Since Fiona Whelan’s appointment as Managing Director in 2016 of CPM’s International Contact Centre in Barcelona, the company has gone from strength to strength. During this time, CPM Barcelona has experienced 300% growth and secured a multi-million investment to fuel business expansion into an additional site, creating over 1,000 new jobs for the region.
Here, Fiona talks to leading Spanish newspaper, La Vanguardia, about the critical importance of Customer Experience (CX) for businesses of the future and CPM’s continued success as it celebrates 15 years in Barcelona.
What is the main support brands need in order to remain close to their customers?
We are living in extraordinary times in terms of the pace and scale of technological and societal transformation. This is driving real behavioural change in consumers who paradoxically want increased efficiency and automation but conversely, more authentic engagement with brands than ever before.
This presents new challenges for businesses operating in an increasingly hyper-connected, transparent and ‘always-on’ Experience Economy.
As products become more replicable and indistinguishable, what matters most are the brand promises businesses make to their customers and how the experiences customers receive when they engage with brands deliver against these promises.
It sounds simple but can be extremely challenging to achieve.
How does CPM provide this support to brands?
CPM’s raison d’être is to support our clients in delivering exceptional customer experiences (CX). We provide technical helpdesk, CX support, consumer carelines, customer satisfaction and high-performance sales programs for global brands including Airbnb, Harley-Davidson and New Balance, to name a few.
Although we of course speak to customers over the phone, over 60% of our contact centre activities now take place via digital channels including chatbots, social media, web chat and ticketing as well as a variety of messaging services such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
As a result of our investment in AI, data insights and predictive analytics, CPM are also able to harness leading edge technological innovations to automate simpler tasks; whilst simultaneously accessing a more digitally empowered and highly skilled workforce for complex cases.
CPM employ over 2,000 agents who engage with over 30,000 customers on a daily basis, spanning 65+ markets and 26 languages via our two contact centre hubs in Barcelona.
On an annualised basis, we deliver €100 million in revenue for our clients and our CX teams are achieving record breaking Net Promoter Scores (NPS) of 70 + (a key measure of customer loyalty).
Whilst CPM operates across a diverse range of sectors, our success has been fuelled by the growth of clients operating within the high tech, new tech and consumer electronics space, where we have developed a real specialism.
Looking ahead, what are CPM’s plans for the future?
CPM is committed to Barcelona and the continued growth of our contact centre operations in the city.
Adding to this, CPM have recently launched CPM Ignite, our Work from Home solution which enables clients and agents alike to avail of a boundaryless, virtual contact centre workforce operating across Spain and beyond.
We are also in talks to enhance our Northern European coverage, alongside established partnerships in the US and Asia. CPM’s vision is to be the premier boutique provider of contact centre solutions with a best in class service for clients across the globe.
Please click here to view the original newspaper article in La Vanguardia.
