Leading global customer experience company, Webhelp, has announced the acquisition of top social content moderation company, Netino.

Headquartered in Paris, France, Netino specialises in monitoring social conversations and ensuring appropriate responses on a round the clock basis.

With operators situated across the globe and speaking more than 10 different languages, Netino can offer clients the choice of location and language that best meets their needs to ensure conversations online involving their brand are appropriate and achieving their objectives, while at the same time dealing with inappropriate or negative comments immediately and robustly.

This is the ninth acquisition Webhelp has made in the past 24 months and is part of the outsourcer’s strategy to grow both globally and in terms of sector expertise. The acquisition of Netino will strengthen Webhelp’s existing social media offering and increase the company’s ability to act as a technology enabler in the customer experience field. 

Matthieu Bouin, head of strategy and new business at Webhelp, said:

“As more and more consumers engage with brands via online and social media platforms it becomes increasingly important to be able to ensure the content appearing on those platforms is appropriate and not damaging to the brand. While the use of technology has come a long way it is still not able to detect some of the finer nuances in communication that only a real person can. With our acquisition of Netino we will be able to offer our clients the ability to have both technology and real people monitoring social content on their behalf in real time. This will ensure issues are dealt with appropriately and immediately and prevent damage to the brand’s reputation.” 

Jérémie Mani, Netino’s CEO, said: “Combining Webhelp’s reach with Netino’s expertise on social media gives us the possibility to support companies at every stage in their customer experience journey. Additionally, becoming part of Webhelp will give us the capacity to approach new geographies and new markets, which is in line with our ambitions for the next few years.” 

Netino was founded in 2002 and now has a workforce of 400 people in 10 countries. The business, which has 120 clients, including well-known names in the media industry, such as Le Monde and France TV, will continue to be run by CEO, Jérémie Mani and founder and CTO Jean-Marc Royer, with support from Webhelp’s development director of Digital & Marketing Services, Chloe de Mont-Serrat, who will serve as CCO.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the year. 

Pictured (from left): Jean-Marc Royer, owner and COO, Netino, Jérémie Mani, CEO of Netino, Vincent Bernard, CEO/Président of Webhelp France, Frederic Giscard d’Estaing, senior M&A manager at Webhelp