In a timely move by an aggressive business process outsourcer (BPO), Telus International (TI) is partnering with Thrio, Inc. to offer an AI-infused Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) on a global scale. TI has offered BPO and Digital Services directly and through partnerships for over fifteen years and has over 200 clients around the world. Its partnership with Thrio brings cloud-based services that support both agent-based and automated self-service across both voice and digital channels, including email, chat, SMS and social (messaging) networks.

The two companies have been working together for over a year to respond to demand from Telus customers looking for simple, affordable ways to bring the benefits of Conversational AI to customer care channels. That demand has been accelerated in recent months by the Covid-19 pandemic, which is driving demand for rapid relocation of agents from formal contact centers to remote, work-from-home architectures. TI will “white label” the offerings as Contact Center 360 (CC360).

With Disruption Comes Process Improvement

As Jim Radzicki, Global Vice-president, Strategic Partnerships, TELUS International, explains Thrio’s approach is attractive both to TI and to its customers because of the need for contact center solutions that “work everywhere”. The two companies will leverage the global scale of Google’s cloud platform to offer secure services to remote desktops. “At home will be a core part, if not the major part of solutions,” Radzicki said. Thrio’s approach makes it possible for individuals to “take any device and pick up where they left off.”

Thrio refers to its approach as “Native Process Automation” (NPA). Rather than focusing on infusing cloud-based solutions with “Conversational AI”, Thrio looks for ways to use automation to help both customers and agents complete their tasks. At the core of this approach is a “Workflow Engine” that operates in ways that support all channels and intelligent endpoints. End-users, be they customers or agents, communicate through an “Action Matrix” that can be as simple as an electronic form or “survey” or as complex as a conversational virtual assistant. Both the Engine and the Matrix can deliver an automation-rich user experience designed to speed individuals toward task completion.

The pandemic will have lasting effects. The move to remote work and dependence on digital channels for both commerce and customers care are largely irreversible. As companies scramble to make the best of a challenging situation, Opus Research believes that the TI’s customers will find that a new architecture that puts emphasis on NPA both in the back-office and on intelligent endpoints will be one of the lasting improvements.

Categories: Intelligent Assistants