More social media and a lot less phone calls. That is the bet of Webhelp so that companies have a more direct and close communication with the public. Because calling the customer service center to solve a problem is beginning to be a thing of the past. “There are many minutes that you can save and gain efficiency,” says Julio Jolín, CEO in Spain of the French call center.
Currently, between 45% and 50% of accesses to customer service services are already made via chat or social networks, according to company data. “Of these, more than half are automated,” highlights Jolín.
The automation of some processes allows improving the customer experience and expanding the market, while the company continues to create jobs, says the head of the firm that last year had a turnover of 150 million euros in the country and that this year expects some 180 million in revenue.
The pandemic has given business a boost. Firms with a more technological profile and clients related to the world of fashion have experienced an increase in demand. That has implied greater communication with the client, sums up the executive.
“They have had a strong drop in income in the offline part and a very strong demand in the online part”, highlights the CEO of Webhelp, which closed last year with 4,000 employees in Spain. Today it has 4,700 and the forecast is to start 2021 with 5,000.
The investment in technology, people and definition of processes is continuous, says Jolín. “As a company we pursue another essential objective, which is to be able to guarantee business continuity in the event of an unwanted interruption or disaster,” says the Paris-based firm’s executive.
Among the company’s client portfolio, present in 49 countries and with 60,000 employees, Sky, Bouygues, Direct Energie, KPN, Vodafone, La Redoute, Michael Kors and Valentino stand out.
Founded in 2000, Webhelp has combined organic growth and acquisitions, enabling it to transform itself from its initial position as a local operator to being a European leader. In Spain, the company provides services from Barcelona to more than a hundred companies, mainly in sectors related to new technologies.
It also has offices in Malaga, Mallorca, Valencia and Tenerife. Today, its employees in Spain work remotely due to the health crisis. At the beginning of the alarm state, Webhelp carried out an ERTE that affected about 200 employees. But the demand on their services made them quickly reinstated.
