Jay Ollero:
Hello, I am Jay Ollero and welcome to The CX Espresso. This microcast features leading customer experience experts who share their thoughts on trends, tools, and best practices in customer experience. CX Espresso are single shots of hot CX topics served to you by Aucera. Now, today's topic brings into focus the changing landscape of customer experience services. And joining me is Aucera's Kat Langley, vice president of customer experience solutions. So Kat, today's question is, with so many technology advancements, such as artificial intelligence, what does the future of BPOs look like?

Katrin Langley:
That's an interesting question, Jay. And I know a lot of people are concerned about the future with BPOs and AI and what it means to their business. And it's going to mean something different for everybody. There's going to be businesses that want to automate everything. They're very transactional. They don't really need the human touch anymore. On the flip side, AI can participate in a call center. It can sit on the side and help agents become more empowered about how they speak to your customers. It's like a little sidekick. It's a powerful knowledge base to give agents the correct answer right away instead of having to take time to research to answer to certain questions. So AI is going to play in different roles depending on what the need is of your customers, what the need is of you individually as a company as well.

Jay Ollero:
You used the word concern. What's the biggest concern you most often hear when you're talking to companies looking to partner up with a BPO?

Katrin Langley:
I think the biggest concern is the lack of the human connection, that we will become totally automated and there's no human connection anymore. And there's a place for everything. There's a place for automation and there's a place for human connection. I don't think the human connection's ever going to completely go away. There's always going to be that question or that need that can't fully be answered by an automation tool. It's going to require some extra thought and some extra detail that automation can't necessarily support. And that's why I don't think AI is going to completely take away the agent role or the call center role. It's going to have to play together in tandem.

Jay Ollero:
So in addition to balancing how AI is used in tandem with human agents, what else do companies need to be thinking about?

Katrin Langley:
You need to think about what kind of AI tool works best for your industry. It's not a one-size-fits-all. If you're looking to a partner to help you select your AI tool and they are only supporting one tool, you probably have the wrong BPO partner. You need someone that can look at different tools and find the one that's specific to your industry. It's not going to be one-size-fits-all to all industries. It's going to be somebody that specializes in your industry. That's what will work best for you. You can't fit an AI tool that's going to answer retail questions to also work in, say, the healthcare industry. Everyone needs something a little different. At this point, while AI, it's not necessarily new, but it's still evolving, I wouldn't take the chance of going for a one-size-fits-all that somebody says, "I can support anybody doing anything." I would look for somebody that specializes in my industry and going with a BPO that tests out, has used them for some of their clients, or tests out multiple partners to find the right partners the right direction.

Jay Ollero:
So as AI continues to evolve, my first thought is, well, every company is going to have the same tools available. Does that make sense?

Katrin Langley:
That makes sense, but the answer is no. They're all going to be using different tools. Some are going to have homegrown tools. Some will reach out and partner with different companies. Some will partner with only one company. But I think each BPO is probably going to have a different take on what AI means to them and what it would mean to you. And don't say no to anyone until you've really vetted everybody to see which one makes the most sense for you.

Jay Ollero:
So if AI is able to automate routine tasks and humans will be available to handle the more complex issues, what do you think is Aucera's differentiator?

Katrin Langley:
The differentiator for Aucera I really believe is our culture. And while every BPO talks about what great culture they have, they use it as a differentiator, they use it as a selling point. The difference with Aucera is the trueness of it here. Culture is not about what the amenities, the agents have. It's not about having extra snack times or having masseuses in your office. Culture is about how your company treats its employees and how those employees want to stay and grow. And I learned that very quickly here at Aucera when I was interviewing the big panel interview and there's all these C-levels on this call with me. And one of my questions to them was, "How long have you been with Aucera?" And the answer, the similar answer I got from all of them was 20 years, 25 years, 35 years. And that's just amazing and unheard of in the BPO industry.
And why did these people have so many years at Aucera? And it's because they started out as an agent and they were happy, and they worked their way up to the C-level. And of course, not everyone works their way up to the C-level. But if you look at our site leaders, our managers, our customer success managers, they all came from agents. And the reason is, is the great corporate culture. It's bringing people in that just want to stay. And of course, we still have attrition, like other centers do, but not to the same scale. And the ability to have someone that's worked for the company for 25, 30 years and really understands the business at hand is really important.
And you also know that your leadership on your program is going to be there with you for years and years to come with long-term, tenured programs here. You don't have the constant change over and having to retrain a new leader about your program. That demonstrates that we absolutely have a great culture within this company. And what happens with a company with great culture is it brings life into those agents. When someone calls in for support and an agent that's happy answers the phone, you can hear it in the tone of their voice. You can hear it and how they help. And it spreads to your customers. So it's so important to have that real culture ingrained in a company within your agent force too. It really makes a difference in what happens with that program and how your customers are treated.

Jay Ollero:
I could not agree with you anymore, Kat. So thank you for joining me today, and I look forward to talking with you soon.

Katrin Langley:
Okay, great. Talk soon.

Jay Ollero:
And to the listener, again, I am Jay Ollero. And if you'd like to submit CX questions for consideration, please email us at cxespresso@aucera.com. And if you'd like to learn more about Aucera, please visit aucera.com. Aucera is one of the nation's largest privately held contact center companies. Aucera provides bespoke, cost-effective customer services and solutions.