Acticall Sitel Group is undergoing a “moment of transformation,” as they put it – “pivoting from a contact center to a group of global services, innovative and socially engaged, dedicated to providing exceptional customer experiences.” What this really means in a world overflowing with overhyped CX buzzwords isn’t easy to tell, and here’s what I learned as one of the analyst community members that spent time with Sitel executives and 70+ clients and prospects at its 2017 Miami Analyst Day and corresponding Customer Summit this week: that a company in transformation needs a North Star – one that is bright and shiny to illuminate the path forward. Acticall Sitel has a lot of stars, but it’s not yet clear which one will stand out to lead the way.<\/p>\n
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Diversification: The Ventures Ecosystem<\/strong><\/p>\n The “New Sitel” is the portfolio of companies: the traditional Sitel contact center business and a number of other “venture” companies brought on with Sitel’s acquisition by French based Acticall Group in 2015. This new Sitel has been a couple of years in the making, but the story that is emerging is an interesting and compelling one to buyers of contact center services and those of us who are enthusiasts of the contact center being a core element of customer experience design. A few highlights from the event:<\/p>\n The big picture of the new Sitel still seems a work in progress, especially in terms of commercial engagements, as the service provider retrains its sales staff and restructures incentives to more effectively sell across the ecosystem—but the passion and vision is certainly present. And Sitel is also investing in AI with a quality monitoring tool, empowering a trend the provider calls “botshore,” the use of bots as a lever along with offshore and nearshore options– a concept which jives well with HfS’ vision of using increasingly intelligent automation as just one of the levers to pull when it comes to engagements with service providers. <\/p>\n Pivoting the ventures toward American business will be a challenge, but very recent leadership additions, including a creative agency veteran in the role leading The Social Client and a BPO sales mogul in place leading sales in the Americas will bolster the potential for execution across the organization. Sitel will need to continue to think through the messaging and branding of these ventures: What truly represents the capability and value of each one and as part of the whole new business? For example, the name “The Social Client” is limiting and not representative of its capabilities. Sitel seems to be sitting on a gold mine and needs to unearth the potential to let it shine.<\/p>\n\n