Season´ s greetings and a happy new year!
The past year has been a very challenging time for all of us – however, every challenge presents us with an opportunity.
This year has shown us how resilient, adaptable, and creative we can be in times of adversity. A special thanks to our colleagues, partners, and clients – we couldn’t have succeeded if it wasn’t for your agility, flexibility and collaborative work to maintain business continuity.
We have gained a wealth of knowledge about ourselves and other people – and most importantly how being more human can make all the difference.
With that in mind, we have never been more determined to step into the new year with passion and positivity that will drive us through 2021.
Happy holidays to you and your families, and a great start into the New Year full of good health, joy, and success!
The HUB#13 – Read our latest edition of our company magazine
As a people first company, our corporate magazine focuses on our employees. Published twice a year, we are always thrilled to present a new copy. The HUB will give you insights into our strong culture as a global family who strive to enjoy every day. From success stories, global and local internal events, lifestyle articles to current hot topics and market trends, there are lots of interesting articles to explore.
In this edition, we take a look at our corporate response to COVID-19. Vincent Bernard, Group Managing Director highlights how swiftly and agile we responded to the pandemic – with great appreciation of unity, agility, and flexibility from our Webhelper’s.
Despite 2020 being a challenging year, our frontline employees are diligently keeping the momentum and drive for ‘business as usual’ for our clients and their customers. Therefore, during our Advisor’s Day, it was especially important for us to recognize the incredible work they execute every day.
So hats’ off to all our advisors for the awesome work you do every day!
We also included other inspiring articles such as: WFH our new normal, a success story, our multilingual hubs, and the importance of equal chances for all through our Impact Sourcing program and many more.
Have fun reading!
Webhelp strikes gold at the Engage Awards
Webhelp won the top prizes in the ‘Best Use of Training’ and ‘Best Partnership Solutions During a Crisis’ categories at this year’s Engage Awards. The leading customer experience and business solutions provider also won a silver award for ‘Most Effective Homeworking Programme’.
The gold award for Best Partnership Solution During a Crisis recognised Webhelp and its client Sainsbury’s Bank for developing a homeworking solution in record time. The rapid and smooth nature of that transition and the office-like environment created during the COVID-19 pandemic ensured that Webhelp has been able to continue to respond to more Sainsbury’s Bank customers and provide vital levels of support at a time when consumer demand was growing and COVID-19 was making a huge impact across the sector. This relied on the expertise of Webhelp’s IT team and the flexibility and commitment of everyone involved.
Lesley Millar, Head of Banking and Insurance Services, at Sainsbury’s Bank said: “Webhelp managed to mobilise homeworking for the entire contact centre over the course of a weekend, to help maintain a strong service to our customers and keep our colleagues safe. This was, for me, our most impressive and memorable response. This award celebrates a partnership that is a perfect fit for us. Not only is Webhelp aligned to our values, but its teams’ response to changing demands and priorities is exceptional.”
Webhelp’s Operational Learning and Development (L&D) team also won first prize in the Best Use of Training category, having moved from digital training at a baseline of less than 5% to a fully virtual solution in just 14 days. The team provided bespoke and channel-specific training for over 8,000 people working from home. Critical training was delivered to 1,500 new and displaced colleagues to support campaign redeployment and successful homeworking. The L&D team upskilled over 50 trainers into a virtual environment and created and deployed 85 core digital learning modules, along with 25 digital compliance courses.
The company also achieved the Most Effective Homeworking Programme silver award for keeping its people in the UK, South Africa and India safe during the pandemic while maintaining operational integrity for Webhelp clients. With over 12,000 employees, it was a substantial and complex challenge, which involved finding solutions for 2,150 colleagues in India within five days and 2,200 in South Africa in only three days.
David Turner, Webhelp UK Region CEO, said: “These awards emphasise the strength of the capabilities within our business and the dedication of our highly skilled colleagues. This year, more than ever before, we have seen the benefits of our commitment to making business more human. Webhelp’s game-changers accepted the challenges presented by the pandemic and embraced new solutions to ensure that we kept delivering for our clients. We are all so pleased that our teams’ efforts have received this recognition at the Engage Awards. It marks another special moment on Webhelp’s journey of rapid growth and constant innovation.”
The Engage Awards are recognised by the industry as the only awards programme, celebrating excellence in both Customer and Employee Engagement. The programme captures examples of excellence from organisations and individuals directly improving their strategies, retention, loyalty, productivity and bottom line performance.
Webhelp DACH - an outsourcing partner for companies in the DACH region and beyond
With changing conditions and the decreasing number of CX suppliers in the delivery market, customer experience management is becoming an emerging challenge for companies in the DACH countries.
In order to provide an excellent customer experience at this very time, it is necessary to find an experienced partner who can meet these requirements. However, the DACH region provides attractive onshore solutions and outstanding customer service for a wide range of industries.
With more than 20 years of expertise in business process and customer experience outsourcing, at Webhelp we focus on sustainable growth, investing in technology and developing lasting solutions – in partnership with and for our business partners and their customers.
This enables us to provide customised solutions and an exceptional customer journey.
This white paper “Driving CX Excellence in the DACH Region” examines the challenging conditions faced by companies in the DACH region and also highlights the potentials of a local onshore solution for your business, within the DACH market and beyond:
Webhelp DACH – Onshore solutions made easy!
Created in collaboration with Peter Ryan, Principal Analyst at Ryan Strategic Advisory, this publication provides information and insight for those who are looking for an experienced and established Customer Experience & Outsourcing partner for their business.
Peak Voices Part 2: Increased Service Demand in South Africa
A demand peak in Customer Service Management is expected during Black Friday, the festive season and beyond. In the second part of our South African colleagues from Engagement, Operations and Learning and Development teams at the heart of delivery for clients, share their enthusiasm, highlights and experience as they support customers during one of the busiest times of the year.
To keep energy levels up during this busy time we created 200 hype boxes, to be delivered to our colleagues who are currently working from home. Plus, our office based employees will be getting a sugar rush, games, lots of prizes to be won and recognition throughout the period.
I think my favourite moments from previous peaks have to be The Catwalk we held in the canteen and playing ‘spin the wheel’ with colleagues.
This year is a bit different, as my usual advice would be to wear comfortable shoes! But with Social Distancing many interactions will be virtual.
To me Black Friday is about shopping and getting value for money! At peak I love the atmosphere, the energy and most importantly recognising our people who are serving our customers.
We come prepared for every peak! I use the previous peak to anticipate delivery and to have adequate trainer resource ready to support our advisors.
Learning and Development is focused on giving people opportunities and this is what creates excitement in our space. Highlights are hard to pin down as every year the demand is much greater but it is always very exciting.
New personalities, a set of fresh eyes and most of all subject matter experts from the Operational space all add flavour to the training experience we provide.
Recently we have been delivering Induction Training and internal change requests are always coming through! However, I can honestly say that variation is always great. And, it has been fantastic to see how our Accredited trainers deliver across the new platforms.
A key lesson I have learned would be never under estimate the power of technology. Also – never underestimate the power of working together across all departments. Having all stakeholders around the table every week made a significant difference to the previous Peak 2019 delivery.
Plus, giving a trainer a camera and delivering from home has definitely brought the blended learning approach to the Learning and Development department.
Every peak is unique based on the training requirements. But this peak is different in that COVID has definitely accelerated our outputs to deliver the same level of Induction Training, but still conforming to social distancing regulations.
During Black Friday the Learning and Development Team supports operations, whether it is taking calls, supporting or managing teams.
Finally, I love the adrenalin rush and the hype of just supporting our customers.
To get ready for this peak we analysed our previous customer contact channels and optimised our digital platforms to ensure that the customer experience will be a smooth and effective journey.
By focusing on user skill sets, we have realigned our resources to ensure the most benefit for our client. Aiming for an exceptional peak by giving attention to the skills of our people and putting them in the right place, doing the right thing at the right time.
Based on my experience, the highlight of peak is always the amount of unity that is experienced during this time, not only within the campaign itself but within the organisation.
Operations is usually a very interactive space however during peak everyone seems even more engaged and there are so many initiatives and activities that encourage us to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
I believe there are always lessons to be learned through every period of change, and we have all worked hard to make each peak better year after year. This is possible due to the partnership we have with our client and also our collaborative approach to process improvements and change implementation to optimise the delivery and capacity for customer experience.
In our space, Black Friday means the start of peak, the beginning of an extremely busy and important time of the year where we need to ensure that we are providing quality customer experiences and influencing their issues positively more than ever with the stretched capacity of all work streams.
What I love most about peak is the energy and spirit that is felt throughout the period. There is an infectious sense of high energy and positivity.
We hope you have enjoyed this insight into how peak works at Webhelp, find out more in part 1 of this series, with voices from our Team Leaders, Facilitators and the Engagement and Project Teams.
Black Friday, the retail rush in the COVID era
Black Friday is an American consumer institution, where hordes of shoppers traditionally lined the streets waiting for the stores to open the day after Thanksgiving to pick up what they hope will be the bargain of a lifetime. In recent years Black Friday, closely followed by Cyber Monday, has heralded the global festive shopping rush. Here Brandon Aitken, CCO of Webhelp South Africa and India takes a look at how this year may be different, and the ways which our teams and the retail and logistics industries as a whole are preparing to meet an unprecedented online demand.
In the mainstream media, Black Friday is typically represented by crowded scenes of over-excited and frustrated shoppers, fighting it out for that last item on the shelf and stealing items from each other’s trolleys. But in reality, a huge amount retail activity takes place online, and this figure has been steadily growing.
According to Adobe, in 2019 US Black Friday online sales beat all previous records, at an astonishing $7.4bn, up from $6.2bn in 2018. CNBC reported that Cyber Monday was an even bigger day for online shopping than Black Friday, with sales totalling $9.2bn, up 16.9% on 2018.[1]
And, Barclaycard data reveals that the story was the same in the UK too, with Black Friday sales climbing by 16.5% last year, while Cyber Monday transactions rose by 6.9%. Their CEO Rob Cameron said:
“Our data shows that consumers have not only been buying more, but also spending more than last year – which will no doubt come as welcome news to the retail sector”[2]
It doesn’t take a huge leap to imagine that in 2020, Black Friday will drive even more customers onto their phones, tablets and laptops, as companies attempt to avoid crowded in-store events, to safeguard their customers in the COVID era, without losing retail sales.
With the global high-street restrictions still impacting on brick and mortar profits, a successful Black Friday via online channels is something all retailers will be hoping for.
At Webhelp, we are well prepared for this event. We have a highly successful track record of managing Peak Demand in customer service for the international retail and logistics brands we support. Behind the scenes, this success hinges on an incredible amount of preparation and hard work from our people and of course close collaboration with our clients. If you’d like to know more you can read just a few of our employee stories
We have four customer service centres in SA, offering a blended delivery solution with advisors both working from home and safely on site. Every year, leading up to the peak period and during the ‘eye of the storm’ we create an exciting atmosphere to support and motivate our people during the toughest time of their working year. We focus on motivation and ensure we reward people for their hard work.
Along with the energy and commitment of our people; technology and adaptability will obviously play a huge part in any response to increased service demands, and have a robust and reliable solution that has performed well both at peak and under crisis during COVID.
Webhelp has over 1,000 people working from home supporting 8 different international retail and logistics clients to ensure we are able to sustain support for their customers, and this can be adjusted in response to the evolving landscape of the pandemic.
The skills and expertise that our teams have shown in quickly reacting to changing customer demands really does set us apart and is reflected in the incredible feedback that we have received from our client partners. Commenting on our joint response to the pandemic Michaela Simpson, Customer Experience Director at Yodel reported that:
“Suddenly home shopping habits changed completely, as a result we have been effectively running at peak operation, which we usually spend a significant part of the year planning and laying out logistics for. However, we managed to switch this on in just a few hours and since then we have maintained very, very high numbers, well above our plan”.
It’s clear that this year, more than usual, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will create added pressures for the retail and logistics sectors, but in South Africa we have the talent and a stable infrastructure to help create success for our clients by providing their customers with an exceptional on-line shopping experience.
[1] Cyber Monday sales hit record $9.4 billion, Adobe says CNBC.com
[2] Black Friday 2019: What happened, where and why? Barclaycard.com
Peak Voices Part 1: Increased Service Demand in South Africa
When describing a peak in customer experience, there are two separate meanings: the first is a peak moment as experienced by the customer – when they personally experience the best service under the best circumstances possible. The second is peak activity, when there is a high demand in the market, and providers (and clients) see a sharp uptake in service use.
At Webhelp our goal is to combine these two distinct experiences, to make sure customers experience excellent service, at the points that matter most, for example when searching for that perfect Black Friday deal, or when they need a fast response during periods of high demand.
Our people are at the heart of making this happen, and as we approach Black Friday, our South African colleagues share their passion and excitement for one of the busiest times of the year.
In preparation for this year’s peak activity, we have ramped up our headcount as many of our campaigns do at this time, whilst our Peak People Engagement plan is filled with exciting and fun initiatives, which aim to keep everyone engaged and energized for the period.
This year is a first for us in ensuring that we keep our teams working from home engaged as well!
I have been fortunate to experience many peaks over the years and my highlight is always the energy of the people and their commitment to our customers. It inspires me to see how our people pull together during our busiest period of the year. I have learned that perseverance and unity is what ensures a successful peak.
During Peak 2019, we on-boarded circa 500 Harambee candidates. Harambee provides opportunities for previously disadvantaged job seekers who don’t have the means or the experience to enter the job market. I am proud that I was part of a team that helped combat youth unemployment in our country and at the same time help to deliver a successful peak for one of the UK’s largest online retailers.
Black Friday brings excitement, anticipation and is very energetic. It can be extremely challenging, but very rewarding for all involved.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to think outside of the box this year. Social distancing, employees working from home and other restrictions, meant that we needed to take another look at our People Engagement Plan and find innovative ways to keep everyone engaged and enthusiastic.
As usual, we will still be teaming up with our client and collaborating through peak, but this time it will be virtually.
But, no matter how tough or challenging, we will consistently manage to rise above it and deliver a successful peak for our client, our business and our people, because we work together!
Personally, I love peak because as our client is in the e-commerce industry, peak coincides with the festive and holiday seasons. We support our customers with purchasing, ordering and delivering gifts for their loved ones, or themselves… and it is rewarding to know that we have a small part to play in putting smiles on people’s faces. This also means that our festivities start early – as once we have celebrated a successful Black Friday week, we enter our festive season!
There is a lot of work that goes in to preparing for peak, which includes: Agreeing Peak Principles, Reviewing Seating Capacity, the Training Approach, Mobilising Academy Review, Engagement Review/Sign off, Internal Advisor Selection and Approach and finally Implementation of Peak.
A key highlight from previous years had been the Engagement Model used across both sites; I love the engagement and the hype that is generated towards peak!
And I have learned, from previous experience, to create suitable holiday budget allocations for the period, to help our people cope with the high demand.
As peak approaches, I have prepared my candidates to be the best advisors – we always keep the client/customer at the heart and are ready to serve them with pride!
A highlight for me is getting Peak Ready – and having a positive outlook on what is to come. I enjoy the engagement, and am always interacting with our team and ensuring they are content.
My advice would be to focus on people. When our people are looked after, our clients and customers are too. In fact, this year during COVID-19, peak teaches us to be grateful. Many are still working from home and we will have to work hard to make sure this doesn’t detract from the pre-peak festivities. But, we are all gearing up for a great Peak 2020!
Unlike many colleagues, Black Friday does not impact my client immediately as we work in logistics. It is after Black Friday that we really come to the fore ensuring that “We Take Delivery Personally” on behalf of our client.
I love paying it forward at Webhelp and recognising the ones that mean the most. Going out and making sure that our people are looked after!
For this year’s peak we have prepared Morning Huddles to revise all processes and make sure we have no issues (Things tend to get crazy!)
In the past my highlights have been the collective spirit of the Management team and advisors, the themed Fridays and also the spot prizes. It will be different this year, as ramping was exponential, but we will keep spirits up!
I have learned in previous peaks that communication is key and advisor engagement daily is vital.
Black Friday is just another day, servicing more customers with a smile! But I love the energy and the vibe of peak, despite how busy it is!
We hope you have enjoyed this insight into how peak works at Webhelp, join us in part two, when our people in Operations, Learning and Development and Engagement share more of their experiences.
Automotive distance selling framework: building a successful sales strategy
Webhelp sector experts Carole Rousseau, Business Unit Director Travel, Leisure, Automotive & Mobility, and Stéphane Chavatte, Account Director, share their insights into the current traction automotive distance selling is gaining in France.
What is the current performance of outsourced automotive online sales?
Webhelp’s observation is in a distance selling framework, the average monthly turnover exceeds €400k per advisor. Admittedly, this figure benefited slightly from a “Covid effect” but we are making this observation with a decline of several years.
We now have 7 years of experience in automotive distance selling, in which we have reached a certain maturity. We have developed operational intelligence and best practices to achieve a successful sales model that is part of a triple win logic: our client, ourselves, but above all, the sales advisors.
These sales advisors who manage to sell 1.5 vehicles every day, on average – which is beyond the sales figure of a salesperson in an agency.
Provided that a satisfactory customer experience is put in place, and in particular a perfect fluidity between the online sales site and the call center agents, these performances lead us to believe that automotive VAD has found a promising outsourcing model, which we must now take advantage of.
What sales services can be outsourced in this way?
Webhelp supports a multitude of players in the automotive and mobility sector: large manufacturers, players in new markets, or operators of new mobility via our two major automotive hubs based in Vitré in France and Braga in Portugal.
Our services cover the sale of new, 0km vehicles, and used vehicles online; considering the range of existing financing services using inbound calls, leads (hot and nursing), and portfolio management.
The placement of financing products is becoming increasingly important in the sale of vehicles. Our teams have successfully built confidence in sales with considerable finance turnover rates.
What are the new challenges of automotive VAD?
To summarize, I would cite 3 trends that support the development of automotive distance selling:
- The arrival of intermediaries to historic manufacturers agents: who offer used, new and 0 kilometer vehicles. These agents need to equip themselves with a network that allows them to cover the whole country for logistics purposes, while the historic players need to rationalize their distribution network, often colossal, to remain competitive.
- The explosion of shared mobility and alternative modes: leasing, rental, valet services, alternative means of transport (Blablacar, Uber, Lime, etc.). The automobile is in the process of leaving the ‘owner’ model, especially for the younger generations.
- The shift towards online automotive sales: for example, a large national manufacturer which has recently entrusted us with developing the performance of its online sales site. In consultation with our teams, improvements and technological bricks will be added to increase traffic on their site, optimize the customer journey and increase the conversion rate.
Related article:
Webhelp signs partnership with Allente
STOCKHOLM November 5th 2020
Allente has chosen Webhelp for the delivery of customer experience solutions including customer service, contact center platform and solution design for Canal Digital.
Allente, the merger between Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer, is offering high quality satellite TV and broadband TV solutions to 1,2 million customers throughout the Nordics.
Since 2010, Webhelp, a global leader in customer experience and business solutions, and Allente’s brand Viasat Consumer have developed a strong partnership of resilient and commercially successful customer service operations.
Webhelp is now adding Allente’s Canal Digital customer services for the Swedish market to its substantial portfolio of Nordic TV/Media clients.
Webhelp will deliver the Canal Digital customer service on behalf of Allente through a best-shoring operation located in Kalmar, Sweden, in Malaga and Alicante, Spain, as well as through advisors working from home. The recruitment of new team members has just started.
Victor Sundén, Chief Commercial Officer at Webhelp Nordic, said:
“We are very excited that Allente has extended our partnership to include Canal Digital, in addition to Viasat Consumer. We look forward to broadening our partnership at this important stage in Allente’s transformational journey, making sure Allente’s customer base is served with the consistent quality, brand ambassadorship and commercial prowess that we are known for. Together we will continue developing a partnership that powers the customer experiences in today’s and tomorrow’s TV and broadband solutions.”
Victor Liljeroth, Country Head Sweden, Allente Nordic, said:
“We have very good experiences of working with Webhelp, and are pleased to add on Canal Digital to our partnership. Webhelp will be able to provide valuable insights and support for our business at this exciting time for our company, and we will keep developing our partnership to give our customers premium service in this extended cooperation.”
Contact information:
Victor Sundén
Chief Commercial Officer, Webhelp Nordic
victor.sunden@webhelp.com
Mobile: +46 70 032 20 04
Maja Wikman Ulrich
Corporate Communications & PR Director, Allente Nordic
maja.wikman.ulrich@allente.tv
Mobile: + 46 936 99 26 65
Making business more human for the world’s most exciting brands.
We live in an era of fast connectivity and AI. Today, human experiences have even more power to make businesses come to life in customers’ hearts and minds.
Webhelp is committed to making business more human.
It’s through this commitment that Webhelp enriches customer experience, and designs business solutions that create value for the world’s most exciting companies.
Webhelp is a partner across a range of services including customer experience solutions, social media moderation through to payment services.
Hundreds of brands across the world trust Webhelp because of their people, the culture they work in, and the ideas and technology they put to work.
Webhelp believes that Emotional Intelligence creates a lasting impact, and their skill in marrying a differentiating human touch to the right technology is what makes a real difference for their clients.
By choosing Webhelp they access the passion and experience of 60,000 game-changers from more than 150 locations in 50 countries. Each one determined to bring their own intelligence, empathy and experience to the table every day.
Webhelp invests in people and the environment they work in, because they know that when people thrive, it has a powerful impact on them, their customers and on their partners’ business.
Webhelp believes that making business more human leads to a better customer experience – and a healthier bottom line.
Webhelp is the European leader in their industry, with a revenue of €1,5B in 2019, and aims for a global leadership position.
Webhelp is currently owned by its management and GBL, a leading global investment holding, as of November 2019.
More information can be found at www.webhelp.com
About Allente:
- Allente offers TV distribution via satellite and broadband to 1,2 million customers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
- Has approx. 300 employees in four countries
- Telenor Group and Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) each owns 50% of the company
- Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer had a net revenue of 7,5 billion SEK 2019
Webhelp named CXM Leader by Everest Group for the second time in 2020
Following our positioning as a Global Leader in Customer Experience Management (CXM) by the leading analyst, Everest Group, we have now been recognized as a Leader again in its CXM in EMEA Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2020, rating high in terms of vision and capability.
This report is an objective recognition of Webhelp’s successful growth strategy, and our unique people-first, end-to-end approach with Skand Bhargava, Vice President, Everest Group saying:
“Webhelp is a leading CXM provider globally, especially in Europe, supported by a large multilingual workforce of more than 60,000 agents. With a focus on digital transformation, CX consulting, and customer journey orchestration, Webhelp has been able to drive exponential growth over the last few years,”
He continues “Further, its deep digital and domain expertise, outcome-focused approach, and strong leadership have allowed it to resiliently navigate the uncertainties created by COVID-19 and continue on its growth journey.”
This result builds on our strong track record in analyst rankings and assessments, and our second year as a Leader in the PEAK Matrix, with Everest Group specifically highlighting our strong coverage in major industry verticals, our geographical delivery footprint, and the value delivered to our clients.
Everest Group defines Leaders as companies that deliver consistent Customer Experience Management (CXM) Services through expansion in new regions, serving various buyer sizes, and delivering high satisfaction scores due to greater technological and advanced digital capabilities.
For this EMEA edition, Everest Group selected 21 organizations to evaluate and compare for their 2020 report based upon the service provider’s market success, vision and strategy, service focus and capabilities, digital and technological solutions, domain investments, and buyer feedback.