A look at the top 3 latest BPO industry trends

2013 was a remarkable year for WNS Global Services South Africa. Not only did we see significant growth in company revenue, but we also saw a large number of new dynamic staff members join our team. The year was strewn with a number of awards and accolades, and, looking back, we can only build on this great success.

When looking forward, 2014 holds a great year for not only the company, but the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry as a whole. It is not short of any challenges, but exciting developments are likely to shape the industry. Here are a few examples of current trends within the BPO Industry:

Engaging with customers via social media in contact centres 

Humans have not become obsolete (yet) and will continue to play a crucial role in customer service. When the needs of a customer have not been met after trying out all of the self-service options available to them, they are likely to require the assistance of an actual person by speaking to them via a particular communication channel. With the rise of social media and increased mobile connectivity, the number of these communication platforms has increased and customer engagement via multiple channels is becoming increasingly necessary. In addition to communication via telephone, customer representatives are likely to communicate through web chat windows, by email and through social media such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

The rise of industry-specific service offerings

Over the years, BPO companies have helped clients beat their competitors by giving them smart solutions and interacting with their customers. Over this time, invaluable knowledge was gathered, which now gives BPO companies a better understanding of their clients’ industries and its customers. This knowledge can be shared with clients operating in various to help improve their business. For the same purpose of business improvement, clients want access to a particular function carried out by a team specialised in their respective industry. This shift makes it necessary for BPO companies to restructure the service offering model and ultimately create many specialised teams for each sector leading to the rise in new opportunities for internal employee development. 

Big data, analytics and transformation

Customer contact centres gather vast amounts of data on customers engaged with. When analysed, this data can be used to provide clients with transformational insights and help them improve their products and processes. Today, the mining of big data and undertaking of analytics is what clients expect from BPO companies. This client expectation and industry norm places great value on the credibility of data obtained and analysed by BPO companies, but at the same time it has the potential to see the continuous growth of its Research and Analytics divisions. 

From a local perspective

Thanks to the rise in cloud computing and the decrease in its cost, BPO companies are able to now to adapt their pricing models and offer more competitive pricing. This is further boosted by the weak Rand, making South Africa very appealing for international companies as an extension of their enterprise. 

When all of this is taken into consideration, together with other trends in the industry, it presents a positive outlook into the remainder of the year and first half of next year. However, challenges such as disruptive technology, political instability, tough economic conditions and the ever-changing behavioural patterns of customers places client organisations under pressure, but with a good value proposition and excellent service delivery these threatening factors can be offset. 

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Punches roll between Tweetdeck and Hootsuite - which is the betterTwitter client?

In an age where millions upon millions of apps are designed to make the lives of us humans easier, social media apps have not been excluded. As a working professional, staying abreast of your social media activity can be a bit challenging due to the various social media networks with which I have an account. Opening and closing browser tabs of respective social media sites are sometimes a dead giveaway that I am actively engaging on social media platforms during office hours. Enter Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, the solution to this first-world problem. 

Tweetdeck and Hootsuite were primarily designed for managing multiple Twitter accounts and the addition of managing other accounts on other social media networks were added later. These two clients are both convenient, but after using both of them, I prefer Hootsuite. Here’s why:

You can pull reports from it

Although this function is very basic as a free option and the more in detail reports will form part of the Pro paid-for version, it is nonetheless a nice feature, which Tweetdeck does not have. 

Easy user interface   

After trying out both applications, I just found Hootsuites user interface less complicated than that of Tweetdeck. It is easy to use and your respective social media accounts are easily visible and separated in a tab format as opposed to the column-like layout of Tweetdeck. At first impression, Hootsuite’s interface seemed very confusing and cluttered, but once I got used to it, the functionality of it grew on me and stuck.

Features

Tweetdeck is very simple and a bit shy on it’s feature endowment. Hootsuite on the other hand has an array of features which, once you get to figure out, makes things all the more convenient. I found that uploading images on Tweetdeck was a bit cumbersome and even so on the actual Twitter webpage, but uploading images to Hootsuite was a breeze and offered a few choices in terms of image sharing. In addition, Hootsuite, as well as Tweetdeck offered a URL shortening function, with Hootsuite’s option integrated into the application.

Think you're wasting your time with social media? You're not.

In a world when consumer complaints and feedback was sent via post to organisations, you would probably have to pinch yourself because you would be in a world where social media was is merely a name given to very talkative people working for a newspaper publication.

Fast forward a good few years to the digital age where social media adoption is booming and with this boom, smart brands are adapting and adopting the use of social media. Primitive brands stuck in the dark postal-era still fail to understand the value of social media and ask themselves, “Are we wasting our time with social media?” Here’s a simple explanation why not.

Brands should not be deterred from having a social media presence nor should they question the value of their current presence because, existing brands that are already engaging on social media platforms have an advantage over other competitor brands and should just keep at it. Why do I say this?

Previously, companies had to fork out a fortune to get feedback from their customers through customer satisfaction surveys or focus groups, whereas now through simple engagement on social media platforms customers provide the same important feedback about their likes, dislikes and preferences, for free. So, looking directly at its effect on the bottom line, social media is a tool that can save companies money.

Now, some brands have decided to create a few accounts on a few social media platforms, but don’t know what to say and are inactive. Big mistake. The importance of active social media engagement with consumers, especially in the event of a crisis, should not be discounted or ignored by brands. Ignoring the discussions online won't stop the discussion, it will just mean that customers will take it somewhere else, which will likely just result in unintended negative consequences. 

So, to save money and avoid any unexpected brand damage – hold fast onto your social media presence, engage regularly and adapt to the relevant changes to come, because that is inevitable.

Viral Videos 101: How to polish your brand's Gangnam Style and do the Harlem Shake

If the terms ‘Gangnam Style’ or ‘Harlem Shake’ are unfamiliar to you and you still call Corn Flakes Post Toasties, you may want to have a look around you because you could possibly be a resident of an aged care facility without your knowledge. Fret not, these two terms refer to two recent Internet sensations which, through the creation and posting of a video to YouTube (a website where you can watch hours of video tapes – without the tapes), have gone viral the world over. 

Both Gangnam Style and the Harlem Shake videos are examples of the immense power that videos on the Internet possess – if they go viral that is. In terms of brand exposure, companies able to create videos and have it go viral can strike brand gold. The Gangnam Style video by Korean rap artist Psy has, since its debut on YouTube in July last year, been viewed over 1.5 billion times. Even only a small percentage of the amount of views this video received can result in a brand experiencing great exposure. But, how do you do it?

Firstly, business product tutorials or corporate profile videos created will not go viral – unless they feature a singing dog or the CEO falling off his chair unexpectedly.  It is often the role of the marketing advisor or PR agency to ensure any boring ideas along these lines are scuppered. Rather, think funny, weird, cute, insightful or just plain outrageous. That should do it. 

Well, almost. There are a few other key factors to bear in mind when creating a viral video to gain brand exposure.

Recruit kick-starters

Sharing is not only caring, but seriously powerful when aiming to get a video off the ground.  Creating a video that appeals to people who have a large online following, or super connected on various networks, can lead to them sharing the video and, through this endorsement, their followers are likely to share it too - and so the video begins its viral life. 

With over 72 hours of video uploaded to the Internet every minute, a brand’s video can easily just become a drop in the YouTube ocean. However,  by simply sending the video link to influencers, whether it be bloggers, celebrities, writers or even posting it to sites with a large visitor base, brands can give their video the kick-start it needs to go viral.

Make them want to chip in

What makes some viral videos so great is its participation factor, which allows the regular man on the street to take part in some way. Take the Harlem Shake for example, a video bedded on a music track by DJ Baauer where a guy in a costume dances alone and when the beat kicks in, other people appear and go raucous with random props. The 30 second long clip (With ADHD a feature of the social media generation, short videos are good), with a set two-part structure gave the whole world a reason to dress in costumes and go crazy in their own personalised Harlem Shake videos. This is the essence of what a viral video should do – going crazy is optional though. People instinctively want to become part of the phenomenon by spreading it or creating something new with it. 

WTF?!

That should be the exact effect a video has on its viewers. Unexpectedness and an element of surprise are crucial to ensure a sharing action by its viewers and resultant virality. It’s all a psychological game. By creating the video, brands should aim to generate some sort of psychological response from its viewers.

If a brand can make a person feel strongly about something, they are more likely to pass it on. More often than not, brands think the only psychological response to go for is humour. Unfortunately, everybody thinks they are funny, but not everybody is funny. Luckily, if you know you aren’t funny, going for the heart-strings can have a similar psychological response. So does a bit of quirk, nostalgia, exhilaration, cuteness and anger.

Know your audience and don’t bore them

Knowing your audience is critical to ensure that the desired psychological response is experienced by your target audience. Having the right people view it and experience the desired response can accelerate the rate at which it goes viral. 

The power and sustainability of online videos as a marketing tool for brands should not be underestimated. Once a viral video is released from your brand stable, an expectation is formed by those who viewed it. If good, they would want more. Look at Psy and his second video, Gentleman. In five days, he raked in over 159 million views. This may sound unattainable for mere mortals or brands, but trigger the right emotions and it can certainly become a possibility.

Return of the Mack

After an embarrassingly long period of rest, I've decided to return to the blogosphere. Yes, that's right - a strong effort will be made to keep to regular posting. Unlike other new year's resolutions, I intend to stick to this one.

So much has happened since my previous post online and it will be foolish to think that I can fill in all of the gaps from then to now. So, I'll attempt to highlight the key milestones only - here goes:

- I graduated
- I am completing my post-grad part time
- Lost a very dear loved one (my dad)
- Entered the world of work - subsequently received two promotions
- A few failed relationships. Eh..
- Accepted the reality of having significantly less hair
- Grew spiritually, but that is getting a bit too deep....

Right, now that a rough idea of where I'm at currently is out there, I can resume my posting (I'd hate for us not to be on the same page). I'm still in the process of deciding on what focus my blog should take, but knowing myself I see it growing organically. So, watch this space for a few thoughts, frustrations and generally interesting stuff from the inside of my head - a hub of sarcasm, humour, confusion and crazy ideas. Welcome (back) to my blog. My melting pot.

FNB ads voicing SA youth qualms dubbed 'treasonous' by ANCYL

First National Bank, one of South Africa's 'big four' banks, launched its You Can Help campaign aimed at highlighting the concerns of the country's youth revealed in their responses to a recent survey. Not long after launching the campaign the bank was slammed by the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) calling the campaign 'treasonous'.

The campaign which consisted of a television advertisement as well as a micro-site containing blog posts with unscripted videos of young South Africans voicing their concerns and optimism about the country. The ANCYL failed to see the very evident positive perception held by the youth voiced in the videos but rather called for the advertisements to be banned.

Reports by various media houses said that the bank will pull the advertisements which begs the question; are South African corporate companies too easily bullied by political parties and insecure about their right to freedom of speech, or do they have too many politically related business interests which outweigh the seemingly puny return on investment of their marketing campaigns?

Whatever the answer to that question may be, it is highly concerning - selfish in both instances. Nonetheless, the perceptions brought to light are very positive and it is reassuring to know the the born-free post-1994 generation is optimistic about their future and have a sense of direction of some sort. The glaring conclusion that the ANCYL feels threatened by the opinion and optimism of their own soon-to-be members is extremely funny and equally worrying.

In their latest media report FNB have come out to say that they will not pull the advertisements and denied all claims in planning to do so, but will only retract the blog posts containing the videos of the kids to protect them from public harm.

However this corporate vs political party battle is to play out, FNB will be laughing all the way to the bank - one of their own branches - obviously - where they'll be greeted by head-hunted Steve. The publicity mileage gained in the short space of time has been remarkable. Public responses have come in their droathes and thousands have flocked online to comment about and view the campaign. This is any marketing campaign's intended result.

With the bank's share price showing positive growth after the launch, this is certainly to be mirrored by South Africans ditching their banks and switching to the bank that gives a voice to the voiceless - without the beep. Who knows, they could get enough revenue as a result of this to splurge on another heartwrenching multi-million Rand campaign in the near future to add to their shitload (read beep) of advertisements currently running.

Was this a good campaign? By the responses alone, most certainly.