providing a shot in the arm for existing business applications, as well as opening new possibilities. GPT-4 boasts three new capabilities, namely mimicking, image recognition, and longer context. The new model is slower than the previous version but can parse more intricate data for a higher degree of reasoning and conciseness in response.

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The rise of AI in customer service: How NICE’s CXone platform is leading the way

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NICE, a leading provider of cloud based CX solutions, has announced that it has reached a significant milestone of one million agents and supervisors on its CXone platform. The news comes on the back of Gartner naming CXone one of the top CCaaS platforms in its latest market study.

The CXone platform incorporates AI, digital-first end-to-end journeys, and a cloud-native platform to improve customer experiences. NICE claims that its ‘next gen’ cloud CX platform, CXone, offers a complete CX platform, digital fluency, AI that is applicable to the entire application, smart self-service and AI outreach, and personalised customer journeys across multiple channels.

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CCaaS: The Future of Customer Service Management

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CCaaS: The Future of Customer Service Management

Contact centres have become increasingly important for brands that want to create a positive experience for their customers. Nevertheless, managing a contact centre can be challenging, given the complexity of customer interactions and the need for effective communication.

Fortunately, technological advancements have made managing a contact centre much easier, efficient, and cost-effective. One such technology that has revolutionised the way businesses manage their customer service is Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS).

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Mike Dershowitz Talks Fair Trade

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Mike Dershowitz Talks Fair Trade

As consumers become more aware of the impact of their choices on the world, the importance of fair trade and ethical sourcing has gained significant traction changing mindsets and behaviours. For businesses, ensuring a sustainable future means going beyond profits and considering the impact of their operations on local communities and the environment. Fair Trade Outsourcing, led by visionary entrepreneur Mike Dershowitz, is one such company that is making a difference.

By providing ethical outsourcing solutions that empower local workers and combat poverty in developing countries, Fair Trade Outsourcing is a shining example of how businesses can be a force for good.

In this Q&A, we sit down with Mike Dershowitz to learn more about his journey, his vision and the impact of Fair Trade Outsourcing on local communities.

“In order to fight poverty, we must use the power of the free market for good and promote moral leadership in the BPO industry.”

Mike Dershowitz, The founder and CEO of Fair Trade Outsourcing

Q & A

When you started Fair Trade Outsourcing, what was your vision for the company?

I’ve been public about the fact that starting FTO was about how good of a business BPO can be for its employees and owners if done right. But I meant financially, having not realised at the time how good socially the BPO business can be.

Ultimately, I got into the BPO business because of the fundamentals of international trade. Companies that struggle to find sufficient labour, or labour at a cost that works for their business, can make their work portable and send it to people who can do the work at the right quality and cost and scale.

Initially, it was the inherent strength of this cross-border international trade – between client, company, and agent that I found impressive and made me want to be in this business.

What is the purpose of FTO?

FTO is a dual-purpose company – we simultaneously pursue both financial and social profit. We are like every other company, except that we are required to produce social profit, which we do in the form of lifting households out of poverty.

How did your clients respond to the mission of FTO?

Our performance is industry leading in a way that can make the numbers, upon first glance, look too good to be true. This is where the purpose really comes into play because it explains, beyond doubt, how we are achieving industry leading results.

So in this way, they respond quite well – it explains why we’re able to do what we do, and also makes them feel good about outsourcing ethically and morally.

That being said, and understandably so, clients really just want quality, performance, and good pricing structures. So generally, once they feel they understand the how of what we do, to them we’re really just like any other BPO, and it’s about the operations.

 

How do employees respond to the philosophies behind FTO?

There are two responses to this: anecdotal and by the numbers.

Anecdotally, and in surveys, employees respond quite well to FTO. Many come and stay for a quality, sustainable job where they are guaranteed a fair and safe workplace (guaranteed by our “ABOR” – Agent Bill of Rights).

What we do to help their households exit poverty is really icing on the cake. This can be sometimes not well understood by them (and it’s something we’re putting a lot of resources into right now to change).

This is where the numbers start to get really interesting. Over the last 6 years we’ve averaged 1.2 percent monthly voluntary attrition (total attrition is < 4%). For an operation of more than 1,600 people, it’s
not significant in an industry where the largest companies employ hundreds of thousands of people, but it’s big enough where you have to start asking if this is better way to run a BPO company. Time will tell as we keep growing.

Besides the attrition numbers, employees tell us that they like working here because they refer their friends. 70 percent of all new employees come from existing employees. We have a company-wide Employee Net Promotor Score (eNPS) of +68, which reflects how likely our employees are to recommend our company as a workplace. All our employees across our four country locations participate in the eNPS measurement and our score is close to the highest in the industry.

How do you measure performance of your employees?

We have two sets of measurements. First is what we call “client measurements”.- That’s whatever production and quality metrics are needed by our clients (since we do mostly custom teams). It’s the things you’re used to seeing; error rate, AHT, FCR, work units per hour etc.

However, because we’re dual-purpose, we have a second set of measurements, and that’s our economic mobility measurements. We measure things like change in agent household income, agent indebtedness and agent mobility-(how many have been promoted or moved into a higher paying positions). This gives us a really good picture as to what stressors the agent may be carrying in the door when they come to work.

How we deal with what we read in the data is the business strategy. For example, we make zero interest payroll loans available to our employees. We’d rather have them indebted to us than an informal lender who may take advantage of them. Second, we will give grants to help alleviate stress for some negative economic events like natural disasters, sickness, or a death in the family. Finally, and possibly most importantly, we guarantee them that if we lose business from one client, we’ll transfer them to another, with layoffs as a last resort. This promise of job security is critical to helping them plan for life and know that if they perform, a paycheck will always be there.

What tech stack do you use in your contact centre?

As a middle-market provider, we have to be flexible so we’ve never standardised on the use of one platform. We leverage MSFT 365 products along with SAP ERP and support everything from Genesys and NICE through to Zen Desk and other platforms on behalf of our customers. FTO also has several customers where we work inside their proprietary products.

What are some of the outcomes from the way that FTO operates in local communities?

Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, a steady job has a lot of power for the people that work with us especially in lower-income communities. When someone has a steady job in the formal economy, they become the anchor for that household, and can be an economic anchor to their extended families. That person’s relative wealth spreads out beyond their doorstep, with poverty reduction extending past just the Agents’ households.

Secondly, we are active in working with universities with all types of practical training programs made available for students. Everywhere we have a centre, we set up this core function of supporting students with practical skills. Over the years we’ve learned that a call centre job can be the start of a business career, so we work hard to form partnerships with corporates and educational institutions where we can create opportunities for young people.

One of the principles of the “Fair Trade Movement” is that by building up a person’s “capacity” and not just training them for “this or that” unit of work, we are exploring their potential. For example, we invested early in a Chief Learning Officer so that we can provide better training and development for our teams. Next year, we will be opening training programs up to the communities in which we operate, providing free learning – not just for our agents.

What’s your background and how did you get to this point where you are growing a business with purpose?

I’m not sure how or why it happened, but I grew up wanting to change the world. As a child, I was always surrounded by small business owners like my father, my uncle, my grandfathers and cousins. That is what I knew and was the impetus for wanting to change the world and be in business.

I think the two biggest threats future humanity faces are climate change and social unrest due to economic disparity. In my previous business which was in the solar industry, it was important to build software that helped broaden solar adoption. That business was really my bridge into purpose-driven companies. By making the solar design, quoting and contracting process easier through technology, more solar was able to be installed, and less electricity would be generated by fossil fuels. It made sense.

For FTO, it’s been incredible to watch how the social purpose in a people-orientated company can galvanise not just employees, but the whole organisation. It made us stronger from the bottom up and vice versa. From that perspective, running FTO has really completed my journey from aspiring do-gooder to having a real solution for making money while solving real human problems.

How do you think other companies could contribute to eradicating poverty?

Simply by putting social change on the agenda, companies can make a difference. With us, when we give an Agent a contract that supports steady employment, it can solve household problems and help them find a way out of poverty. Fair wages is critical to helping change the narrative.

Agents are proven to work harder for companies that pay them fairly and give them working conditions that are healthy and considerate. By companies supporting initiatives like this, their business will become more resilient, and better able to compete in the market. If you treat your employees well, they will treat your customers well, and the rest takes care of itself.

What’s next for FTO?

FTO has had burgeoning growth over the past few years. This is set to continue with headcount growth, infrastructure build-out and the opening of new offices. We recently opened our first operation in the US and plan to expand to Africa in 2023, with India also on the agenda.

We have invested heavily in understanding the impact of our operations on the families and communities in which we operate. Using this data, the true impact is realised and can be leveraged to do more for Agent’s lives.

Having worked extensively with small and mid-market businesses, the shift to enterprise is imminent. Corporations are realising the full potential of working with companies that have “fairer” practices and capitalising on the flow on effect to customer experience, and their own employee attrition rates.

www.fairtradeoutsourcing.com

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