Jay Ollero:
Hello, I am Jay Ollero and welcome to the CX Espresso. This Microcast features leading customer experience experts through 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. Today's topic centers around vendor selection and the criteria to consider when choosing a BPO to partner with. And joining me today is Aucera's Tom Gleason, Vice President of Customer Experience Solutions. So thank you so much for joining me today, Tom.

Tom Gleason:
Thank you, Jay.

Jay Ollero:
So Tom, jumping right in. The question of the day is, if I am a company looking to partner with a BPO, what criteria should I be considering?

Tom Gleason:
Great question, Jay. Every company these days is looking at whether they should look for internal resources or perhaps look outside their organization. And so, as a business process outsourcing company, Aucera sees a lot of companies today that are looking for additional resources in order to conduct their business. What are the tasks that you're looking to outsource? I think that needs to be clearly defined by the organization. And what's your objective in outsourcing those? Is it cost reduction or quality improvement, scalability? What are the things that you're looking for?

I think some of the things that I want to touch on today are you need to look for industry experience, the reputation of the organization, quality of service, even technological capabilities that are moving so fast today. Scalability and flexibility, how you want that organization to flex for you to meet your demands. And geographical location if that's US only, versus near shore, offshore, or even work from home. Those factors are also important to the organizations that you speak with.

Jay Ollero:
You listed a lot of factors there. Which two or three would you prioritize on that list?

Tom Gleason:
Well, I think first and foremost, is to look at an organization that has some experience in your industry, whether it be healthcare, utilities, whatever the case may be. You probably want somebody who knows your industry or can adapt to it pretty quickly. Just as important is their understanding of industry regulations and compliance requirements. That is significant. Utilities, for instance, or healthcare, those regulatory organizations will come down hard on an organization and its partners if the rules aren't followed.

So it's important that you find a partner that understands those regs and rules. Reputation, just in terms of how long has that organization been around? How are they treating their clients today? Are they privately held versus private equity? We hear stories of organizations that are literally fired by their vendor because they don't meet a certain financial or call volume criteria after a certain amount of time. And so, you need to kind of look at the character of the organization, the culture of the organization, and how they serve their clients.

Jay Ollero:
You mentioned a BPO's experience and its understanding of industry regulations and its reputation and culture. To me, that's where we're at now and what got us here. But looking forward, as AI continues to advance, what other factors should be prioritized?

Tom Gleason:
Other factors to consider are certainly technological capabilities. Where is the organization today in terms of meeting the client where they are technology wise? There are a lot of BPO organizations. They have a set way of doing things. They're not very flexible. You've got to conform with their technology as opposed to the other way around, where an organization, an outsourcer comes to you and literally opens the book, if you will, and allows you to bring your technology where you are. And AI is moving so fast with everything that we're dealing with today, particularly in our industry. Everything from training and agent assist, performance management, QA, all of those things can be made more efficient with AI. So you need to ask the organization where it is in adapting that technology to make your processes more efficient.

Jay Ollero:
To wrap this up, I have one last question for you, Tom. What do you think is Aucera's differentiator as a BPO?

Tom Gleason:
So Jay, I think it really comes down to the chemistry between two organizations. We've found that with our organization, we're able to respond to RFPs and Q&A and just as many other very fine BPO organizations can do. But I think it comes down to the chemistry and the culture and the vibe that you get when meeting an organization. We've found that many of our best partnerships have come down to literally a Zoom call of where we're interacting or even a live presentation to where we're in the room with our potential clients and we're all on the same page. And that's what it's all about is how do we improve the processes that are in place? How do we, together, improve the customer experience on the phone and digitally? And certainly Aucera would be honored to be considered as one of the organizations that your business looks at and explores as a potential partner for outsourcing.

Jay Ollero:
Tom, thank you so much for your insight and for joining me today.

Tom Gleason:
Thank you, Jay. It was a pleasure.

Jay Ollero:
And thank you listeners. I am Jay Ollero and if you'd like to submit CX questions for consideration, please email us at cxexpresso@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 a bespoke cost-effective customer services and solutions headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey. Aucera's customer engagement services are available at onshore USA, nearshore and offshore locations for a wide variety of industries.