Home > Columns > Executive Interviews

IntouchCX Executive Interview

Click on image below to read the ebook

Today, Sheri Greenhaus, Managing Partner of CrmXchange, speaks with Chris Wallace, Senior Vice President of Global Growth at IntouchCX, to discuss the Company's innovative strategies and technology solutions. From revolutionizing customer service to prioritizing employee well-being, IntouchCX's approach combines culture, technology, and innovation to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Sheri: Please tell us about IntouchCX and the relationship with Laivly. 

Chris: Laivly was started within IntouchCX. It was a technology that we needed; focusing on automation and agent-focused systems. A lot of what Laivly creates is first incubated within IntouchCX as IntouchCX became the conduit for us to pilot and fine-tune these technologies before they went to market. Laivly is now an independent solution.

Sheri: How do all your solutions fit together – IntouchCX and Laivly? 

Chris: Our unique holistic approach connects the dots between people, processes, and technology. This includes a bespoke suite of IntouchAI solutions, and this is where Laivly fits in with us. Both companies work together to innovate. There are products that Laivly teams have created exclusively for IntouchCX that are not available to anyone else.

Sheri: Please give me an overview of IntouchCX and its family of solutions. 

Chris: BPO wasn't a term that existed when we were born as a company. Our origin story goes back to 2000, when the Internet was just starting to become a part of e-commerce. Our company started in a small town in Canada, founded by Jeff and Greg Fettes, two brothers. They were comfortable with technology and saw an opportunity to power a contact center and create a customer service experience as an answering service but leveraging new technologies. We built modules and other technologies to assist associates and ensure consistency. Initially, we were a shared services call center, but we eventually matured into an enterprise organization with dedicated associates for each brand, region, country, or language. This helped us mature our company over the years.

Today, IntouchCX is a global leader in customer experience management, digital engagement, and AI and automation solutions. We have around 26,000+ team members, and we're doubling in size in Q4 with various ramps during the holiday period. Our client partners are investing in customer experience and the contact center as a strategic asset, not just a cost center. They put value and effort into creating beautiful spaces to immerse the brand experience and bring the brand to life. Our team members work on behalf of other companies, and those companies are as invested in our people as we are.

Sheri: What would you say is your strength among all the other BPOs here?

Chris: Our focus on well-being for our people is tremendously valuable. We focus on the individual, creating career paths, promotions from within, and tools like our Pathfinder program. This program helps new hires develop a profile and future goals, whether they want to be in training, quality, or pursue professional roles and education. We're definitely a people-first organization.

Another factor that makes us competitive is our adoption of technology and willingness to try new things. We consider ourselves innovators and bring that idea of innovation to our business relationships, not just following orders but actively contributing ideas.

Sheri: Do you have dedicated agents for some of your customers?

Chris: Yes, we do. The evolution of our work started with shared services, which made sense initially and was script-driven. Now, we're off-script, making connections and having meaningful dialogues. Team members chosen for each brand are specifically brought on to support only that brand. We take them through cultural simulations, representing scenarios they might encounter in their job positions to find the right fit for each brand's experience.

Sheri: Do your customers and partners help with training, and are they very involved in what you're doing? 

Chris: The best partnerships are those where both organizations actively invest. We want our client partners to be involved, especially with the first group when setting the foundation. It’s crucial to define what it means to support and be part of the brand together. We encourage our client partners to join us during the initial training sessions. Some even work within our offices, offering transparency and collaboration, which strengthens our partnership. Everyone sees the same information, which is vital for effective collaboration.

Sheri: Is your work a mix of sales and customer service?

Chris: At IntouchCX, we have specific KPIs to meet, some of which are sales-related. For instance, in retail, we focus on maintaining high cart values or retention rates in subscription models. We approach conversations without strict scripts. We don't aim for hard sales but rather focus on service-oriented sales and loyalty. When customers inquire about new products or services, we educate them and facilitate the sale organically.

Sheri: Can you discuss the technology used within IntouchCX and how it's different? 

Chris: We adopt many technologies used by our client partners. IntouchCX doesn't dictate systems; instead, we offer systems and technologies when partners don't have their own. Most enterprise companies have existing tech stacks, and our solutions can integrate seamlessly within it. If a partner uses a specific technology, we are often added as users rather than acquiring the technology ourselves.

We sometimes operate in environments with multiple BPOs, which is healthy for competition. Our value comes from integrating automation systems, like Laivly, which work seamlessly with existing technologies through No APIs, making implementation easy.

Sheri: What does Laivly do for the end user? 

Chris: Laivly focuses on improving the agent experience. While AI is common on the front end, Laivly enhances the back-end agent experience. Agents often deal with multiple systems, from order management to CRM and shipping. Laivly simplifies their work by automating system integrations and suggesting the next best actions based on machine learning and AI.

For example, if an agent needs to reship a product, they usually have to navigate several systems. Laivly automates this by opening systems, logging in, auto-populating forms, and predicting actions based on the conversation. This reduces the agent's effort and improves efficiency.

We believe in supervised technology, where automation assists but the human touch remains essential. This oversight ensures we maintain human connections and don't rely entirely on technology for decision-making.

Sheri: So along with Laivly, what other technologies have you developed?

Chris: I'm really proud of our Superpunch technology. Superpunch is our proprietary employee engagement app that tracks various aspects of the work experience. We developed many features of Superpunch based on feedback from our employee engagement surveys. One significant issue we identified was that our hourly employees didn't know how much they would be paid at the end of the pay period. They weren't sure about their worked hours or missed hours. So, we implemented a system within Superpunch that allows employees to track their hours and potential earnings in real time.

Additionally, we realized the traditional two-week pay period is outdated. Superpunch provides immediate feedback, helping team members understand how much they could have earned if they had, for example, returned from break on time every day. It also allows them to submit ideas directly through the app.

Beyond that, we integrated health and well-being features. We have a mood tracker that asks team members how they feel at the start of the day and at various touchpoints throughout the day. This helps us identify where our Employee Experience team should focus their efforts. If a particular region is feeling down, we can deploy instant morale boosters. At the end of each day, we also ask team members how we did, allowing us to gauge our performance and make necessary improvements. Superpunch also helps with scheduling shifts and acts as a central source of truth for employee engagement. It even facilitates our referral program, where employees can invite others to join us, making it one of our most effective recruitment strategies.

Sheri: What happens if many people report feeling down? 

Chris: When that happens, our Employee Experience team is empowered to take immediate action. They take the specific feedback and implement programs or activities to boost morale and improve the overall employee experience.

Sheri: So you have Laivly, Superpunch, and what else? 

Chris: Another one of our technologies is Mosaic Languages. This solution allows our agents to offer support in over 100 languages from any of our locations. Mosaic Languages helps our agents create more diverse customer experiences by allowing the customers to communicate in their preferred language. We’ve found Mosaic Languages removes the language barrier, increases efficiency and has helped improve our response and average handling times.

Sheri: Do you have any integrated QA or workforce management solutions?

Chris: Yes, we do. It’s called Catapult. This system provides predictive analytics at the agent, program, and global levels. It helps us anticipate our clients’ needs and tailor the customer journey in real time. This is critical as resolving issues through efficient, high quality interactions it also has self-directed QA and detailed reporting alongside in-person coaching. Clients are also able to receive data and other insights, allowing them to make educated decisions based on their own unique dashboards. There are so many options for our clients, allowing them to customize Catapult to match exactly what they need is a key differentiator for IntouchCX.

Sheri: Any final message to our audience?

Chris: The biggest takeaway is to know your customer and understand why they are reaching out. Often, customer contact is driven by a point of failure. Don't put barriers between you and your customers. Make sure you are accessible in various ways. Use technology to assist, but don't rely on it solely. Empathy and human connection are crucial. Always put yourself in your customer's shoes and remember that they are a silent partner in the room.

Sheri: What should people know about IntouchCX? 

Chris: They should know that our primary focus is on the conversations we have with your brand. When someone is just getting to know IntouchCX, we start by asking, "How do you want your customer to feel after the conversation?" Our goal is to reverse engineer that desired outcome and create it for you.

We achieve this through a blend of culture, technology, and innovation. All these elements come together to ensure a successful interaction that aligns with your brand's vision and values.