There are few greater challenges to business today than data security. From customer data to proprietary internal information, the responsibility for ensuring its safety becomes a collaborative effort among all businesses involved in deep strategic relationships. Since our founding in 1989, TSD Global has been laser focused on providing the highest level of security for the critical data entrusted to us by our partners and their customers. TSD Global is fully committed to maintaining appropriate security certifications by investing in our people, processes and technology. TSD Global is an award winning customer experience and sales outsourcing company that has been the secret weapon for Fortune 500 companies growth over the past 30 years. We have achieved PCI DSS Level 1 certification from a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and have achieved the SOC 2 Type 1 audit certification for our call center sites. These milestones are a reflection of our commitment to data security for our partners and their valued relationships. Our goal is to ensure our partners have the utmost confidence in our ability to safeguard their customers' data. It is simply mission critical that all of our employees under the their responsibilities for regarding integrity, confidentiality, and availability of customer data. We ask our people to treat customer data with the same care and respect that their own personal data should receive. Outsourcing the customer service experience can be a difficult decision for companies. We understand that one of the major factors is the level of trust that must be inherent in the relationship. After all, our contact centers may be the main touchpoint for many customers, so it should be a seamless integration to embody vital relationships in a way that is transparent to the customer. The backbone of our security platform is a focus on fraud detection and regulatory compliance. Our systems help mitigate the risks of noncompliance, fraud and privacy breaches for the industries in which we operate. Our industry-leading team has developed controls to manage significant risk areas, including: · Access Control Measures · Audit and Assessment · Background Checks · Configuration Standards · Data Protection · Employee Training and Adherence · Incident Response · Information Security Policies · Log Management and Monitoring · Network Security · Physical Security · Vulnerability Management A Culture of Security Security is firmly rooted in our corporate culture. Such a culture is not built overnight, and it is not automatically self-sustaining. It takes a constant focus on training, certification and feedback to maintain a bulwark against malicious actors that search for any vulnerability. We believe security is everyone's responsibility. Of course, we have dedicated teams that oversee our strategies. But security cuts across departmental and national borders. Strong security is the result of creating an environment in which knowledgeable, dedicated people are dedicated to promoting our partner's best interests by assuming deep responsibility for their data. Our security culture reflects the excellence of our people, processes and technology. People: Connection to our security-first culture begins during the employee hiring and onboarding process. It's an ongoing process to ensure that our associates don't stop at awareness but adopt our security orientation. Our people don't merely pay lip service to security. They buy in wholeheartedly. That's why our best security system is our people. Process: Our information security programs align with our partners' goals and priorities, delivering genuine value for the enterprise. TSD Global focuses on each process to ensure all operational and security procedures are distinct, documented and repeatable. We look for innovations when they will help deliver additional risk mitigation. Technology: At TSD Global, we don't see information security as solely an IT task. Actually, technology is where our people and processes meet. We integrate implementation efforts, technical controls and systems management along with our leading security technologies. Employee Training and Compliance: We believe in training. We see it as one of our core competencies, as our employees are exposed to security training from their very earliest interactions with the company. In addition to general security procedures and techniques, our associates undergo partner-oriented training programs regularly to align with our partners’ ongoing development. For new associates, security awareness begins on day one. Their initial training sessions review every aspect of security at TSD Global, including associates' responsibilities for safeguarding our customers’ data. Our security policies and standards are widely available to associates to review on a regular basis, often preparation for annual security training. In addition, specialized teams such as Information Technology and incident response undergo specific, high-level security training. One of the most interesting aspects of our program is the periodic phishing exercises we use to gauge teammates’ vulnerabilities to social engineering attacks. Of course, we provide additional training for any associates who may fail the exercise. Email is a common vector for malware and social engineering attacks, so we have implemented safeguards to secure our associates email experience. Our associates are empowered to report suspicious behavior and potential security threats to our Information Security team. Information Security Policies: TSD Global has developed policies and guidelines to define security controls for all our assets, resources and data to protect confidentiality, integrity and availability for our partners. TSD Global protocols align with the ISO 27001 Information Security Management System standards, as well as ITILv3 IT Service Management best practices. We review policies regularly, usually annually, to ensure we are up to date with industry standards and regulations. Background Checks: As people are the cornerstone of our security, we conduct thorough background checks via industry leading vendors to vet candidates for trusted positions that handle customer support programs and sensitive information. The background checks include indicators of trustworthiness for associates in key positions. Physical Security: We use a layered security approach for our contact centers, creating barriers to unauthorized access. Security measures such as full CCTV coverage, security guard coverage for every shift, and access control with ID badges, ensure associates work in a safe environment, providing for a high level of service. Visitor access is tightly managed, with access granted only with an escort by an authorized employee. We monitor the movement of computers and other IT equipment, and restrict access of mobile devices on the production floors. Vital infrastructure, such as server rooms, has a high level of access control and is equipped with backup power to ensure business continuity. Audit and Assessment: We routinely test systems for compliance with all standard configurations. We engage in annual audits by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) to validate compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). The QSA review includes both internal and external penetration testing. These critical tests may be conducted more often as needed. TSD Global also engages an independent auditor to perform an annual audit following American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Trust Services Principles. The auditor then issues a SOC 2 Report on Controls at a Service Organization Relevant to Security, Availability, Confidentiality and Privacy. Our risk-based methodology for information security program management and measurement utilizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF). The NIST CSF standard creates a common language for internal and external communication of cyber-security issues using the process model of identify, protect, detect, respond and recover. We use regular periodic assessments to manage maturity growth and to support continued investments in security. We partner with best-in-class security-consulting firms to assess our security eco-system and infrastructure controls to continuously re-examine our security posture. Incident Response: In the event of a security incident, TSD Global will implement our robust incident management process. This process will be deployed for any security event that could potentially affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of systems or data. In our incident security classification, we reserve the highest level for incidents that could directly affect our partners and their ability to conduct business. The TSD Global Incident Response Plan includes seven stages of response: preparation, identification, containment, eradication, recovery/closure, breach notification and after incident review follow-up. Our procedure, in the unlikely event that partner data is breached, is to notify any affected partners within the time period specified in the SLA. Our team conducts incident response plan testing using a unfamiliar scenarios to ensure a time-sensitive and proportionate resolution of any security incident. Network Security: Our network security utilizes a layered approach to prevent unauthorized access. Change management and configuration reviews ensure that our network remains operational and secure to exceed our partners' expectations for availability. Data Protection: Technical controls provide a tough layer of defense to protect partner data. All endpoints (servers, workstations and laptops) use centrally managed Antivirus with a management console server that ensures enterprise protection and full compliance reporting. Full-disk encryption protects all workstations and laptops to mitigate the loss or theft of a system. Any sensitive data transmitted over any network, whether internal or external, is encrypted. Host Data Loss prevention (DLP) on all workstations and laptops protects against unauthorized transfer of data by identifying sensitive content and applying blocking/alerting protocols. Google Mobile Device Management (MDM) is used on all mobile devices with access to TSD Global's Google Apps. Additional measures include minimum passcode length, device idle lock and remote wipe of data for lost or stolen devices. Configuration Standards: Secure system build standards across all endpoints and network devices enforce a consistent security baseline throughout the organization. This includes the management of default configurations, encryption of administrative access and robust systems hardening to reduce attack surface to only secure services. All assets are managed through a centralized change control process and a configuration management database in accordance with ITILv3 IT Service Management standards. Access Control Measures: All users are managed through centralized access controls. Users have unique IDs, and access rights are defined by job functions and based upon the principle of least privilege. Active Directory Domain Service enforces password complexity, expiration and account lockout controls. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is required for all remote access to our network, and 2FA is required for the use of privileged accounts to ensure secure access to corporate networks and critical system administration consoles. Log Monitoring and Management: Security monitoring focuses on data moving on the internal network, associates' actions on our systems and awareness of external vulnerabilities. The Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) system stores security and audit logs from all mission-critical systems for analysis and reporting in a central location. The automated audit trails allow us to reconstruct user activity to identify and stop malicious actions. The system file integrity monitoring (FIM) on all critical servers in the production environment is also tracked via the SIEM. Vulnerability Management: We regularly conduct internal and external vulnerability reviews for all systems. Our IT Security team is tasked with tracking and following up on vulnerabilities, which may require remediation. When a vulnerability has been identified, it is logged, prioritized according to severity and assigned to an owner. These issues are tracked until remediation can be verified. We use a centralized patch management system to push operating system and application patches to all endpoints and network gear on a scheduled basis or as immediately in the case of critical security patches.

TSD Global Restaurant Division Deck

How Restaurant Call Centers Are Increasing Sales And Improving Guest Experiences Restaurant call centers have been a growing trend recently. With rising labor and food costs restaurant profit margins are being squeezed. TSD Global, a Fortune 500 focused award winning restaurant call center outsourcing company has been a pioneer in the space. TSD Global has been known as a sales powerhouse in the industry, streamlining customer service and sales for brands like AT&T, Century Link, SiriusXM, and Citibank. Our clients have called TSD Global their secret weapon for growth because we have booked and retained  millions of customers for their brands. A couple years ago, TSD Global was looking for new verticals to expand, and add massive value for clients. We determined we could add tremendous value to the restaurant industry by streamlining catering and call-in orders, as well as schedule reservations for major restaurant chains. Now TSD Global’s restaurant division works with some of the largest fast causal and quick service restaurant chains in the country including one of the top 5 largest fast casual chains in the world. The reason restaurant chains are seeing massive benefits from partnering with restaurant call centers is the up-sell opportunities the call center teams create.  Many restaurant chains hire 16 or 17 year old kids who are not financially incentivized to up-sell and never try to help a customer perfect their order. At TSD Global our restaurant call center teams get bonuses from up-selling and are constantly a/b testing scripts to see what script increases their clients average order size. The customer also appreciates the knowledge of our virtual servers in helping select the perfect meal. For example TSD Global has worked with one of the fastest growing sub chains in the US and within 30 days of working with them our up-sell  rate was  30% on orders taken. The up-sell alone virtually paid for the cost of TSD Global’s services. Another major benefit restaurants have seen is the improvement in customer satisfaction scores through TSD Global’s restaurant teams. TSD Global’s call center teams wear noise canceling headsets that block out background noise and allow for a quiet and pleasant phone ordering experience. In house restaurant employees have also been raving about partnering with TSD Global because it makes their job much easier. Your in house employees don’t have to worry about answering the phone ever. Your employees can just focus on providing an exceptional customer experience to the guests inside your restaurant. Our services build amazing brand experiences and are creating positive Tweets and Yelp reviews online. There are only a few  restaurant call centers in the business and most of them use what is called “at home” agents. At first people thought this was great because it would allow even greater cost savings. But the problem has been that it is very challenging training reps and can result in distractions such as a dog barking or a child crying in the background. All of TSD Global’s call center teams are in our state of the art contact centers and report to a team of supervisors who are constantly training our restaurant call center teams. Our quality assurance teams also score every call on a 5 star rating system. If a rep scores below a four star rating than they are pulled off the floor and report for more training. When TSD Global partners with a new restaurant client we typically send our Head of Training to work in one of our new client restaurant for 7 to 14 days to learn the ins and outs of what its actually like to work inside the restaurant. After detailing this experience,  our Head of Training starts building training materials to recreate a similar culture  and style inside of one of our contact centers. Our restaurant teams go through daily training and are constantly role playing different ordering scenarios to be prepared for anything. TSD Global’s restaurant division offers a 30 day pilot test to prove out our model. Typically we recommend our pilot test only to be at 5 to 20 locations. From there we can scale up very quickly and add  an additional 50 to 100 locations at a time, then from there we can do a full scale rollout to all of your locations. Security is a major priority for TSD Global and we are fully committed to maintaining above industry standard security certifications by investing in our people, process, and technology. We accomplish this by exceeding the standards set by governing authorities like the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). TSD Global has achieved PCI DSS Level 1 certification from a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and has achieved the SOC 2 Type 1 audit certification for our call center sites. Both of these certifications require stringent annual audits by a certified third party, and include onsite visits, along with internal and external penetration tests. TSD Global’s IT team can build out custom integrations into our clients POS systems and always work  to find the best solution to  integrate with our clients. TSD Global is very flexible and can even utilize your own  online ordering platform if you would like. POS systems we’ve worked with are Clover, NCR Silver, Toast and many others. TSD Global has thousands of call center agents both in the US and at our award winning contact center in the Philippines. Based on our clients' needs we can build an onshore or an offshore restaurant team. We also have several pricing models,  such as pricing per minute, hour, flat fee per order, or a percentage of the ticket. TSD Global works with our clients to ensure they see a significant ROI and base the pricing model around ultimate ROI for clients. Please contact CMO Nick Tubis- Nick.Tubis@tsdglobal.com or 858-342-4069    

The 5 Steps to Effective Customer Service Training For many of your customers, the customer service center is their primary touch point with your company. It's vital that your customer service outsourcing partner has an effective training program that supports your company's brand promises across all channels. The basis for an effective customer-service training program is a successful transfer of knowledge. Each customer service agent must have a solid foundation of information and brand personality that drives their daily engagements with customers. Each new hire must receive the right information, and ongoing employees should receive refresher training on a regular basis. The right training can help create a passion for your brand and deliver meaningful customer engagement that builds loyalty. In fact, recent research shows that customers care more about high-quality customer service than any brand attributes. Over the past 30 years, TSD Global has developed a deep understanding of training for customer service outsourcing relationships that deliver results. While it's hard to share all of our experience, here's a look at five steps we know to be critical in developing successful, sustainable training programs. 1. Create Objectives and Outcomes: Develop and share the objectives and outcomes that will define success for the program. Start with what you want people to know and the behaviors they should demonstrate. Engage subject matter experts in determining appropriate outcomes. Work with internal stakeholders to define metrics and expectations for your customer experience team. 2. Develop Targeted Content: Invest in creating your own content strategy with training manuals, service bulletins, a knowledge base and other resources in digital or physical forms, or both. This strategy is the key to launching a sustainable, repeatable process that transmits and reinforces critical institutional knowledge that supports your customer service outsourcing partners. Ensure that agents have easy access to the documents so they can meet customer needs. To ensure quality, invest in professional training manual development. 3. Use Creative Content Delivery: Effective training shouldn't be boring. Use varied techniques that take into account different learning styles and are relevant to the content. Agents will be more attentive if they are fully engaged. Use visual and auditory learning techniques such as gamification, side-jacking and role-playing exercises. 4. Track Training Effectiveness: Conduct formal and informal evaluations throughout the training cycle. The feedback can help develop plans for future sessions and identify leaders and those who may need additional help. Shortly after they start working on the account, interview trainees about how the training prepared them for the task. 5. Continuous Training: Regularly assess and coach the customer service agents to help them develop and identify content for additional and refresher training. Develop constant monitoring and feedback loops as part of the quality assurance process to aid in training development. TSD Global’s innovative training program is one of the best in the customer service outsourcing space because it is based on a full range of training strategies. The program uses role-playing, tests, product knowledge training, vocal training, as a several week nesting period of training with our top agents. The varied teaching approaches ensure trainees are fully engaged and attentive and lead to a high level of retention. Our infrastructure of more than 1,800 agents worldwide reflects the excellent performance that our training program produces. TSD Global can streamline your call center outsourcing functions in a cost-effective and efficient way. To ensure your customer service outsourcing partner will support your brand promises and build customer loyalty, talk to TSD Global today.

How To Drive Your Net Promoter Score With These 5 Steps The Net Promoter Score is a measure of customer loyalty based on the answer to a single question: “How likely are you to recommend this business to a friend or colleague?” The result is an index from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others. Scores from 0 to 6 are called "Detractors," who are much less likely to purchase again and could harm the company's reputation through complaints. Answers in the 7-8 range are called "Passives," who could easily switch due to lower prices or other transactional factors. The highest scores of 9-10 are "Promoters." They are more likely to be repeat buyers and enthusiastically recommend your products or services. To calculate the NPS the percentage of customers who answer 6 or lower (Detractors) is subtracted from the percentage that responds with a 9 to 10 (Promoters). NPS can range from -100 to +100. A negative score means everyone is a Detractor of the service, while a positive score indicates everyone is a Promoter. An NPS higher than 0 is considered good; higher than 50 is considered excellent. Since it was launched in 2003 by Bain & Company, many successful companies have come to rely on NPS as an indicator of business health. Companies use the NPS as a target to motivate employees to provide the best customer service possible. The goal is to convert customers who rated the company low on the scale into promoters who will promote the company organically, leading to increased revenues. In the age of instant reviews and social media outrage, companies have come to value customer service as a competitive differentiator. The NPS provides a foundation for building deeper customer relationships through a transformational service experience. We're seeing more companies turning to contact center outsourcing to improve their NPS. At TDS Global, our training, performance management and policies are designed to move more of your customers into the Promoter category. Empathy: We train call center agents to use active listening techniques, allow customers to speak and be heard. Understanding their real needs and solving their issue is more highly valued than merely following the script. Customers want to engage with real people. Assessment: As part of the active listening approach, find out what is most important to the customer and make every effort to complete a solution with a single call. We train agents to use their judgment, within brand guidelines, to gain the customer's confidence and satisfaction. Resolution: The ideal solution involves low effort from the customer. People usually just want to have their problem solved. Build in policies for escalation and offers available to make the customer happy in stressful situations. Follow Through: Make sure the customer is satisfied before the call ends by summarizing actions taken and what, if any, next steps there will be. Exceed expectations evenly slightly and customers will be satisfied. Delight: Interaction with the agent should transform the customer's experience from one of frustration or disappointment to a feeling of delight. Agents should have the latitude to deliver the "Wow" factor that leads people to share their experiences with friends and family. To improve your NPS, work with a call center outsourcing provider that understands what it takes to delight your customers. TSD Global can streamline your customer service functions in a cost-effective and efficient way that turns customers into your biggest marketing asset.

The success or failure of a call center depends on the management team. They are responsible for training and creating the environment that makes call center outsourcing an effective resource for companies that see service as a key brand differentiator. TSD Global has 30 years of experience in developing managers for call center outsourcing clients. We'll share some of our knowledge gained over the years in identifying and nurturing top performers to become leaders. The place to look for successful candidates for a management team is within the pool of existing call center agents. Have a process in place to identify and develop future manager candidates so they are ready when you need them. Let candidates know they are being evaluated and identified for possible promotion. Here are five steps to developing managers for call center outsourcing providers. 5 Steps to Call Center Outsourcing Management Success Selection: Develop criteria to identify potential candidates for management development. Often, leaders will surface during the interview process and in the early days of training. Stars often shine early. Factors to rank candidates: Training performance Interpersonal interactions Coachability Professionalism Questions and Observations Communication and motivation skills Observation: Trainers and current managers should observe candidates abilities in various situations that reveal their commitment and motivation. Put them in situations that require critical thinking and strategic perspective to beyond the basics of the job. Self-directed thinking regarding process improvements and personal performance Ability to adapt to unfamiliar situations Their attitude toward customer service - empathy is key Their personal brand - is it consistent, capable and confident?   Shadowing: Have the candidates shadow their manager during their full daily routine. Let them see first hand the details and realities that go into leading a team of people and building a culture focused on excellence. Observe positive interactions with call center staff and client contacts. Become familiar with the metrics and analysis used to manage operations and agent performance Develop candidate presentation skills through presenting learnings from the day and their analysis of the metrics relating to service level performance. Review the candidates' experiences and observations from the daily activities. Develop Skills: Put in place programs and processes to develop management candidates, building on their strengths to encourage top performers. TSD Global’s training program is a recognized leader in the sales and customer service outsourcing space because it is focused on developing high-performance individuals who are equipped to succeed. Our training regimen involves role-playing, tests, product knowledge training and vocal training, as well as a shadowing period with current top agents. Invest in Growth: Create both formal and informal opportunities and situations for candidates to develop their strengths. For example, give candidates with strong teaching skills the opportunity to assist with training early in their tenure. Strong trainers are a vital component of an effective customer service outsourcing program. Create a culture of learning, which includes room for failures and mistakes from outside-the-box thinking. View mistakes as teachable moments rather than reasons for punitive action. Have the hard conversations regarding performance. Candidates will appreciate and benefit from candid, honest evaluations of their effectiveness, and concrete guidance for improvement. The customer service agents are the face of your brand to your customers, so they should be guided and directed toward excellence. Partner with a customer service outsourcing provider that has a comprehensive management training philosophy that aligns with your organization's culture.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) has transformed from a cost-cutting tactic to a strategy that supports business goals and objectives. Leading organizations look to their BPO partners to drive transformational change and improve business results. In the Deloitte 2016 Global Outsourcing Survey, more than 57% of participants used a BPO to allow them to focus on the organization's core business. Of course, labor cost reduction is still a factor, but other primary drivers to pivot to BPO include enabling core business functions and solving capacity issues. Since it was founded in 1989, TSD Global has helped companies transition from costly in-house processes that don't meet expectations to exceeding performance goals with a BPO relationship. From our viewpoint, key client benefits are accuracy, productivity and flexibility. We measure customer service agents on their compliance with scripts, adherence to processes and productivity relative to service level goals. Flexibility is key as it is much more cost-effective for the BPO provider to scale up to adjust staff sizes to match workload surges or to manage new programs. Making similar adjustments with an in-house staff is not cost effective. With the flexibility of a BPO partner, the client gets the work done in an accurate, timely and cost-effective manner. TSD Global streamlines streamline your customer outreach functions in a cost-effective and efficient way. Let's look at a few examples. In one case, a leading U.S. bank tapped TSD Global as its BPO provider to run a major credit card acquisition program. The internal team was not specialized in sales and customer service. The bank needed a partner that could supply this skills set but also ensure strict compliance with scripts and accurately track key metrics. TSD developed an inbound/outbound program for an array of customer service functions, using effective up-sell and cross-sell strategies as well as effective retention strategies. The program delivered 97% call compliance, 97% script adherence, and increased conversion rates by 21%. For a leading global online retailer, TSD Global built a turnkey BPO solution that dramatically increased efficiency and customer satisfaction. The TSD team took over the customer support function for the company within 30 days and managed over 10,000 interactions per month. Response time dropped from a matter of days to less than three hours. The new BPO solution provides 24x7 omni channel support. Key success metrics include increasing average customer order size by 12%, reducing abandoned calls by 38%, increasing CSAT scores by 31%, and boosting upsell sales by 22%. With the business process outsourcing success, the client has been able to focus on scaling the business backed by a solid foundation of customer service. Our restaurant division, which handles telephone and online orders and reservations, consistently increases average phone order ticket size by 15% while reducing costs up to 40%. These results reflect TSD’s investment in people, technology, quality assurance, and data analysis. Our performance management and agent coaching practices are utilized to exceed client expectations without fail.  

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How To Save Money With Business Process Outsourcing Overview: In the ongoing search for a competitive advantage, organizations are altering their focus from lowering the cost of labor to building strategic relationships with business process outsourcing (BPO) providers. The 2016 Global Outsourcing Survey from Deloitte surveyed leaders of organizations of all sizes and representing geographic footprints in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The leaders reported a clear shift from traditional labor cost cutting to an emphasis on driving innovation and value for their organizations. The trends reflect new perspectives on outsourcing. While still a priority, cost cutting is no longer the primary driver for Business process outsourcing adoption. Instead, about half of (47%) the organizations in the survey identified their service providers as business enablers, supporting innovation and business transformation, rather than playing the labor arbitrage game to reduce costs. More organizations are opting for outsourcing not just to reduce costs, but to also take advantage of the value-added services provided by Business process outsourcing providers. The value proposition for call center outsourcing has transformed from a labor arbitrage cost containment strategy to one that focuses on delivering business outcomes. As consumers across all ages and demographics adopt digital customer service channels such as chat, mobile, web, and social, they now expect relevant and friction-free omni channel customer service. And customers expect cross-channel context, i.e. the customer service outsourcing rep will have access to the information they previously entered into the chat bot. BPO vendors stay on the leading edge of these changes, making them the top choice to build an omni channel customer service strategy. In the Deloitte survey more than 50% of participants found that third-party advisors added value during strategic assessment, business-case development, RFP/vendor selection, and negotiation and contracting. It's clear leading organizations look to their Business process outsourcing partners to drive transformational change and improve business results. Disruption Driving Change in BPO Strategies Digital disruption has changed the competitive landscape for organizations over the past few years. The growing number of channels available for consumers to interact with companies has changed consumer behaviors and expectations. Consumers are no longer bound to interacting with organizations in brick-and-mortar locations, or via a telephone-based call center. The convenience and control offered by mobile access has created a class of consumers that are always connected to friends, communities and organizations literally around the world. Digital and mobile offerings have given rise to disruption in almost every industry sector. And organizations have capitalized on the transformative capabilities of consumer-based technologies and changing consumer behavior to reinvent how consumers receive goods and services. Responding to disruption has forced organizations to seek out new strategies to win and retain customers. That's why innovation and customer service management have supplanted labor cost as the key drivers for business seeking to gain competitive advantage. BPO Strategies Accelerate Business Transformation The shift away from labor arbitrage as a key Business process outsourcing strategy has opened the door for value based solutions to meet the new requirements of clients Organizations understand the importance of customer call centers in the trajectory of a business, including the ability to retain top talent and align with internal and external compliance requirements while providing enhanced value to their customers, KPMG reports. This is significant shift in the priority of call centers over the previous 5 to 10 years. While the ubiquity of information has changed how consumers find information — think FAQs, instructional videos, user forums —there's still a demand for live interaction from a significant portion of the population. More than 50% of customers in a recent NICE inContact survey still prefer agent-assisted inbound/outbound phone calls for fastest resolution, even though most businesses offer a range of agent-assisted and self-service channels: online chat/video, SMS, social media. In the survey, businesses and customers concurred that call centers should direct customers to the channel that resolve their situation in the quickest way. Call center experts continue to recognize the value of trained and experienced agents who possess the knowledge and the empathy to ensure the interaction with the customer meets expectations in a timely, thorough, and successful manner. They are reluctant to rely solely on technology for all interactions. During this transitional phase, the human element is being augmented with technology in order to stay competitive. In the near future, call centers will take more advantage of automation for repeated and repeatable types of transactions and contacts. Digital native consumers value moving through self help options at their own speed, while also valuing the capability to reach a live agent when necessary. Often, simply having the option to contact an agent will give a user the confidence to use self-help technology for initial solutions. The basic digital service solutions on the market today are know as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which are capable of handling processes based on structured data and fixed rules. RPAs are best deployed in low-value, back-office functions such as form-filling and invoice processing that is still often completed with human labor. Deploying RPA will help reduce errors, speed up interactions and reduce the cost of operation. Allowing a customer the option to speak to a representative at any point during the contact is still important to the overall experience and helps minimize the potential for negative feedback. It is also expensive, requiring well-trained representatives with knowledge readily available to effectively answer questions or reach an acceptable resolution. For many BPO clients, a mix of live agents and self-help technology delivers the optimum mix of personal engagement and speedy service. For a large swath of the customer base, the ability to interact with a live agent that is trained to actively listen to and demonstrate empathy is vital to achieving a high level of satisfaction. In the not too distant future, artificial intelligence technologies will be perfect the capability to detect tone and emotions, delivering a realistic yet automated customer interaction. Deliver Customer Experience with a BPO Strategy In today's world of likes and thumbs-up reviews, customers influence how a company is perceived for its products and services. Today, companies are coming to understand that customer experience may be the only sustainable competitive advantage left to them. As Gartner writes, "Customer experience is the new battlefield.5 " Revenue-driven companies are partnering with Business process outsourcing providers to deliver a more seamless and enjoyable customer experience. BPO Call Center Strategies from TSD Global Customer Experience: 95% of companies fail to exceed customer expectations. Join that elite 5% who do, by letting our designers reimagine your inbound customer experience to eliminate churn and increase NPS. Speed to Lead: Leads are 21x more likely to convert if contacted within the first 5 minutes. Activate instant response rates to drive drastically more revenue through your sales team. Technical Support: 95% of dissatisfied consumers tell others about their bad experience. We bridge the satisfaction gap with soothing technical expertise and truly tenacious troubleshooting. Lead Qualification: According to Salesforce.com, only 25% of leads are legitimate and should be passed to Sales. TSD Global can help ensure qualified leads get to the right teams and unqualified leads won’t clog your pipeline. Customer Retention: It costs 10x more to acquire a customer than to keep one. TSD Global has experience helping many Fortune 500 companies retain their customers with scalable and responsive customer support services. Let us help you retain and grow your customer base. Consumer Sales: Businesses have a 60% to 70% chance of selling to an existing customer while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5% to 20%. TSD Global can boost retention and increase your market. Technology Innovation: TSD Global isn’t just an outsourcing company, we have partnered with the most cutting edge technology firms in the US to create products that help clients see the largest ROI on our services. Some of our technology products include Visual IVR’s, AI Voice Bots, and other proprietary tools. With developments in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, customer service will get smarter. Consumers are being trained by the likes of Siri and Alexa to ask complex questions naturally. The intelligent agents will add a conversational tone to self-service content, leading customers to the preferred answers based on context and prior queries. These intelligent agents will make it easier to deliver the right information to the right user at the right time. Intelligent agents will also guide customers to agents who are best equipped to answer their questions and solve their problems, and even guide customers to the next steps based on their current behavior. Customers are becoming accustomed to relying on self-service for basic interactions, leaving agents to address complex issues like account closure or claims disputes. These more involved issues are positive opportunities to build long-lasting customer relationships. BPO Economics: With the growth of outsourced workers and the focus on delivering great customer experiences, organizations are re-evaluating the value of labor. More organizations are shifting from outsourcing for labor arbitrage toward the business benefits of using a BPO provider. In a comparison of in-house and outsourcing labor efficiencies, look at the big picture. For an in-house agent, the company pays 100 percent of the labor cost. In the business-process outsourcing model, you pay only for the time the agent is productive for your company. You don't pay for the time the agent waits for the phone to ring, or the time they spend in training or other meetings. Typically, the outsourcing client pays for about 85 percent of an agent's time. For example, one of our top agents working at a call center in Indiana costs $24-$27 per hour. For an employee, you pay 100 percent of that cost. With an outsourced call center model, using the above productivity projection of 85 percent, that same agent will cost you $20.40 to $22.95 per hour. That's an overhead reduction of 15 percent from the start. With an offshore call centers, the math works the same, starting with base salaries of $13-$15. We typically see at least a 15 percent reduction in FTE costs through shared pool options during lower volume hours of operation. Our call center technology increases the efficiency of our agents. We cross train and time shift tasks as needed to ensure a high level of satisfaction with your customer base. The BPO rate that TSD Global charges you is an "all in" rate, not ala carte or cost plus or anything else. The hourly or per minute rate includes training and project management costs. It also includes the technology stack, and as the BPO provider we are responsible for ensuring the software and hardware are up to date, as well as managing security issues. The BPO provider shoulders the risks associated with human resources and technology management. The client benefits from the service without the overhead and investment. In the Deloitte survey it's clear that organizations are attracted to the emerging trend incorporating enhanced service level agreements and governance structures to evolved the their relationship with BPO providers. Organizations that value customer service as a key competitive differentiator are choosing BPO partners that share their strategy of achieving measurable business benefits rather than cutting costs. Contact us here: PH: 888-646-6626 Contact Us Here About TSD Global: TSD Global is an award winning global customer care and back office outsourcing company. They have been called the secret weapon for growth of some of the world’s most notable brands and companies. Since 1989 TSD Global has been a leader in helping companies acquire and retain millions of customers for Fortune 50 clients. TSD Global offers a full omni-channel solution including voice, chat, email, and SMS text to some of the largest companies in the US. They support businesses in many growth verticals such as technology, telecommunications, home services, and financial services. TSD Global is based in Indianapolis, Indiana and operates customer experience centers in the U.S. and Philippines. SOURCES 1 Deloitte. "2016 Global Outsourcing Survey." 2016. 2 Forrester Research Inc. "Use Outsourcers to Build Your Omnichannel Customer Service Future." 2015. 3 KPGM International. "Next Generation Contact Centers." 2015. 4 NICE inContact. "CX Transformation Benchmark Study." 2017. 5 Jake Sorofman, Gartner, Inc. "Gartner Surveys Confirm Customer Experience is the New Battlefield." 2014.        

How To Cut Labor Costs with Business Process Outsourcing As people and companies become more connected in the digital age, companies are looking beyond simply focusing on the cost of labor in using business process outsourcing (BPO) services. Of course, cost is still a top priority. According to the Deloitte 2016 Global Outsourcing Survey, the top two reasons for using BPO were cost cutting (59%) and focusing on the organization's core business (57%). But companies are looking for more than traditional labor-cost cutting. Leading organizations look to their BPO partners to drive transformational change and improve business results. In the same survey, more than 50% of participants found that third-party advisors added value during strategic assessment, business case development, RFP/vendor selection, and negotiation and contracting. In addition to labor cost reduction, primary drivers to outsource to BPO include enabling core business functions and solving capacity issues. The low-cost labor equation has changed how companies approach the value of outsourcing. No longer is the formula as simple as issuing an RFP (the process used by 95% of companies) and selecting the lowest price. Now companies are looking to partner with service providers that have evolved their models and methods to better meet changing business and financial objectives. In all types of industries, relentless disruption has forced organizations to seek out new solutions to remain relevant in the marketplace and build customer loyalty. To do so, innovation and customer experience management have become the key drivers for businesses seeking to gain competitive advantage. The top 3 corporate functions that are currently outsourced are IT (72%); Legal (63%); and Real Estate & Facilities Management (60%), according to the Deloitte Outsourcing Survey. The top function that respondents said they would increase the use of outsourcing is finance. Currently, 42% outsource some portion of their finance operations, and 36% said they would increase the use of outsourcing there in the future. The KPMG Deal Tracker reports that clients preferred mid-tenure ideals for IT and other relationships, as 75 percent of the deals signed in 2016 were for one to five years long. The demand for call center outsourcing continues to grow as companies respond to digital-first consumers who expect to be able to contact the company through any channel at any time. They prize speed of information more than human interaction. While this type of consumer is becoming more common, the older demographic would rather engage with a person than rely on technology for anything more than a simple transaction. Effectively managing service delivery given the unpredictable nature of customers and their ever-changing perception of service has become even more challenging. The outsourced call center provider not only must ensure the right number of resources are staffed for expected demand, but also deploy the resources with the skills and technology to improve first contact resolution rates and fulfill consumer expectations. The shift to multi-channel contact has led businesses to rethink the delivery of the customer experience far beyond what they could deliver via an in-house contact center. Today's call center agent must be able to answers the phone and support customers through digital channels. BPO partners in the call-center space invest in the technology and training to deliver customer service via the multi-channel experience. But a successful BPO-call center engagement requires more than the latest chat apps and social media monitoring. For today's consumers, the ability to actively listen to the customer and demonstrate empathy is even more critical regardless of the contact channel involved. An outsourced call center understands the differentiators in delivering exceptional service.