[Webinar] Travel rebound, evolution or revolution in traveller experience?
Wednesday December 16th, 2pm GMT (3pm CET)
- John Leighton, Head of Customer Service at easyJet
- Paul Cowan, Director, Global Customer operations at Egencia
- Meltem Uysaler, Senior Director of Global Customer Operations and Central Direct Sales at IATA
- Eric de la Bonnardière, CEO at Evaneos
- Nora Boros, Chief sector Growth Officer at Webhelp
In this 50 minute session, industry experts will discuss their response to COVID-19, highlighting the key lessons and how they are incorporating these into their future strategy to deliver a great experience for passengers and guests.
Rising to travellers’ expectations for the future of travel
What was once a favourite pastime is now looking very different due to this year’s events of COVID-19. Traveller behaviour has rapidly changed, with many opting to not take a trip at all this year. It has changed our ways of thinking towards travel, leading to historic transformation in organisations and society.
In 2019, the number of passengers boarded by the global airline industry reached over 4.5 billion people. At the beginning of 2020, this all changed. Travel unsurprisingly came to a halt due to coronavirus. The total number of flights began to decline by over 60%, according to Flightradar24 racking statistics. This was due to the nature of the virus, forcing governments to ground planes and stop all unnecessary travel.
Government guidelines progressively relaxed in June, allowing travel and leisure activities to resume and get back to some form of ‘normality’ to revive the economy. However, according to IATA, there wasn’t a significant improvement in passenger demand due to the lockdown and quarantine in some markets with August’s traffic performance the industry’s worst-ever summer season: August international passenger demand plummeted 88.3% compared to August 2019.”
Rising to traveller’s expectations
Getting on a plane and travelling the world is not top of everyone’s bucket list at this moment in time. People are not travelling like they did before the pandemic. The uncertainty of ‘wave two’ is causing many people to become frustrated and emotionally unsettled for the future. And with markets imposing quarantine rules, it has impacted travellers wanting to go abroad altogether.
Travel is recognised as a sense of escapism – now fraught with concerns that were not always top of mind before: cleaning procedures, hygiene, or what places to visit.
Webhelp’s Travel & Mobility Sector Lead, Nora Boros states from our previous article “No matter what kind of trip is being taken, travel clients go through a myriad of emotions before, during, and after their journey – which will undoubtedly affect their consumer behaviour.”
The first wave of COVID-19 amplified these emotions; undoubtedly affecting consumers behaviours and expectations towards travelling and the industry overall.
Nonetheless, it enables organisations to augment and find alternative ways of transforming their servicing and offer travellers new ways of attaining the pleasure of wanderlust.
Health and safety are at the forefront of travelling now more than ever. Passengers are more inquisitive about hygiene policies and what exactly the process looks like before, during, and after flying – the same goes for domestic travel.
It’s not surprising many people have opted to not travel, go on a staycation, or save their plans for a trip in 2021. A Euronews poll surveyed four European countries – Germany, France, Italy, and Spain to identify travel plans which showed a comparison pre-COVID and now. Respondents from all countries had over a 60% decrease in travelling abroad, an average 50% increase in no travelling while domestic travelling stayed consistent between 24%-40%. A Statista survey showed “one third of respondents in the United Kingdom planned to spend their annual leave on holidays in the UK if travel abroad was still difficult due to lockdown restrictions. Over a quarter of respondents expected to spend more time at home.”
Travel influencing new ways of working
Although spending more time at home allows people to have time with their families and make more time for themselves, many people have had to shift to work from home trying to find and maintain a work-life-balance.
These changes have affected people’s behaviours concerning their place of work, inspiring people to seek alternative travel possibilities such as work from home, but anywhere.
“As we continue to adapt to the new ways of working, our work lives become more flexible”, Nora Boros states in our future of travel blog, “leisure travel will become blended with business needs, giving more consideration than ever to the concept of ‘Bleisure’.”
Introducing hybrid models of flexible working allows colleagues to work from home, the office or anywhere in the world. This could open-up longer trips for travellers who want to stay somewhere with office space, or result in an increase of international mobility for organisations to implement.
Webhelp has used the flexible working approach, Webhelp Anywhere with several clients to ensure the safety of colleagues while positively achieving business continuity. We have supported clients with their digital transformation strategy by identifying quick-wins and sustainable long-term objectives to phase through the crisis and transition into the new normal.
As we continue to phase through these uncertain times, it is an opportunity to invest in digital and operational transformation capabilities and become a differentiator in the market, as this will play a key role in helping travellers feel safe in their future travels.
Interested to learn more about these changes and travellers’ expectations for the future?
Sign up to our webinar where we will discuss how businesses can rethink their customer experience strategy and operational/digital transformation.
Read our article series:
Think human when it comes to automation
Influence- New edition of the OneShot
Our 5th edition of OneShot is here! We hope you will enjoy reading about this wide theme, so deeply rooted in our everyday life.
So what have you learned from the crisis? Many attests to the irony of social distancing strengthening bonds and communications between colleagues. At the heart of this new dynamic, digital relationships have Intensified, and digital technology has played a very significant role.
The health and economic crisis is forcing us to focus on the immediate future. Nonetheless brands shouldn’t lose sight of other changes in society. Old power – no business will survive if it’s purely based on old power values: formal and centralised governance, a secretive mindset, the elitism of experts. People no longer trust authority, the bedrock of old powers. They want to act, to participate and to learn. New Power – requires brands to focus more on flat hierarchies and complete transparency.
Did you know that just behind WhatsApp, TikTok is the second-most downloaded non-gaming app in the world? And when compared to Instagram, the engagement rate is much higher? With millions of subscribers and a wide fan base, you should definitely check it out if your target audience is on TikTok.
Read all about these exciting and thought-provoking topics and more, in our latest edition of OneShot.
Ghidul dumneavoastră pentru a construi o strategie globală eficientă, ce pune pacientul pe primul loc
Într-un context dominat de revoluția digitală și de accelerarea globală, companiile din domeniul sănătătii trebuie să proiecteze un nou cadru pentru a oferi o îngrijire impecabilă, uniformă și constantă, permanent și oriunde pe glob.
În aceast studiu de caz, Webhelp Medica dezvăluie cele mai bune practici și invătături ale sale, bazate pe cei peste 20 de ani de expertiză.
Combinarea feedback-urilor, mărturiilor și analizelor de reglementare, iată cheile unei strategii de succes.
Recommerce on the surge: Why second-hand stores are booming
Why is recommerce on the rise? and why are marketplaces such as VINTED, thredUP or Poshmark thriving in this business model? Is it just trendy, cost effective, sustainable or a mix of all these that explains the current surge? Tomorrow’s personalization and customer journeys are expected to be even smarter, more immersive, more trust-enabling than they are today. The question is: Are brands and consumers ready? Here is an analysis from Olivier Carrot, Global Business Unit Direct, Retail & E-commerce.
So which are some of the factors that have contributed to this increase?
- Rise in the use of mobile devices. The accessibility of mobile devices globally has essentially contributed to the growth of e-commerce thanks to the increased reach which has consequently increased the sales. According to Aaron Orendorff – Forbes Top 10 B2B Content Marketer, e-commerce has helped businesses launch beyond borders reaching out to millions of new potential customers. By 2023, an increase of 276.9% in the total global sales in retail is projected with APAC taking the lead (source: shopify.com).
The easy accessibility of mobile phones and internet has definitely elevated the demand of recommerce as a service. This surge has seen many start- ups joining the bandwagon to not only meet the growing demand but also to take advantage of the efficiency and scalability that marketplaces provide.
Through the creation of an application that links second-hand products to customers, VINTED has grown from being owned by its two co-founders Milda and Justas to an organization that employs more than 450 people and unites a community of 25 million people.
- Personalized customer experiences. In reference to platforms like VINTED, personalized services that match customers preferences are highly sought after. Customers want to feel valued and there is no better way than to offer a personalized experience. Even though many consumers are in search of products being offered at discounted or affordable prices, they will not compromise on the experience. Brands are thus competing not only on price but also on offering the most memorable experience to their customers.
- Old is new again. Founded in 2009 as a swapping company for men’s shirts’ thredUP is a huge consumer marketplace that flaunts over 35,000 brands. In one of his keynotes, CEO and co-founder James Reinhart forecasts sales of upto $51 billion from the second-hand apparel market by 2023 (source yahoo.com)
In reality, people buy twice as many clothes and wear them half as long. If one can buy a branded item for half the price of the new, why not? There is a growing trend to transform consumption through reuse. And so as to keep up with the changing environment in the retail industry, integrating a resale option in traditional retail outlets is seen to boost the overall sales. Customers are sparked to spend 21% more and visit 70% more frequently. James attributes the massive increase in the visiting percentage to the fact that second hand collection is restocked every two weeks whereas in the traditional format, new collection arrives between four to six times a year (source: www.thredup.com)
- Cost friendly. Pocket friendly purchases is a big driver in the recommerce boom. Customers are increasingly seeing the value in buying recycled brand-name products for huge discounts. “Recommerce has seen a tremendous upsurge” says Steven Bethell, founder of Bank & Vogue – a firm that specializes in the logistics of selling used goods and operates a sister company called Beyond Retro. Prior to making a purchase, many shoppers aquent themselves with the resale possibilities of items they wish to buy with the plan to resell them in the near future. The retail industry is seeing a continued shift with the majority of consumers shopping smarter.
- Sustainability. The new affluent generations like the Gen Z are more environmental and social conscious and as such, they expect brands to be more ethical and sustainable in their production processes. Fashion brands that have this audience as their customer base, are obliged to revamp their business models to be able to not only attract but most definitely also retain this segment.
VINTED is one such brand. By investing on its brand ethos which is providing a platform for purchasing and selling of second-hand clothes. These clothes reduce the environmental impact of Co2 levels that are usually released in the production of new clothes (think water, chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides). In addition, it prolongs the shelf life of clothes that would otherwise head to the dumping sites in one or two years. It’s estimated that 600 kilograms of used clothes would lead to a reduction of 2250 kilograms of Co2 emissions, 3.6 billion liters of water saved, and 144 trees planted. (www.smartgreenpost.com).
At Webhelp, our clients are at the heart and our core objective is to ensure that their customers experience world class service in every touchpoint. The creation and upholding of a sustainable environment also go hand in hand with what our company stands for.
In our endeavor to always provide seamless interactions, we go the extra mile to guarantee that customers’ needs are met. We focus on making the purchase process in the marketplaces as simple and fulfilling as possible.
Our flawless and memorable customer journey from order management to returns and replacements is swiftly executed with our dedicated service specialist who are located globally in the different hubs.
And thanks to the booming second-hand industry, content management and moderation is also on high demand. Ever thought of outsourcing your content moderation? Our highly experienced offshore content moderators ensure that our clients’ brands are duly protected across their target audience. We support our clients’ to not only maintain their brand integrity, but also to shield their customers from inappropriate, aggressive or illegal content.
Are you looking for an experienced partner who will help you take your marketplace to the next level? Get in touch to receive your tailormade solution: Olivier Carrot.
Raport: Redefinirea serviciului suport clienţi într-o lume nouă
Raport 14 Iulie 2020
Un cadru pentru modelele operaţionale de succes axate pe clienții de mâine
Pe măsură ce nevoia de schimbare și de transformare se intensifică în peisajul post COVID, apar câteva întrebări esențiale: Cât de diferit vor arăta și vor fi percepute serviciile în viitor? Cum vor trebui să se adapteze întreprinderile și activităţile lor? Cum pot angajatorii să-şi implice și să-și sprijine colegii pentru a livra noi servicii către clienți?”
Acest nou raport, redefinirea serviciului suport clienţi intr-o lume nouă își propune să abordeze aceste întrebări cruciale și să descopere mai multe despre folosirea modelelor de servicii pentru clienți în această lume nouă.
Acesta este un raport publicat în colaborare cu Gobeyond Partners, parte a grupului Webhelp, susţinută de perspectiva noastră unică asupra industriei și de cercetările recente pentru a descoperi modelele operaţionale ale viitorului.
Alăturați-vă listei noastre de distribuţie de mai jos pentru invitații la evenimente și viitoare webinarii.
O organizație care îşi pune oamenii pe primul loc în timpul unei pandemii
Pandemia COVID-19 a avut un impact profund asupra modului în care trăim și lucrăm cu toții, forțând organizațiile să se adapteze rapid la o nouă realitate. În calitate de companie ce se mândrește cu faptul că pune oamenii pe primul plan, prioritatea noastră va fi întotdeauna să ne păstrăm oamenii în siguranță. Această abordare, împreună cu mobilizarea rapidă a modelelor noastre de telemuncă pentru livrarea de servicii în numele clienților noștri, sunt dovezi ale agilității și flexibilităţii noastre, permițându-ne să continuăm să ne dezvoltăm și să ne atingem obiectivele, în pofida provocărilor din acest an, lucru de care suntem incredibil de mândri.
Ne protejăm angajaţii
Webhelp se angajează să puna accentul pe componenta umană a activităților noastre, oamenii noștri fiind esențiali pentru reuşita acestui obiectiv.
În februarie, am intrat în perioada COVID cu o echipă incredibilă de aproape 56.000 de Webhelperi, mereu dispuși să facă diferența în viața clienților partenerilor noștri, precum și în comunitățile locale. Am relocat rapid peste 70% din echipele noastre în regim de telemuncă, fiind implementate toate echipamentele și protocoalele necesare pentru a asigura o activitate sigură și reglementată. Grație muncii incredibile depuse de echipele noastre, într-o perioadă scurtă de timp am implementat noi resurse digitale pentru supervizori, în scopul de a sprijini activitatea de telemuncă prin noi modele de comunicare și pentru a furniza suportul necesar clienţilor noi, precum și celor deja existenți, cu privire la noile practici de muncă din contextul actual.
În perioada aprilie – iunie, am furnizat mai mult de 650.000 de măști colegilor noștri. Când sediile noastre sunt redeschise progresiv și respectând măsurile de precauție, continuăm să avem grijă de sănătatea angajaţilor nostri, prin furnizarea de măști și de mii de litri de produse de dezinfectant de mâini, precum şi intensificarea procedurilor de dezinfecţie necesare.
Ne sprijinim clienţii
Am continuat şi continuăm să lucrăm ca parteneri de încredere ai clienților noștri, adaptându-ne practicile de lucru și modelele de servicii pentru a răspunde noilor cerințe. Deoarece avem experiența lucrului remote cu consilierii noștri experimentați de la INVIRES, am fost pregătiți și am putut, atât să adoptăm rapid și să pastrăm un nivel de calitate ridicat al serviciilor furnizate clienților noștri, cât și să sprijinim clienții noi, acolo unde infrastructura și pregătirea locală nu erau disponibile.
Introducerea de noi soluții tehnologice a fost esențială pentru furnizarea de soluții de succes pentru lucrul la domiciliu, în special pentru clienții din medii puternic reglementate. Am creat și proiectat un serviciu de plată complet compatibil PCI care permite mascarea completă a cardului și a plăților în spațiile de lucru la domiciliu, adaptându-ne protocoalele pe care le avem deja pentru activitatea desfăşurată din sediu. Prin introducerea oportunităților de IVR pentru clienții din retail, am fost, de asemenea, în măsură să garantăm în continuare respectarea acestora și protejarea datelor.
Modelele hibride de lucru flexibil le permit colegilor să lucreze în ture, fie de acasă, fie din birourile noastre, pentru a gestiona într-un mod adecvat accesul la date sensibile, acolo unde este necesar.
Asigurăm dezvoltarea continuă
În ciuda obstacolelor întâlnite la începutul pandemiei, am rămas rezilienţi si am continuat să livrăm servicii exemplare clienților noștri şi clienților acestora dar să şi atragem noi clienți pe parcurs.
Am primit recent încă 6.000 de membri în familia Webhelp, unii dintre ei nefiind vreodată într-unul dintre sediile noastre, prin intermediul metodelor de recrutare, onboarding și training la distanță. În regiunea Asia-Pacific, am crescut numărul total de noi angajați cu 45% începând cu 1 ianuarie 2020 și continuăm să ne extindem operațiunile în diferite locații din această regiune.
Nu ne limităm la o singura locație, deoarece considerăm că serviciul nostru este agnostic din punct de vedere geografic. Actionând rapid și flexibil, am reușit să creăm birouri complet virtuale care furnizează servicii care depășesc în mod constant toate performanțele din domeniu în ceea ce privește rezolvarea de cazuri la primul contact, NPS-ul și implicarea angajaților.
Viitorul va avea ca rezultat metode de lucru diverse, întrucât atenţia se deplasează din ce în ce mai mult spre introducerea de modele hibride, atrăgând cele mai bune soluții din domeniu prin sediile locale care acționează ca centre de excelență în ceea ce privește schimbul de cunoștințe, coachingul și formarea angajaților în regim de telemuncă.
Această criză a forțat organizațiile să se adapteze și să regândească modul în care furnizează servicii, clienții noștri vechi și noi continuând să se bazeze pe noi pentru un parteneriat sigur, eficient și de durată.
Descoperă programul Webhelp de lucru în străinătate
Mobilităţile internaționale deschid drumul către noi oportunități, chiar și în cele mai dificile perioade
În calitate de companie care pune oamenii pe primul plan, nu numai că ne străduim să profităm de fiecare zi, dar și să îi ascultăm pe colegii noștri cu privire la modul în care își doresc să își contureze cariera. Relocarea într-o țară nouă pentru a începe o carieră internațională este întotdeauna o mare provocare, mai ales în timpul unei crize globale.
La Webhelp, dorinţa de a inova este parte din ADN-ul nostru. De aceea, ne-am propus să facem ca mobilitatea internațională să rămână o experiență posibilă, sigură și plăcută! Am dezvoltat programul nostru de lucru în străinătate Work Abroad gândindu-ne la colegii noștri care îşi doresc să exploreze noi culturi și oportunități de carieră, cât și la viitorii Webhelperi care visează la un nou început.
Programul Work Abroad face parte din noul nostrum Website. Așadar, vă invitămsă descoperiți elementele și funcționalitățile online ce vă vor aduce mai aproape destilul de viață mult dorit.
Descoperiți cu ce țară rezonaţi cel mai bine
Faceți cunoștință cu programul nostru Job Matcher! Chestionarul distractiv este primullucru pe care îl veți vedea atunci când accesaţi pagina noastră Work Abroad. Călătoria voastră în străinatate începe prin a răspunde la 3 întrebări simple. Folosimun algoritm rapid, care vă va indica țara cea mai potrivită preferințelor dumneavoastrăpersonale și obiectivelor profesionale. S-ar putea să existe mai multe țări ce corespundaşteptărilor dumneavoastră. Așadar, distrați-vă parcurgând testul ori de câte ori doriți.
Aflați cum este să lucrați în țara pe care o alegeţi
Acum aveți o idee despre locul în care ați dori să vă petreceți următoarele 12 până la 24 de luni sau poate întreaga viață. Deci, haideți să facem o călătorie rapidă în aceadestinație de vis!
În calitate de pionieri, am lansat un sondaj printre angajații noștri, foști colegi și chiarangajați din alte companii. De ce? Pentru a ne face o idee cât se poate de reală desprecum este să lucrezi în țara pe care ţi-ar plăcea să o numești acasă.
Secțiunea dedicată destinației prezintă în special părerea generală a angajatuluidespre o anumită regiune. Cu toate acestea, aici veți descoperi şi pozițiile disponibile încadrul Webhelp, în țara pe care aţi ales-o. De asemenea, în această secțiune putețiselecta orașul (sediul) în care vă ne desfășurăm activitatea.
În plus, plecând de la diverse surse de încredere, am colectat date prețioase cu scopulde a vă recomanda un buget lunar bazat pe salariul dumneavoastră la Webhelp,raportat la costul vieții din țara pe care aţi ales-o. Astfel, vă puteți planifica mai bine, atâtactivitățile distractive, cât și necesitățile vieții de zi cu zi.
Îndrăzniţi să vă aventuraţi în oraşul preferat!
Să ştii şi aspectele mai puţin plăcute dintr-o anumită țară este un lucru folositor. Dar, mai ales, veți trăi într-un anumit oraș în timp ce lucrați în străinătate. Pentru a vă oferiinformații corecte și relevante, am lucrat îndeaproape cu expații care locuiesc în orașeleîn care suntem prezenţi.
Fiecare element de conținut a fost scris, editat și revizuit de mai mulți membri aiechipelor noastre locale de creație și resurse umane, cu ajutorul și beneficiind decontribuția consilierilor noștri expați.
Aici promovăm și pozițiile internaționale deschise în sediile noastre. Deci, atunci cândun loc de muncă disponibil vi se pare potrivit, va invităm să aplicați și vom lua legăturacu dumneavoastră în câteva zile, dacă nu chiar ore.
Începeți un nou stil de viață
Ne străduim să vă oferim o imagine realistă despre la ce să vă aşteptaţi lucrând laWebhelp în străinătate. Pentru a crea acest conținut, am intervievat zeci de colegiexpați. Astfel, veți obține o imagine a țării prin ochii și experiențele lor.
Echipa noastră de filmare și-a întrecut şi ea limitele. Literalmente! Aceasta a vizitatsediile noastre din străinătate pentru a surprinde atmosfera orașelor și cea de birou,specifică fiecărei locații. Urmăriți echipa noastră de Webhelpieni în misiunea ei de a văprezenta experiențe autentice și panorame impresionante ale căminului său adoptiv! Deexemplu, descoperiţi cum lucrează și trăiește Denisz din Ucraina la Barcelona.
Când aveți întrebări, luați legatura cu ambasadorii noștri prietenoși
Încă nu v-aţi hotărât cu privire la destinația aleasă? Colegii noștri din întreaga lumevor fi bucuroşi să vă răspundă la toate întrebările legate de costul vieții, asistența derelocare, poziții deschise și multe altele.
De asemenea, am adoptat o abordare unică prin secțiunea noastră de întrebărifrecvente. Fiind o companie care pune oamenii pe primul plan, am împărțit întrebărilenoastre frecvente în 3 secțiuni: Viața ta, Cariera ta și Aventura ta. Răspunsurile voravea caracter personal, vor fi orientate către dumneavoastră și transparente.
Rămâneți aproape pentru Meet Webhelpers
Credem într-o cultură de lucru antrenantă. Iar Webhelperii noştri sunt cei mai buniambasadori pentru consolidarea valorilor noastre. În curând, o noua secțiune de blog va fi implementată: „persoana din spatele locului de muncă”. Vei afla cum este să începi șisă îți continui cariera cu noi, cum să rămâi rezilient atunci când eșuezi sau cum săreușești atunci când întâlneşti obstacole. Toate acestea din punctul de vedere personal al Webhelperilor noștri!
În ultimii 20 de ani, am prosperat în circumstanțe dificile și ne-am străduit să ajutămoamenii să își atingă obiectivele. În ciuda contextului actual, știm că mobilitateainternațională este crucială pentru dezvoltarea afacerilor și satisfacția angajaților. Văîncurajăm să explorați oportunitățile noastre din străinătate și să îndrăzniţi săvisați mai departe ca niciodată!
Webhelp “Think Human”
Webhelp rings in its next phase of strategic development with new brand
Paris-headquartered Webhelp, the European leader in customer experience and business solutions, today revealed its revamped brand platform, supported by an updated visual identity.
The group’s new brand reunites the strengths of its collaborators in 36 countries today and plays a key role in its ambitions to grow to a global leadership position.
The group’s new vision of “making business more human” is founded strongly on Webhelp’s existing company culture, as well as the role enterprises play in society and the rising desire of consumers to create emotional connections with the brands they engage with. No matter the activity in business, people are involved and therefore are the main focus of Webhelp’s brand.
“At Webhelp we truly believe if you focus on the person in front of you, suddenly everything comes alive” explains Olivier Duha, co-founding President. “this holds for each connection built between a brand and a consumer, but just as strongly between employer and employee, client and provider. Helping hard things become easy takes empathy and imagination”
The new brand identity, which has been built inside-out, in partnership with the brand experts at FutureBrand, showcases a warm, welcoming and vibrant visual system and color palette, and reflects the group’s people-first culture and game-changing mentality. Providing services to thousands of clients across the world with a wide range of Customer Experience and Business Solutions, the group puts its clients at the heart of its all its activities, thus forming true and lasting partnerships.
Frédéric Jousset, co-founding President adds: “over the years we have continuously invested heavily in both enabling and matching our clients’ needs to technologically innovative solutions, as well as our people. We feel embracing technology is key, and it’s the people that deploy these tools that make the difference and take the experience to the next level.”
“We are truly excited to reveal the new face of Webhelp, which better expresses who we are to the world, following an intense project of close to a year. We have engaged with stakeholders from all areas and levels of our business and believe we have created a vision and brand that’s built to last, as is shown through the enthusiasm of our new future shareholders at GBL regarding the outcomes of the project.” States Sandrine Asseraf, Group Secretary General. “
About to celebrate its 20th anniversary, having grown from a challenger to top player in Europe, both through organic growth and acquisitions, Webhelp aims to maintain and accelerate its performance through its redefined vision and mission, together with the strong collaboration of its investment partners. Webhelp is currently in the final stages of negotiations with GBL as new investment partner, stepping in for KKR, and expects to announce the closing of the deal before the end of the year, after obtaining the regulatory authorizations required.
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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 50,000 game-changers from more than 140 locations in 36 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 €1,4B in 2018, and aims for a global leadership position. Webhelp is currently owned by its management and KKR, a leading global investment firm, as of March 2016.
Groupe Bruxelles Lambert enters into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of the Webhelp group
GBL announces today it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire a majority stake in the Webhelp group, together with its co-founding shareholders, Olivier Duha and Frédéric Jousset, who would retain their role as founding executive directors, and its management team.
Founded in 2000, Webhelp is today one of the world's leading providers of customer experience and business process outsourcing (BPO). The group has doubled in size since the KKR acquisition in 2015 and aims to achieve a turnover of €1.5 billion in 2019. Webhelp develops innovative solutions combining consulting services, technological solutions and omni-channel processing capabilities thanks to its
55 000 employees in more than 35 countries. This performance is the result of an organic and external growth strategy that GBL aims to maintain and accelerate together with the strong collaboration of the co-founders and management.
As a result of this transaction, GBL would acquire a majority stake in Webhelp on the basis of an enterprise value of €2.4 billion.
It is expected that the legal documentation will be signed by the beginning of August for completion, after obtaining regulatory authorizations for use, within the course of Q4 2019.
Ian Gallienne, CEO of GBL, said: "We are enthusiastic to become a partner to Olivier Duha, Frédéric Jousset and the Management team in continuing the successful development of Webhelp, supporting the transition from a European Champion to a Global Leader. This transaction is consistent with GBL’s announced objective to increase its exposure to private assets.”
Olivier Duha and Frédéric Jousset, said: “We thank KKR for its investment over the past 4 years and we welcome with confidence GBL in order to write together a new growth and investment phase. The management team has chosen to surround itself with a shareholder renowned for its longstanding support to companies with international ambitions such as Webhelp.”
Stanislas de Joussineau, Director at KKR said: "We are proud to have been a partner for Olivier Duha, Frederic Jousset and the outstanding management team at Webhelp over the last four years to create one of the leading global business process outsourcers. During our ownership, Webhelp has doubled its revenues to €1.5 billion and increased its number of employees globally from 30,000 to over 50,000. We believe the company is strongly positioned for future growth and we wish Webhelp and GBL every continued success."
About Groupe Bruxelles Lambert
Groupe Bruxelles Lambert ("GBL") is an established investment holding company, listed on the stock exchange for over sixty years and with an indicative net asset value of EUR 19 billion and a market capitalization of EUR 14 billion at the end of June 2019. GBL is a leading investor in Europe, focused on long-term value creation and relying on a stable and supportive family shareholder base. GBL strives to maintain a high quality, diversified portfolio of global companies, leaders in their sectors, with whom it can contribute to value creation as an active professional investor. GBL seeks to offer its shareholders an attractive return, resulting in a sustainable dividend and growth in its revalued net assets.
GBL is listed on Euronext Brussels (Ticker: GBLB BB; ISIN code: BE0003797140) and is part of the BEL20 index.
About Webhelp
Webhelp is a global business process outsourcer (BPO), specialising in customer experience and payment services in addition to sales and marketing services across voice, social and digital channels.
From more than 150 sites in 36 countries with an approximately 50,000-strong team, our focus is on engineering performance improvements and delivering a real and lasting transformation in our clients’ operating models to generate financial advantage. We partner with some of the world’s most progressive brands including Sky, Shop Direct, Bouygues, Direct Energie, KPN, Vodafone, La Redoute, Michael Kors and Valentino.
Headquartered in Paris, France, the company has grown its revenues by more than 250% in the last 4 years by investing in its people, the environment they work in and developing its analytical and operating capability to deliver a transformational outsourcing proposition that addresses the challenges of an omni-channel world.
More information can be found at www.webhelp.com
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.