When a major consumer electronics manufacturer sought to streamline operations and improve efficiency, rebadging its contact center in China was the clear strategic choice. As a result, the client experienced a 5-point increase in its customer experience (CX) score and a 50% reduction in repeat contacts.
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THE CHALLENGE
- Meet cultural expectations
- Maintain high operational efficiency and flexibility
- Expand global operations to a new continent and country
THE OUTCOME
- 5-point increase in CX performance
- 2.3-minute reduction in AHT
- More than a 50% improvement in repeat customer interactions
- Exceptional employee morale, with attrition at less than 2% a month
- 10% reduction in repeat dispatch rate
THE CHALLENGE
In with Outsourcing!
The client decided to move a majority of their contact centers from internal to external management. As they looked to rebadge their Dalian, China center, they wanted a strong partner with a global footprint who could deliver more analytical insights and offer unified solutions while remaining flexible and creative.
Keeping the client’s multilingual staff onboard and engaged, while incentivizing them to become more efficient, would require building trust and displaying cultural sensitivity. And of course, getting operations off the ground in a new country meant grappling with foreign laws and regulations.
It was a tough assignment, but we don’t get called in for the easy ones.
“By diving into the analytics, such as performing SKU analysis on bad dispatches, we were able to find commonalities that enabled us to reduce our repeat dispatch rate by 10%.” –Warren Tate, Vice President for Strategic Operations, Alorica
THE SOLUTION
Enhancing Corporate Culture to Drive Results.
Rebadging a contact center is a delicate dance of merging multiple corporate cultures while ramping up efficiency and performance—made all the trickier when it’s not just business cultures being merged, but foreign cultures as well.
To ensure a smooth transition, we unified aspects of the client’s culture with Chinese culture and Alorica’s own ethos. This successful mesh created a win-win environment of trust and motivation, as we:
• Understood cultural expectations.
Our leadership team socialized with managers in the evening, held numerous town hall meetings to highlight advancement opportunities and embraced the tradition of handing out red envelopes with a small gift of money to indicate good luck.
• Matched previous compensation packages.
We matched tenure and pay, and we also struck a deal with the existing insurance company to ensure that benefits would remain untouched.
• Incorporated positive recognition and incentive programs.
We implemented visible, daily recognition programs to create a livelier (but still professional) atmosphere. We also switched from annual bonuses to more frequent incentives, closely tied to performance.
• Invested in rigorous training and coaching to develop new agents’ skills faster.
To make up for the knowledge gap, we invested in two weeks of additional technical training. We also coached agents in customer experience and behavior psychology to improve customer interactions.
But That Was Just the Start.
Succeeding in China also required some behind-the-scenes savviness, such as:
• Flexible, creative pricing based on historical price-per-unit offerings.
• Executive-level involvement throughout.
• A willingness to work through the legal and business requirements to start a new company in a foreign country.
• A deep-dive into the analytics to push for continual improvement.
Due to the success of the rebadge, Alorica was the recipient of a 2018 Gold Stevie® award for Customer Service or Call Center Consulting Practice of the Year. Moreover, the client is also expanding with Alorica into five more sites in four countries (China, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.) over the next five years. …talk about an insanely great partnership.
THE OUTCOME
Establishing Trust and the Right Incentives Has Led to Exceptional Performance.
Building trust with agents and managers while implementing the right incentives to increase operational efficiency has paid off. The rebadge launched with 100% of management staff coming over from the client side and employee morale has remained high. Reduced call-backs, fewer repeat dispatches and increased efficiency have saved the client money while increasing customer satisfaction.
