GBS WORLD NEWS | WEEK 3 | NOVEMBER 2021

GBS WORLD NEWS | WEEK 3 | NOVEMBER 2021

Contact centers in Europe and the UK are continuing to adopt remote work models and new technologies to address changes in consumer behavior and customer service in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report published by Information Services Group (ISG). The report for Europe and the UK also evaluates the capabilities of 28 providers across four quadrants: Digital Operations, AI & Analytics, Work From Home Services, and Social Media CX Services. Atento, Capita, Firstsource, Sitel Group, Teleperformance and Webhelp are named as Leaders in all four quadrants. Majorel, Transcom and Wipro are named as Leaders in three quadrants each. Concentrix, Conduent and HGS are named as Leaders in two quadrants each.

In the US, Bank of America has launched a survey initiative called “Voices” which has executed a total of 50 million surveys with 12 million in 2021 alone. The bank learned that customers have great appreciation for banking associates. As a result, they have been able to leverage these associates in flexible ways in order to best serve clients, and in one case redeployed 3,000 plus associates from the branches to manage increased call center volumes.

Globally, the impacts and changes that have come about from the pandemic on retail are becoming clearer. Just a little over one third, 37%, of retailers are confident their companies will grow in the next 12 months, though recovery from the pandemic remains a worry. Those are top findings from the SML RFID State of Retail in a Post Pandemic Era report.

Also in the retail industry, UK-based online grocery delivery platform, Weezy, has selected mParticle, the largest independent customer data platform, to be Weezy’s customer data infrastructure. With over 2,000 curated products delivered to thousands of consumers daily, the online grocery platform needs a customer data infrastructure for its marketing tools.

Speaking of data, American online investment platform, Robinhood Market Inc., is reeling from a security breach where a hacker managed to acquire the personal details of around 7 million users. This is the company’s largest hack in its eight-year history, where the breach was due to a slip-up during a customer service call. Email addresses, full names, birth dates, and zip codes were the pieces of information that were stolen. However, the firm assures that no social security or bank account information was extracted. 

In Africa, a Nigerian B2Bhealth tech startup, Helium Health, has acquired a Qatar-headquartered and UAE-based doctor booking platform, Meddy. In the rare acquisition between a West African and Middle Eastern company, Helium Health positions the purchase as an expansion strategy into Africa and then into other emerging regions. Currently, Helium Health operates in six countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Liberia, Kenya and Uganda. 500 healthcare facilities are registered with the B2B platform, with 7,000 medical professionals from these facilities providing care to over 300,000 patients monthly.

Back in North America, two Canadian corporate leaders have joined forces: CapIntel and The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life), where the strategic partnership will enable Canada Life’s 3,000 financial advisors to deliver more personalized advice to their customers with more transparency and efficiency. The application will help reduce time-consuming tasks, such as gaining perspective on a client’s current investments, investment comparisons, and proposal development, while meeting strict compliance requirements.

In general news, Allied Market Research has announced that the global customer journey analytics market is set to reach US$26,88 billion in value by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.5% from 2019 to 2026, according to their 2021 Customer Journey Analytics Market report. North America is predicted to account for a significant portion of growth and the Asia-Pacific region will achieve the fastest CAGR of 22% by 2026. The fastest-growing customer journey analytics segment will be the cloud segment, reaching a CAGR of 24.1% in the forecast period.

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