A mismatch between a company’s technology strategy and its BPO partner’s approach creates significant challenges. Some partners overstep, pushing their own tech roadmap and sidelining your CX goals. Others fall short, clinging to outdated tools or failing to guide necessary innovation. The ideal partner strikes the right balance—working with you to drive innovation at the right pace while empowering you to own the process. Expert CX advisors help you find that Goldilocks fit: not too much, not too little, but just right.
Two primary pain points often arise:
- Overbearing Technology Input: A BPO provider might push their own tech solutions, limiting your flexibility to choose the right tools for your CX strategy.
- Insufficient Tech Input: A partner who lacks technology expertise might struggle to implement and maintain the necessary technology stack.
To overcome these pain points, your company will need to determine the level of involvement you want from your BPO partner. This involves identifying areas where you’ll integrate new technologies into agent workflows, pinpointing existing technology gaps, and asking specific questions to clarify your technology expectations for a BPO provider.
Technology in the BPO Agent Life Cycle
Build Phase: Recruitment Technology
This type of technology can be used to hire high-quality agents at faster rates, improving KPI performance and speed to ramp.
Ramp Phase: Training Technology
Training technology accelerates the learning process, empowering agents to proactively address customer inquiries. This means less training is needed while they’re already interacting with customers.
Operational Phase: Multiple Technologies
By analyzing 100% of interactions with QA technology, you can identify and address performance gaps, ensuring consistent adherence to KPIs.
Analytics Technology
Analytics technology provides insights to optimize operations, reduce costs, and enhance performance.
Agent Assist Technology
Agent Assist technology empowers agents to resolve customer issues more efficiently, leading to higher customer satisfaction and shorter handle times.
Retention Phase: Workforce Engagement and Management Technology
This technology helps reduce attrition by enhancing agent recognition, providing timely feedback, and optimizing scheduling to improve job satisfaction.
Identifying Common Tech Gaps in BPO Relationships
BPO relationships, while often strategic, can sometimes fall short of expectations due to technological disparities. These gaps, though specific to individual use cases, generally fall into a few key categories:
Reliability and Resiliency
- Insufficiently prepared to withstand emergencies like power outages and backhoe events.
Overall CX Performance and KPI Misses
- Appropriate technology solutions are not being fully explored.
Efficiency Improvements
- There are missed opportunities to reduce costs while maintaining or improving service quality.
Risk Mitigation
- Weaknesses in data security controls and compliance procedures could lead to data breaches and non-compliance penalties.
Analytics and Insights
- A lack of data-driven insights hinders continuous improvement.
Your Strategy to Improve the Outcomes from your BPO Relationship
Now that you’ve pinpointed the technology gaps within your BPO relationship and mapped them to specific stages of the agent lifecycle, it’s time to develop a strategic plan for improvement. By asking the following questions, you can gain valuable insights to inform your next steps.
| Strategies | Questions to Ask |
|---|---|
| Perform a Fit Assessment |
|
|
|
| Collaborate to Improve Fit |
|
|
|
| Define Ownership of the Tech Strategy |
|
|
From Strategy to Action: Bridging CX Tech Gaps with Your BPO Partner
Building upon the strategic foundation laid out in the previous section, your company should now have a clear roadmap for technology initiatives and the role of your BPO partner. The next step is to translate this strategy into actionable steps.
Agree on Priorities
- Target Critical Areas: Focus on addressing technology gaps that have the most significant impact on your business and customer experience.
- Prioritize Cost-Saving Projects: Begin with projects that can deliver immediate cost savings. This will help create budget for later phases.
Foster Strong Vendor Partnerships
- Collaborative Approach: Determine who is responsible for evaluating and purchasing technology.
Launch Pilot Programs
- Test and Learn: Implement pilot programs to test new technologies before full-scale deployment, especially in the generative AI realm, where use cases can take a few iterations to perfect.
Participate in Ongoing Evaluation
- Data-Driven Insights: Have reviews scheduled to analyze performance data and understand how changes impacted KPI performance.
Potential End-of-Discussion Scenarios
When evaluating a BPO partner, it’s crucial to understand their approach to technology and innovation. Typically, BPO providers fall into one of three categories:
Scenario 1: Proactive Tech Partnership
Ideal Fit: This partner would be a great fit for companies looking to take a backseat on CX technology acquisition and rollout.
Key Indicators:
- Frequent updates on technology initiatives
- Successful client implementations of advanced solutions
- Partnership with innovative tech providers
The Likely Impact of this CX Partnership:
- Aligned with long-term business goals
- Potential for competitive advantage through enhanced CX
- Cost optimization/control
Ideal Fit: This partner would be a great fit for companies looking to take a backseat on CX technology acquisition and rollout.
Scenario 2: Reactive Tech Partnership
Ideal Fit: This partner would be a great fit for companies who either want to be involved in or take the lead in technology acquisition and rollout without having their toes stepped on.
Key Indicators:
- Positive response to proposed tech solutions
- Willingness to engage in partnerships and with new providers
- Flexibility in adapting processes to accommodate new technologies
The Likely Impact of this CX Partnership:
- Opportunity for co-creation of innovative solutions
- Potential for improved service delivery
- Cost optimization/ control
Scenario 3: Poor Tech Partnership
Ideal Fit: If technology is important to you, this partner isn’t an ideal fit.
Key Indicators:
- Lack of interest in new technologies
- Resistance to change or innovation
- Inability to meet evolving customer expectations
The Likely Impact of this CX Partnership:
- Potential for higher cost
- Increased likelihood of missed KPIs
- Necessity for a strategic reassessment of the BPO partnership
Take the Next Step: A Brighter Future for Your CX
Technology is an important component of any successful outsourced CX partnership. As AI and other advanced technologies continue to evolve, it becomes even more essential to leverage these tools to drive business growth and customer satisfaction.
Feeling stuck in a technology gap? Whether your challenges stem from BPO issues or technological limitations, our team is equipped to identify and solve them. Ready to take the next step? Book a strategy call with our CX Strategy Team today.
