Boldest Crowdsourcing – Solv™ by Concentrix

Boldest Crowdsourcing – Solv™ by Concentrix

Introduction – BOLD Thinking and Actions of Concentrix Solv
Concentrix’ Solv™ crowdsourcing platform is an example of disruptive innovation that is pioneering change and sustainability in the global Business Process Outsourcing and Customer Management industry. So, why is that really so BOLD? Well, on paper, Solv could and will cannibalize our core business. It takes a bold business to proactively design and deploy this ahead of its time, but we believe it’s not just business-responsible we believe it is a business critical, and here’s why - we believe that the future sustainability of our business and our world requires entrepreneurial and disruptive thinking to create new ways of working that will make life better through technology, that will foster sustainability, that will contribute to a better human led life-work balance and that will address the risks and concerns for the Future of Work here and now. Redefining CX for the 21st century is not about technology alone. Solv future-proofs CX by combining right-fit technology with customer accessibility and human-led engagement, to address the key challenges that companies in today’s always-on consumer world. As a leader in the global BPO industry, we are taking the first Bold step to do this and we encourage our competition to follow in our footsteps and create an enhanced ecosystem that puts the human in the centre of digital design for good, with a business and lifestyle benefit for each party in a new holy trinity of customer, brand and Solver.

(1) Level of Impact of Solv – unlocking new value add in a new ecosystem Solv was developed in response to a shift in our global digital economy to fill a void that exists for today's consumer to engage with highly knowledgeable help and support for services, products, purchases and enquiries in a way that is better aligned to the rhythm of life in today’s era of convenience. Coupled with this ‘always on’ consumer culture, there is a parallel shift in our expectations as 21st century employees to have better work-life balance and for employers to return a sense of freedom to what we do. Work is no longer a place and customer expectation no longer fits into a restrictive 9-5 operating window. The Solv platform uniquely leverages the rapidly growing gig economy to connect customers with fans of the world’s top and emerging brands, creating peer-to-peer enabled CX that is accessible anytime of the day and is integrated with advanced AI and machine learning to provide customer service in over 30 languages. Combining human led design thinking with the latest in cloud based technology and asynchronous messaging, Solv positively unites these two seemingly opposing forces with an on-demand marketplace that offers enterprise level quality crowdsource support model in the gig economy. Taking this future-spective look at the increased adoption of work-at-home and the evolution of automation, Solv satisfies both 21st century consumer and worker challenges whilst simultaneously augmenting the competitive advantage for global brands and CX for the end user, the customer. Our purpose-led design considers how our daily lives and expectations as customers and workers is changing.

The impact extends to all stakeholders in this new ecosystem:
(1) Customers gain true anytime, anywhere support from all around the world at a time that is convenient to them. 100% interactions are self-scored by the customer with uber-esque star ratings, 10x traditional customer quality assessment, allowing brands to act fast. The personal feedback is harvested for AI and BOT enablement, meaning faster and better service continues to evolve through Machine Learning.
(2) Brands gain on-demand charges only for satisfied customers that personally feedback on the experience. Alongside the transactional pricing benefit, the untethered flexibility of the Solvers utilisation bypasses the challenges faced in premise-based customer management models, such as staffing to digitally-driven customer demand. Productivity increases +20%, customer satisfaction increases +16% and cost to serve reduces 35-50%.

(3) Solvers – Engagement in the gig economy is growing at exponential rates. Earning on their own terms means Solvers can generate a second income when, where and however much they wish, to contribute to better life-work balance. Solvers are rewarded real-time for their success and perform 20%+ higher than traditional customer support teams and can scale as a crowd in hours rather than days or weeks.

(2) How BOLD can we go? – Solv scalability has no bounds and has huge global potential and/or use in other applications or development opportunities for the business/project concept. Solv’s mission is to create new futures through inclusive innovation and human led design. Our platform rethinks the role and delivery of customer management, creating new job potential for the Future of Work as well as extending that to remote areas that today are absent of job opportunities. Work is no longer a place – we have unlocked the reach of jobs from Tier 1 and 2 cities to remote and rural areas, made jobs accessible to those who may not afford city living or commute. We believe the human factor plays a critical role for 21st Century Customer Experience and, as a global leader in our industry, we have a duty of care to reshape how we can sustain employment and engagement for the workforces of the future. Already we are advancing the use of Solv to new areas of business –as well as customer management we are exploring AI data cleansing, data entry, social medial management, sales through service and voice of the customer. Solv already sources in 5 countries – US, UK and Ireland, India and Philippines. We have plans for further geo-expansion in 2020 and beyond. In our first 2 months of market launch we had >1000 registrations to be a Solver on the platform and we make it accessible to do so by ensuring there is no min commitment to how long you need to Solv and not dictating where you need to Solv from. And we have removed even the barriers of language with AI enabled translation as a service allowing for language agnostic responses, maximizing the earning potential for Solvers in languages other than their native tongue. The business ROI of Solv is incredibly compelling and has been pivotal in the early adoption of Solv by brands and global endorsement by the leading Analyst community, leading to 10 industry awards for innovation, CX transformation and start-up of the year on 2019. - Solv performance trends >20% higher for first contact resolution higher than traditional customer management teams - 10-20% improvement in efficiency metrics - Solv achieves 16% higher customer satisfaction - Average cost reduction for brands 35-50% for English crowd support, and up to 70% for multi lingual crowd support - Positive contribution to CSR, removes commute, promotes sustainability - Globally sourcing and creating new jobs in 5 countries, and growing – US, UK, Ireland, India, Philippines - Anonymous front end candidate sourcing drives diversity and inclusion in all regions - Pioneering gig-worker ‘benefits’ with strategic partnerships

(3) Transparency: Solv operates in authentic and open way to encourage trust and engagement. We have been diligent and cautious to foster a culture of transparency from the outset. Operating in the gig economy is unchartered territory so, to pioneer in it, we carry a duty of care to ensure it bring opportunity and not doubt, it drives encouragement and not critique. Our commercial model has been designed for transparency and we equally encourage open innovation from participating brands and have removed set up costs for those engaged in our early growth. We actively set out to reduce the client cost to serve from 35-50% on average, and it is often higher – an anchor brand to the platform unlocked a reduction of $350k per annum as a result of this innovative change to how they do business, yet offering their customers more access than ever before. Our Solvers earn on demand, for every satisfied customer they help. It is, indeed, the customer who confirms their satisfaction, not a 3rd party assessment so Solvers can influence the outcome and increase their earning potential. Solvers are paid weekly so they can decide who and when to use their additional income. This on-demand model is reciprocated for the brands who choose to operate on Solv, meaning they only pay for satisfied customers. Leveraging positive gig economy functionality into customer service offers increased access, improved satisfaction in an efficient, results-driven pricing model. Connecting the relationship back to technology is Solv’s smart use of data – Solv uses the high C-Sat responses to guide and teach AI and BOT strategies better, automating where it makes sense for the CX and improving process where it may not. Solv is a step change in how we can provide work opportunities. Investment, sustainability and responsibility are key to a new future. Read the words of a client; 'The Backbone of our customer service support model. Solv has proven to be the answer to cost control and flexibility. Customer success is second to none'

(4) We hope our H-Factor is crystal clear. We put people are at the heart of our product/services, just as we do for our business. We believe the human factor plays a critical role for 21st Century Customer Experience and, as a global leader in our industry, we have a duty of care to reshape how we can sustain employment and engagement for the workforces of the future. Companies such as Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit have been leveraging the gig economy for more than a decade, providing qualified people with a means to earn extra money, using the resources they already have. For businesses, the gig economy is a brilliant way to bring on workers only when there is work to be done. And for workers, it provides a flexible, customizable way to bring home a paycheck without the burden of a typical 9-to-5 and all the hidden costs that come with that in commutes, city real estate premiums and long days and nights. Concentrix Solv harnesses the gig economy for crowd-based customer support and takes CX to new possibilities. Solvers are ubiquitous. They can solve from anywhere and at a time that is convenient to their lifestyle. Solvers are a crowd of independent contractors, made up of tech enthusiasts, gig economy superstars and expert customer service workers. Solvers have the flexibility to work on their terms when and where they want to. Solv connects them directly to the brands they love, allowing them to get paid for their expertise, offering something new for the 21st century employee seeking to rebalance work/life in a way that pre-millennial generations did not have as a cultural priority.

En fin: The award winning innovation behind Solv is raising the Customer Experience Bar Business isn’t just digital these days—it’s competitively experience-driven. With the vast majority of customers noting that their experience with a brand is equally important to the products and services it offers, there’s no ignoring quality of service. New ways of doing business like Solv are creating exciting opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. As the standards of customer experience remain high alongside the need to keep costs low, companies will need to keep pace with the technologies that will allow them to compete at scale. Person-to-person customer care hasn’t gone anywhere—it’s just a human-led digital engagement now.