The contact center industry in Brazil has become increasingly introspective over the past few years. The Brazilian economy continues to grow, unlike the malaise of the EU and US, and that means customer service centers are in demand. Global players like Teleperformance and Accenture are all here in Brazil, but only serving local customers and their end consumers are local too.
The main export customer in the region is the US, but with American clients wanting services in English and also expecting an offshore contact centre to be cheaper than a local one, it’s hard to sell to customers north of the equator.
But would Brazil really want to extend its reach further into contact centre expertise anyway? Brazil has been carving out a niche in high-end IT services that demand creativity and not scripts read by drone-like agents.
It is normal to see contact centers attacked and mocked in the press. Just take a look at what British newspaper The Independent published recently in their ‘Being Modern’ section. Of course, as an attack on modern life and harking back to a simpler age it’s a fair comment. Many people would love to return to a halcyon past where work was over as soon as the factory whistle blew and only the boss experienced stress.
But let’s face it, those memories are distorted. We have been through a terrible period for business in the years since 2008 when the global banking industry collapsed and created shockwaves and recession in most developed nations. But contact centers are not to blame for any of this.
Contact centers are now an essential part of any modern business. Consumers expect to be able to reach the companies they deal with by phone, by email, by instant messenger, and – increasingly – using social media. So we are no longer talking about just call centers, but multichannel customer service centers. It’s no longer about just picking up a phone.
It is the IT Decisions opinion there are three reasons why service providers should be looking again at Brazil for contact centers and considering a fresh look at the export model:
- In-bound contact centers are not as tightly scripted as the critics suggest. Agents often have quite extensive scope to fix customer problems in a number of ways, meaning bright, friendly, creative thinkers are needed. And Brazil has plenty of those people just because of the national culture here. Brazil is not dirigiste.
- The Brasil Maior plan aims to shake up payroll tax and could now make it economically feasible to explore bigger contact centers in Brazil that are exporting services – where previously the unfavorable Real exchange rate and punitive taxes made it impossible to consider.
- Social media is changing the customer service industry. Customers are not only reaching out to brands in a new way, but brands are able to interact with their customers using tools such as Facebook and Twitter to create a real dialog, rather than just dealing with complaints.
Customer care is becoming inverted – it used to be that a customer would call a company for help or advice, now they post a message on Facebook or Twitter – and expect a response. Customers having trouble with a broadband connection are less inclined to sit on a phone trawling through a complex IVR – they just post a Twitter message saying how terrible their Internet provider is.
It’s now important for companies wanting to offer an intelligent customer care program to monitor the online world, to see what their customers are saying, and to engage directly – reach out to customers having trouble – so problems can be fixed and complainers become satisfied customers. They can even be converted into brand advocates, telling their friends about how your company fixed their problem without them ever having to call – on Twitter.
This kind of creative problem solving sounds very much why the IT industry in Brazil remains attractive even if it is more expensive than locations such as India or China. There is no reason why the IT-enabled industries cannot witness a resurgence in their own importance if the stars of social media and Brasil Maior can be aligned.
Photo by Crystian Cruz licensed under Creative Commons
IT Decisions [historic site] 
It’s time to reconsider Brazil for contact centers
The contact center industry in Brazil has become increasingly introspective over the past few years. The Brazilian economy continues to grow, unlike the malaise of the EU and US, and that means customer service centers are in demand. Global players like Teleperformance and Accenture are all here in Brazil, but only serving local customers and their end consumers are local too.
The main export customer in the region is the US, but with American clients wanting services in English and also expecting an offshore contact centre to be cheaper than a local one, it’s hard to sell to customers north of the equator.
But would Brazil really want to extend its reach further into contact centre expertise anyway? Brazil has been carving out a niche in high-end IT services that demand creativity and not scripts read by drone-like agents.
It is normal to see contact centers attacked and mocked in the press. Just take a look at what British newspaper The Independent published recently in their ‘Being Modern’ section. Of course, as an attack on modern life and harking back to a simpler age it’s a fair comment. Many people would love to return to a halcyon past where work was over as soon as the factory whistle blew and only the boss experienced stress.
But let’s face it, those memories are distorted. We have been through a terrible period for business in the years since 2008 when the global banking industry collapsed and created shockwaves and recession in most developed nations. But contact centers are not to blame for any of this.
Contact centers are now an essential part of any modern business. Consumers expect to be able to reach the companies they deal with by phone, by email, by instant messenger, and – increasingly – using social media. So we are no longer talking about just call centers, but multichannel customer service centers. It’s no longer about just picking up a phone.
It is the IT Decisions opinion there are three reasons why service providers should be looking again at Brazil for contact centers and considering a fresh look at the export model:
Customer care is becoming inverted – it used to be that a customer would call a company for help or advice, now they post a message on Facebook or Twitter – and expect a response. Customers having trouble with a broadband connection are less inclined to sit on a phone trawling through a complex IVR – they just post a Twitter message saying how terrible their Internet provider is.
It’s now important for companies wanting to offer an intelligent customer care program to monitor the online world, to see what their customers are saying, and to engage directly – reach out to customers having trouble – so problems can be fixed and complainers become satisfied customers. They can even be converted into brand advocates, telling their friends about how your company fixed their problem without them ever having to call – on Twitter.
This kind of creative problem solving sounds very much why the IT industry in Brazil remains attractive even if it is more expensive than locations such as India or China. There is no reason why the IT-enabled industries cannot witness a resurgence in their own importance if the stars of social media and Brasil Maior can be aligned.
Photo by Crystian Cruz licensed under Creative Commons
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