Leading the Charge in Customer Service: A CEO's Journey to Revolutionising Support with Tech and Empathy

Discover the future of customer service with Guillaume Langle, the visionary CEO at the helm of Konecta's UK and South Africa operations, as he unveils his journey from the automotive industry to leading a revolution in customer experience technology. 

His deep dive into the symbiosis of Generative AI and human intuition paints a picture of an industry where technology empowers agents to deliver unparalleled service. Tune in to grasp how Konecta's tech-savvy approach is redefining customer support, with a keen eye on maintaining the human touch in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

This episode is a goldmine for those curious about the ever-changing terrain of the contact centre BPO industry, brimming with insights into emerging trends and the strategic expansions reshaping global markets. 

Guillaume articulates the delicate balancing act of agent well-being and client satisfaction, offering sage advice for anyone passionate about forging a career in this people-centric field. 

Learn how a CEO unwinds from the rigors of leadership and the cultivation of a company culture that transcends borders, ensuring quality and consistency across a multinational enterprise. Join us for a conversation that goes beyond business, touching the very heart of what it means to lead with empathy and innovation.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:33

Welcome to CX Diaries. Cx Diaries from the Customer Experience Foundation is the podcast where we talk to the people at the sharp end of CX and Contact Centres, the movers and the shakers, the innovators, the detructors and the people delivering in the real world who share their personal stories of their journey through our industry. This week I'm delighted to be joined by Guillem Longa, who's CEO for UK and South Africa App Connector. Again, great to have you with us today. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Yes, thank you. Happy to be with you too, thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:05

So can you share a bit about your journey to becoming CEO at Connector? Slightly unusually, you're not one of the people that started in this industry in their 20s and worked their way up. You've had a varied and interesting career, so how did this all come about?

Speaker 2: 1:22

So I actually come from the automotive industry. I spent 30 years at Ford and Nissan Europe and in fact, I discovered customer service being a client of Connector, and I loved it so much that, after working as a client I was, you know we discussed and made a job to join Connector as head of global automotive and mobility for the group, and a year later I was appointed as CEO for the UK. But I still keep my hat as head of global automotive and mobility. So you know, once you're in the automotive you don't let go as easy.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Excellent and what inspires you as CEO of Connector?

Speaker 2: 2:08

Well, I think what inspires me is people. It's seeing this capability of putting individuals together in teams to answer customer issues. What I find fascinating about this customer service activity, and what really I discovered working in the automotive industry, is the ability to solve customer and to provide customer problems, provide customer journeys and customer experience, but on a one to one level, and this is pretty exceptional. When you work in the automotive industry and you're in sales, you sell cars by hundreds to dealers. When you're in marketing in the automotive industry, you spend money on the media and you try and bring customers in dealerships. You don't actually interfere individually with customers. And when we decided to work with Connector to build a Pan-European customer service center to provide service across Europe, I really understood that at the end of everything we're doing, we had an individual customer and each one of them had different issues, different requests and, as a representative of the brand, we needed to answer to those issues and requests. And that is what really fascinated me is this one to one interactions with clients.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Amazing, and from your quite unique perspective, what would you say are the biggest challenges facing the contact center BPO industry today?

Speaker 2: 3:48

I think the challenge is keeping the high quality level, because it's an industry where you can't deliver the same service day after day to your clients' customers, because your client's strategy is evolving, your client's product are changing and therefore you need to anticipate and you need to make sure that the service you provide is up to date and even at the forefront of your client's expectation. One of the biggest challenges integrating GNI. Of course, everybody talks about this today. Will GNI replace agents? I can tell you no.

Speaker 2: 4:31

What GNI will do, however, is probably become what we have level one, level two supports in most of the services. It will probably become a level zero. So it's going to be helping agents do a better work and it will make agents' life easier, I would say, in managing clients. When an agent is facing an angry customer and the agent needs to look in a very complex knowledge base, it makes the customer even more angry. Now GNI is a system that can really support agents find the answer to the customer's request in a much faster way, much personalized way and also formatted in a way that could be sent as an email to the client. So it's really for me this challenge of integrating intelligent machines with intelligent people.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Really interesting. What are Connector particularly doing around JAN, ai and automation technology? So you think it's going to be exciting.

Speaker 2: 5:38

Well, we've created a global group of people that come from all functions within Connector and all countries within Connector. So we have team leaders. We've got people from IT, people from HR, people from infrastructure, knowledge management, coaching, quality. We put all those people, we are putting them in a team and they're working together in understanding what JAN AI can provide, how it can bring. Within Connector UK, we have developed already a JAN AI tool that enables knowledge-based reading and helps those customers, as I was explaining earlier, to provide very specific technical support for automotive customers where it is quite complex as an agent to know everything about all the cars, all the models of a car manufacturer, with all the specs, the details. So this really helps and makes the agents life easier. Also, it provides this ability to integrate various languages. So you can, like me, you can be multilingual and this JAN AI will help you be perfect in the language that you don't necessarily master completely.

Speaker 1: 6:59

Yeah, I'm picking up on that. In the context of global operations, how do you tackle the challenge of cultural language diversity to keep the quality high?

Speaker 2: 7:13

It's an interesting question. In fact, looking at what we're currently developing in South Africa is interesting to see that the cultural ad equation is really very much linked to company cultures, more than the country culture. Of course, each country has a culture, but when you manage a company that has multi-sites and within those sites you manage the same culture. So the culture that I promote is feedback, so agents can. Feedback to the supervisors, Supervisors feedback to the team leaders and operations managers is the culture of helping each other. An agent will help another agent, not individual. So team playing, which probably comes from my sports background, it's being transparent, it's being disciplined. Those are cultures that I believe are stronger to be nurtured in a company because they translate to what your clients is expecting from you, rather than taking a country's culture, which I think needs to remain at an individual level within what is happening outside the phone or outside the operations area.

Speaker 2: 8:41

In South Africa, I witnessed this this morning. The teams come here 15 minutes before the working hours and they put music and they dance all together. I went in dancing and apparently there's some videos going to be published out on some social media, but it's really this for me, which is a culture. So we have the country culture and the company culture. Most importantly is making sure that our agents talk to our clients' customers with the clients culture and the clients branding. They are the clients ambassadors.

Speaker 1: 9:18

Really interesting. And thinking now about customer experience within Connector, what sort of strategies have you got internally that ensure high quality service across all the touchpoints?

Speaker 2: 9:32

Well, I think it's the same recipes in most of the customer services areas, but its quality comes with clear KPIs, tracking performance against KPIs. It's making sure that feedback is given and the feedback has to be live, so it's not a feedback you give two months after the KPIs being published. So we have here in South Africa we have live quality coach that walk and support agents and keep the quality at a high level. So that's all this company culture that you will put in and making sure that when you track your KPIs, you're tracking against your clients' targets.

Speaker 1: 10:18

Great. Could you talk about maybe a particularly challenging customer service or performance or quality issue that your organization has resolved for a client, and what sort of lessons can be learned from that?

Speaker 2: 10:35

It's a tough question because I keep saying customer service business is like spending Chinese plates, if one can say so. It never stops. You can't say that now you have everything running smoothly, because there's always a customer requesting something new, launching a new product or a new service, or having a crisis that you need to support and you need to be ready for that. So for me, the challenge is a never ending challenge of keeping the customers happy. That's the goal, that's the target and that's really what I've been striving to do in whatever role I had and in all the companies I've been working in, and I think it's something you can't really learn from a book. It's either you have a customer focus mindset or you don't, and that is something you then support through your organization with KPIs, and you make sure you can support your strategy and the actions that you put against KPIs. But it's either you have it or you don't have it. That's my belief.

Speaker 1: 11:46

Yeah, and thinking more about the people. Now, with remote work particularly becoming more prevalent, how was your approach to work for some engagement evolved over the last few years?

Speaker 2: 11:58

Well, I think it's again.

Speaker 2: 12:02

It's how you can manage the work-life balance and making sure that when you give the opportunity for agents to work from home is not to police them in a way that home becomes a prison.

Speaker 2: 12:18

If you enable that possibility, I believe you also need to be able to work with the agents individually for them to have this flexible possibility within a working day Now, of course, not everybody can start working at 10 and finish at 3, so it has to be managed. But once you enable and once agents understand that you can enable work from home, work from the office, and you're flexible, as long as they meet the deal that you have with them, and I think this flexibility is something that encourages agents to follow the discipline to be at work. We see in the UK, for example, we have a 1.6% absenteeism and we've got a 3.5% attrition, which is super low, super low, and we're very proud of that result. I think it's because we managed to translate that being part of a family, being part of a business that is striving to deliver the same service team mindset that enables to get those type of KPIs.

Speaker 1: 13:27

And taking that a bit further, how do you get and maintain that high level of employee satisfaction and reduce that attrition in an industry known for very high term rates?

Speaker 2: 13:38

I think it's. We have to be honest, it depends on the campaigns you have. An outbound selling campaign is more difficult than a customer service campaign, so that's also you need to look at the mix of campaign types that you're managing. But I think it's for me is showing my face around. I always take 30 minutes when I get to the office to walk around.

Speaker 2: 14:04

I talk with the agents, I shake hands, I sit with them. They're open to provide feedback on their working conditions or anything and because they know they have direct access to me when I'm physically on the site, it supports and not just the agents, but it supervises. The team managers and all the staff can come and we can have a chat, and I think that's really contributing to making everybody work in the same directions. And sometimes there are some difficult parts to cross and my role as a CEO is to listen to what some of the employees say and we fix it. So, for example, we do simple things like rewarding people, christmas parties here in South Africa, having those morning dance challenges and there are some prizes to win for the best agents that follow on the KPIs and it's really making sure that it's really a team and everybody's focused on delivering great results and they get rewarded for that and they get the recognition from me as well.

Speaker 1: 15:25

Super sustainability and corporate responsibility is a very, very strong requirement now for global organisations and many, if not all, of your clients. In what ways is your company committed to and developing sustainability and social responsibility within the locations that you operate?

Speaker 2: 15:47

So overall, we have some on CSR activities. We have a Connecta Foundation where we provide support for people in their education and within the group. In terms of environmental support, we commit to a reduction of 4% CO2 within the operations that we run. So it's really a group policy and a group direction to support the CSR and ESG activities. On top of that, what one can do at an individual level is making sure that everybody is included in the business. So I really am. I don't know the word in English, but if anyone goes beyond a very rich, thin limit of racism, of misconduct, the person has absolutely no place within Connecta UK or South Africa, and we had to make some decisions very quickly to make that, you know, to get people with bad behaviors out of the business and that contributes towards others. That when we say we are inclusive, that we actually are inclusive, meaning that we exclude people who don't play the game of inclusion.

Speaker 1: 17:19

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:20

How do you? Balance and by the way, just as an example, we celebrated yesterday in South Africa the human day's right and we were all wearing a T-shirt and we did a fantastic hand colorful hand printing on the wall at the entrance of the building. So 800 hands now multicolor on the wall and pictures taken and food shared and that was really, really enthusiastic and I was thrilled to participate in that example of inclusion and ESG.

Speaker 1: 17:58

Fabulous. How do you balance profit making with ethical business practices and community development? And I asked that because not in our sector but in other sectors there are still some organizations that see that as an inconvenience. I wanted to get your tape on that.

Speaker 2: 18:17

Everybody knows that business is supposed to make some profit. If not, we go and work for O&G. So I respect very much non-government organization. They have their strategies, their way of working, supporting people. We also have that. But we don't do it for a group or a region. We do it for the people within the company we support here, mostly in South Africa, when people have financial difficulties.

Speaker 2: 18:51

We have sandwiches distributed, we distribute food, we distribute gifts that enable people to enrich their lives with some microwaves, some cooking machines. It's contributing to that internal connector, society improvement. And the people in the company know that we make profit. We redistribute that profit through not all of it, of course, but we distribute some of that profit through some bonuses, through some draws, parties and making sure when some of the people find difficulty that we can individually support them. And also taking part in local charities to make sure that the environment around us is supported by a company like us making some small profit in the area. So it's making sure as a company that we can make our shareholders happy, but also making sure that the people that live around us, the community that is around us, recognize us as a great place where they would like to work, which is what is happening.

Speaker 1: 20:14

Fantastic, that's super to hear Moving ahead. What other emerging trends do you think will shape the future of the contact centre BPO industry over the next year or two?

Speaker 2: 20:30

But in the next year or two, I think. Really the Gen AI one is the key one. I know your question was except Gen AI.

Speaker 1: 20:42

That's the last question.

Speaker 2: 20:44

Yeah, I think challenges are going to be around global companies relocating some of the operations that they may have, so I see that some of the countries may not have as much attraction for outsourcing. There is a clear trend, for example, for US companies shifting business from the Philippines to South Africa, so, of course, when it's a challenge for one, it can be beneficial for somebody else, which obviously is the case and is one of the reasons why we invested in South Africa. The challenges are going to be making sure that we cope with our agents' well-being and we protect them and we support them, facing more and more demanding clients so that's, for me, is a challenge as well and making sure that when we talk about ESG and we talk about supporting or taking care of our agents and our people, that this is shared within clients as well. And I think it's one of the challenges is the way we can, with clients, support well-being for people in call centres.

Speaker 1: 22:20

Yeah, really interesting. What expansion plans have you got, or perhaps new locations that you're looking to explore over the next couple of years that you can share with us? Or is it all about?

Speaker 2: 22:30

South Africa. No, I can't really share, because we just put a foot in South Africa, we opened a site in Texas in the US. I think these are two demonstrations that Connecta has a clear strategy in expanding in English-speaking regions. Now you know, the operational development is either decided by what the group wants as a footprint on the geography, but it can also be driven by what our clients will be demanding. So we are very flexible and open to support a client that would want a site in a country somewhere. That is something Connecta Group is capable of doing and delivering.

Speaker 2: 23:17

So it's absolutely no issue to open a site if it's requested in another part of the planet. Connecta is already present in 26 countries, very strong in Latin, in Europe, now North America and South Africa, but we also have sites in Madagascar, in Morocco and in Europe. So the portfolio of our product proposition in terms of geographic location and language offering is already very strong, covering French, english, spanish, german as well, and Eastern Europe markets. So it's really now consolidating the basis that we have and looking at other opportunities where business would go, which we're always having an eye on. So further things might be happening, but I can't tell you today where exactly.

Speaker 1: 24:14

Fantastic, and what advice would you give someone looking to enter the BPO industry that's perhaps not worked in it before? What would your advice be from what you've learned?

Speaker 2: 24:25

Well, I would say if you don't like people, don't come in that industry. It's a people business. So I spent 30 years in the car industry because I started my career thinking I left cars and I did, and I still do love cars. So you love cars, you go in the car industry but then you discover that driving a car, you have a customer and I love customers. So I went in that industry and I love every minute of it. If you don't like people, don't come in that business, because your business is all about people.

Speaker 1: 24:59

Yeah, I think I would definitely agree with that. And finally, just as we wrap up, how do you unwind, how do you escape from it all? You mentioned the sports background. It can get very demanding and quite lonely as a CEO, so how do you cope with that?

Speaker 2: 25:16

Well, as a CEO, I try not to be lonely. That's one of the points. We are a team. I've got a great team both in the UK and South Africa, and I don't carry all the pain on my shoulders. I share it with the team and everybody is accountable for making that company work well. I am wind with my family. I love walking, so I go out on the weekend and go out for walks. I walk fast and it's something that enables me to regenerate, and I started yoga last year, so that's also a way to take what is working in my brain out at the beginning of the weekend. So it's a way to relax a bit. And then, as I'm half French, half English, I have to admit I do like a nice meal and a nice glass of French wine, of course, but now also South African wine to accompany that, being careful not to drink too much, of course, as an advice.

Speaker 1: 26:34

Absolutely right, guy. Thank you. It's been fascinating having you with us today. Hope our listeners have found this as intriguing as I have. You can find out lots more about the Customer Experience Foundation at cxfoorg, and please check out Connector, the organisation, who have got a lot of great things to share. Thank you for joining us on CX Diaries. We hope to see you next time.