Podcasts about bpos

How to Truly Know the Value of your Collateral - #270 Knowing the true value of your collateral is one of the most critical parts of being a successful private or hard money lender. In this episode, Jason and Chris break down exactly how they determine property values beyond just appraisals and third-party reports.

“We're not just building AI for call centers — we're building AI with call centers in mind.” — Justin Massey, Relay Hawk At the vCon Spring 2025 Conference, Justin Massey of Relay Hawk brought both a technologist's vision and a contact center veteran's intuition to the main stage. In a conversation with Technology Reseller News publisher Doug Green, Massey unpacked how his team is building next-generation AI voice agents — with human-first design and real-world BPO pain points at the forefront. Contact Center Roots, Tech-Forward Vision Massey isn't your typical AI founder. With a family background spanning nearly five decades in call center operations, he was answering phones at 16 to fuel his Ford Explorer. “Some people theorize about customer experience. I lived it,” he shared. That lived experience directly informs Relay Hawk's core solution: AI agents that know when to get out of the way. When the AI hits a wall, Relay Hawk's "escape hatch" hands the conversation off to a live agent — armed with the full context, so customers don't have to repeat themselves. AI Meets Authentication One of the major challenges in today's communication landscape? Verifying identity without collecting sensitive information. Massey proposes a modern approach: linking voice calls to identity providers like Google or Microsoft, much like how we authenticate via email or social platforms. “Why not use that same concept for phone calls?” he asked. Instead of collecting sensitive data during a call — a liability for BPOs — customers could validate via external credentials and receive a verified claim. Tackling “Dependency Problems” in AI Integration Relay Hawk is also focused on solving integration hurdles — what Massey called “dependency problems.” “Everyone wants their AI to plug into CRMs, ticketing platforms, schedulers — but every API is different,” he said. The goal: simplify third-party integration and leverage protocols like MCP to make AI deployment more seamless. Warning: Transcription May Be Hazardous to Your AI Another overlooked challenge: bad transcription = bad data = bad AI. Massey highlighted that many call recordings are mono, making it hard to distinguish between caller and agent. RelayHawk recommends stereo recordings, ensuring the data feeding AI engines is clean, clear, and actionable. “If your transcription is off, your entire AI analysis goes off the rails.” Relay Hawk Is Looking for Design Partners Still in its early stages, Relay Hawk is working with design partners to refine its offering. “If you're an early adopter and want to help shape a solution that actually works for your use case — we want to talk,” Massey said. Learn more: RelayHawk.com or find them on LinkedIn by searching RelayHawk #AIinCallCenters #VoiceAI #RelayHawk #vCon2025 #ContactCenterTech #IdentityValidation #TranscriptionAI #CXInnovation #BPOsolutions #CallCenterAutomation #ConversationalAI #DougGreen #TechnologyResellerNews

Sid Victor is the Senior Vice President and Head of Support Services at Movate. He is based in Frisco, Texas, USA. Sid has published his opinion around BPO flexibility on LinkedIn several times. He has made it clear that he feels the future is not human agents OR AI OR any other solution - it is a blend of all the best options and BPOs should be able to offer this blended solution. For example, should BPOs be capable of offering traditional BPO, Gig CX, and AI all under one roof? This is what Sid has been talking about for some time. The future for successful BPOs will need to be about more than just offering an automation service or a contact center. They need to offer a flexible mix of everything - building a CX solution using all these ingredients. Mark Hillary called Sid to find out more...   https://www.linkedin.com/in/sid-victor-3355b73/ https://www.movate.com/    

Hey CX Nation,In this week's CXWeekly Update we walk through some ideas, goals & CTAs to begin leveraging boutique BPOs as your business grows. Its very common for most Founders or executives to want to hire more full-time staff or add to the team during peak seasons when customer communications, tickets & orders are on the rise. Use this CXWeekly update as a starting point for building out your company's goals around how can begin leveraging BPOs to improve your customer & employee experience.Don't worry we have a ton of amazing guest interviews coming down the pipeline over the next couple of weeks as we start to get crank things up on the content front here at CXC in 2025.Part of our goal for this year is to create more customer focused business leader content, including more short episodes like these ones that are digestible, actionable & most importantly entertaining & valuable for all of you.If you enjoy The CXChronicles Podcast, stop by your favorite podcast player and leave us a review today.You know what would be even better?Go tell one of your friends or teammates about CXC's content, CX/CS/RevOps services, our customer & employee focused community & invite them to join the CX Nation!Are you looking to learn more about the world of Customer Experience, Customer Success & Revenue Operations?Click here to grab a copy of my book "The Four CX Pillars To Grow Your Business Now" available on Amazon or the CXC website.For you non-readers, go check out the CXChronicles Youtube channel to see our customer & employee focused video content & short-reel CTAs to improve your CX/CS/RevOps performance today (politely go smash that subscribe button).Contact us anytime to learn more about CXC at INFO@cxchronicles.com and ask us about how we can help your business & team make customer happiness a habit now!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Episode SummaryIn this episode of the Player Driven Podcast, host Greg interviews Łukasz Cieślak, Senior Operations Manager at 5CA. Łukasz shares his journey from support agent to senior operations manager and provides deep insights into the role of BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing) in the gaming industry. He explains how companies like 5CA help gaming studios scale their player support, the essential KPIs that drive player satisfaction, and the growing role of AI in modern support operations. The episode also highlights career advice for those looking to grow from support agent to management roles and explores emerging trends like VIP support and hybrid AI-human models.This conversation offers valuable lessons for gaming studios, support professionals, and anyone curious about the future of player support.Key Takeaways for Indie Developers from the Podcast with Łukasz CieślakOutsourcing Player Support with BPOs BPOs like 5CA allow indie devs to scale support without hiring in-house teams. Outsourcing lets devs focus on core tasks like game development while ensuring players get timely support.Essential Player Support KPIs to Track Track key metrics like service level, quality assurance, and player satisfaction (CSAT or NPS). Consistent support responses are crucial since players share their experiences on platforms like Discord and social media.The Role of AI in Player Support AI tools can handle repetitive inquiries, freeing agents (or indie devs) to focus on complex issues. Hybrid models (AI + human support) are the future, offering faster, more efficient player support.Career Growth and Leadership Lessons Łukasz's journey from agent to senior manager shows the value of proactivity and continuous learning. Indie devs can apply this approach by taking initiative, helping teammates, and being curious about better ways to operate.Emerging Trends in Player Support VIP support is growing in popularity, offering white-glove treatment for high-value players. Personalization and proactive support can build community loyalty, especially for indie devs running Discords or Kickstarter campaigns.These takeaways offer actionable insights on support outsourcing, key metrics, AI, career growth, and player experience trends.Notable Quotes"The companies that will be most successful will have a hybrid model, where agents are equipped with super-advanced AI tools to help them be more productive." – Łukasz Cieślak"If you're a support agent and want to grow, focus on helping others — help your boss, help your colleagues, and stay curious about how things work." – Łukasz Cieślak"Players are vocal on social media and Discord, so if one agent gives one answer and another gives a different answer, it's going to cause issues." – Łukasz Cieślak"AI is more than chatbots. It's everything from data analytics to moderation to making workforce management more efficient." – Łukasz Cieślak"BPOs give game studios the ability to focus on their core competency, like building great games, while outsourcing the complexity of player support." – Greg

Neville Samuels is the CEO of Virtual Staff 365. He is based in Melbourne, Australia. Virtual Staff 365 offers a virtual staffing service that includes CX. In this discussion with Peter Ryan, Neville explores how virtual staffing can help to create a flexible CX environment that can work for in-house teams or BPOs. https://www.linkedin.com/in/outsourcingexperts/ https://www.virtualstaff365.com.au/  

Katrin Langley is a CX expert with experience throughout her career at several major BPO companies. She is based in Tampa, Florida. Peter Ryan called Katrin to talk about first-time outsourcing. Most companies still handle their customer service processes in-house, even as it has become more and more complex in recent years. Why do companies still want to retain these processes and what approach can BPOs take to convince them that outsourcing is a positive strategy? https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinlangley/

Ted Nardin is the VP of Customer Success & Value Add at Teleperformance Jamaica. Ted has spent years researching CX. He recently joined Teleperformance and Mark saw a LinkedIn update with this new job title focusing on customer success and value add. Mark called Ted to discuss this idea. How can BPOs put business success on the table and talk to clients about how to add value in the customer relationship - rather than the usual focus on the cost to serve customers? What more can companies get from all those customer interactions? https://www.linkedin.com/in/tnardin/ https://teleperformance.com/    

Vidya Ravichandran is the CEO of UnifyCX. She is based in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. In this conversation with Peter Ryan, Vidya talks about the evolution of GlowTouch Technologies into UnifyCX, how technology is changing the BPO industry, and how CX and BPO is evolving as technology solutions become more integral to customer interactions. As customers demand more complex solutions the BPO community is adopting or building different tech solutions - using AI in particular. But should BPOs buy off-the-shelf tools or create their own and attempt to lead their sector? In this conversation Vidya talks about how BPO is evolving and how the new brand wants to be seen as a CX leader. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidya-ravichandran-53423b2/ https://www.unifycx.com/

Almost everyone in the CX environment knows about B2B sales. BPO companies need to sell to clients. CX software companies need to sell to customer service teams or BPOs. Most people in this industry are working for specialist companies selling services to another company. Mark Hillary has just written a book about this - how do B2B companies sell to each other and how has it changed since the Covid pandemic? Mark and Peter talked about the new book. What inspired it and why it matters for people working in CX... The book also features a foreword by Paul O'Hara - a legend from the CX environment with a decade plus experience of using social sales strategies for B2B. https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhillary/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauloharateleperformance/ The Social Sales Playbook: Developing a B2B Sales Plan That Drives Results Published October 11, 2024 https://www.amazon.com/Social-Sales-Playbook-Developing-Results/dp/B0DJY3MYD2/  

Neal Topf is the founder and President of Callzilla. He is based in Miami, Florida. Callzilla is a CX specialist based in the US, but also with delivery centers in Colombia and South Africa. Peter Ryan called Neal for a conversation about corporate culture - in particular culture inside the BPO environment. Neal recently posted on LinkedIn that a prospective client was impressed with the Callzilla technology and their business proposal, but he wanted to meet the team. Seeing the team at work and learning about their daily on-the-job culture was really important to this company - he wanted to build a rapport with the Callzilla team.  Neal has often written that prospective clients today are less interested in contact center metrics and much more interested in how the team can help with both sales and service or how engaged the team is and how this will translate into great CX. Clients today are looking for a BPO to have solutions to business problems - not just AHT statistics. Tune in for the latest CX Files where Neal talks about culture and why it is more important than ever for BPOs to have a positive answer when a prospect suggests visiting their team. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealtopfcustomerexperience/ https://www.callzilla.cx/

In this episode of #KarishmaKonnect, meet Levis Wilson, Founder, Haloocom who has deployed India's one and only Voice Bot which is capable of handling 22 Indian Spoken Languages. Haloocom emerges as a distinguished Enterprise Telecom Solution provider, transcending conventional norms. Positioned as a dynamic and innovative force, the company has been at the forefront of delivering Comprehensive Telecom Solutions since its inception. With a commitment to excellence, Haloocom offers cutting-edge Unified Communication and industry-redefining Contact Center Platforms. It has swiftly earned the trust of diverse sectors, serving as a preferred partner for entities in Fintech, Healthcare, BPOs, Government Organizations, and Customer Support Centres. Catch the full episode across all platforms: ⁠https://linktr.ee/karikonnect⁠

In this episode of Dialed In, host Gadi Shamia engages in an enlightening conversation with Ricky Arriola, CEO of Inktel and former City Commissioner of Miami Beach. Dive into the origins of Inktel, a leader in business process outsourcing (BPO), and explore how they've adapted to the evolving landscape of customer service since 1997. Ricky shares his insights on why companies outsource their customer service, the various BPO models, and how Inktel differentiates itself in the market. He also discusses the impact of AI on BPOs, how AI is transforming contact centers, and his vision for the future of the industry. Learn about the balance between AI and human touch in customer service, client responses to AI, and the evolving role of human agents. Tune in for an engaging discussion on the evolution of customer service, the role of AI, and what the future holds for the industry.

RCD. What is it, and can you trust it? Numeracle Podcast Series, The biggest issue that we have globally, is a lack of established circles of trust “The biggest issue that we have globally, is a lack of established circles of trust,” Brett Nemeroff, VP of Engineering – Voice at Numeracle. “Just because someone sends you RCD doesn't mean that you'll instantly trust it and send it on to your customer. But really, for RCD to become effective, we need to standardize on a few things, such as methods and procedures for doing KYC, enforcement methodologies, if people do things that they're not supposed to do, what do we do to stop them from doing that, and then inter-carrier and inter-country trust relationships.”  “Because of this, it's possible to send cryptographically verifiable end-to-end caller information, which really has never been possible before.” In this podcast we go deeper into RCD, rich call data. “RCD allows the data to be embedded inside of a shaken passport, which means that it's signed by the originating character that is expected to be performing KYC on the customer.” Adds Brett. “Because of this, it's possible to send cryptographically verifiable end-to-end caller information, which really has never been possible before.” We learn how RCD is part of Numeracle's broader vision: “What we're trying to do is we're trying to help restore trust into communications.” In today's recording we learn where RCD being used today, availability domestically and internationally, relevance to STIR/SHAKEN and if it be spoofed? As RCD gains traction, it becomes more central to commerce, communication and more. About Numeracle: Numeracle is an industry pioneer and leader with actionable solutions for legal callers that prioritizes their calling identity as the foundation to restoring trust in the voice channel and to their calls by removing barriers, like improper spam labels, from harming their phone numbers. Numeracle's Entity Identity Management™ (EIM) platform puts enterprise brands, BPOs, and service providers in direct control of their identity, which we vet and verify. Our EIM platform can also be used to manage branded communications, to improve call reputation with blocking and labeling prevention and spam label remediation, and we provide visibility into call display to ensure brand identity is presented as intended, with transparency and consistency. Our KYC-based identity vetting and verification is the cornerstone of the platform; developed in support of evolving federal regulations and telecom standards.

You DON'T need a ton of money to find and fund real estate deals. Despite earning just $15,000 per year, today's guest found the perfect property for him and scrounged the money to close. If you're willing to learn, network, and put yourself out there, you can do the same!   Todd Fullerlove Jr. had recently graduated college, gotten married, and welcomed his first child when the reality of starting a family hit him like a ton of bricks. Living paycheck to paycheck, his little family was forced to move in with his mom. Todd knew something had to change and decided to give real estate investing a try. The only problem? He had no money! Fortunately, Todd had learned that you don't need to be sitting on a pile of cash to get started. So, Todd did what every smart investor does—he found the deal first! From there, he built relationships and raised capital. Just by taking action, Todd has completed five deals in five years!   In this episode, Todd will show you how to find and fund off-market deals through the power of private money. You'll also get a full breakdown of the short sale process, from working with banks to navigating home appraisals and broker price opinions (BPOs). Stick around until the end to hear about the loan Todd used to buy his first rental property with low money down! In This Episode We Cover How Todd went from making $15,000 per year to landing five real estate deals How to get 100% funding for your deals through the power of private money Short sales explained and why banks are motivated to work with you What you NEED to know before tackling DIY home renovation projects The BIG difference between a home appraisal and a broker price opinion (BPO) Buying rental properties with low money down using USDA loans And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-423 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email advertise@biggerpockets.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unveiling Accelerated Business Success by Unlocking AI Potential   We welcome Joe Buggy to this week's episode of the Digitally Irresistible podcast. As an innovative executive leader with a rich background in operations, business development, and finance, with specialization in the BPO sector, Joe is renowned for his strategic insights.   Growing up as the son of an Air Force family with Irish-Italian heritage, Joe developed a keen eye for detail and a knack for problem solving. His passion for optimizing processes and delivering results, fueled by his experiences working alongside industry-leading professionals, has shaped his career trajectory.   Leveraging his deep expertise in trust and safety and content management, Joe has led the charge on multiple transformative endeavors for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, propelling growth and performance within these customer-centric enterprises. In this episode, we delve into the world of data annotation and labeling and its impact on the business world.   Exploring Content Management and Data Annotation   To provide context, we first explore the realm of content management—a cornerstone of brand representation and engagement in the digital age. Joe explains how content management encompasses everything from digital presence to product portrayal, emphasizing its pivotal role in shaping brand perception and customer experience.   Transitioning to the core of our discussion, Joe breaks down the concepts of data annotation and labeling, which are critical aspects of content management since they ensure a brand's content is accurately described in its systems.  He explains that labeling involves assigning simple tags to unstructured data, such as images or text, to facilitate understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Joe gives an example of a cat image, where the label "cat" informs the system about the content, demonstrating that this process extends to all forms of data. Annotation, however, adds layers of context, enabling more nuanced interpretation and data utilization for sentiments, uses, or directions.   If we consider four primary data types—numerical/alphanumeric text, images, audio, and video—the complexity and unstructured nature increase as we move from numeric to alphanumeric to image, audio, and video data. This escalation underscores the crucial need for labeling and annotation to provide context for AI models. For example, in image recognition, labeling each image with metadata such as "flower species" enables AI to accurately classify different types of flowers. Similarly, in audio transcription, labeling with timestamps and the speaker identities ensures precise transcription of conversations.   In video analysis, annotations like "suspicious behavior" help AI detect and respond to specific events. Overall, labeling and annotation are essential for transforming raw data into structured information that AI can effectively understand and utilize across various applications.     The Intersection of Annotation, Industry Applications, and Deliberate Partnerships in AI Development   In our deep dive into the realm of AI development, Joe further illuminates the pivotal role of annotation and labeling. He explains how these foundational processes serve as the bedrock for training AI models, elevating their accuracy and contextual understanding to unprecedented levels. Joe underscores the importance of structured data in this process, emphasizing how it enables AI algorithms to glean meaningful insights and make more accurate predictions that drive successful outcomes for brands.   As we cross the landscape of data annotation and labeling, Joe provides a panoramic view of their diverse applications spanning numerous sectors. From the dynamic realms of health care, where AI powers telemedicine and aids in drug development, to the bustling domains of retail , where every retailer strives for a seamless omnichannel customer experience (CX) Joe explains how AI-driven solutions create transformative changes. In health care, AI models assist in diagnosing medical problems and understanding drug interactions by relying on meticulously labeled data. Similarly, in retail, AI improves customer experiences by allowing users to virtually try on clothing or eyeglasses tailored to their body style or face shape. These algorithms continuously learn from user preferences, suggesting products that align with individual tastes, akin to the automotive industry's use of AI for autonomous vehicles and predictive maintenance. Across digitally native industries, travel services, consumer products, and gaming, AI's integration optimizes operations, predicts market trends, and fosters brand acceptance through data-driven insights and personalized recommendations.   Given the scale and complexity inherent in data annotation, Joe describes the importance of forging partnerships with BPO organizations. Joe highlights how these collaborations empower brands to navigate the intricate landscape of AI development with confidence and agility. By tapping into BPOs' depth of knowledge in annotating and labeling data—whether through bounding box, semantic annotation, video annotation , or cuboids—brands can ensure high-quality data preparation crucial for computer vision, natural language processing, and audio processing applications.   BPOs excel by identifying and hiring top talent and training them rigorously in specialized systems and processes. Moreover, these partnerships enable continuous improvement through robust quality monitoring, feedback mechanisms, and coaching to drive new goals and introduce optimized processes. Through strategic collaborations, Joe envisions a future where innovation knows no bounds and the transformative potential of AI is fully unleashed to shape a brighter tomorrow. With support from BPOs, organizations can confidently build and execute their AI strategies with the scalability, quality, and security needed for success.   Navigating Security, Privacy, and Brand Considerations in AI Initiatives   In our exploration of AI initiatives, Joe delves into the critical aspects of data security and privacy. Addressing pertinent concerns surrounding the handling of consumer and proprietary data, Joe emphasizes the need for robust measures to safeguard sensitive information and the importance of implementing stringent protocols and cutting-edge technologies to ensure compliance with regulatory standards and instill trust among stakeholders. By prioritizing security and privacy in AI-driven initiatives, organizations can mitigate risks and uphold the integrity of their data assets, paving the way for sustainable growth and innovation in the digital landscape .   With significant experience in navigating the complexities of AI implementation, Joe's valuable insights highlight key considerations that can shape the success of brands seeking to harness the full potential of AI. He points out the significance of aligning AI strategies with organizational goals and values , ensuring a cohesive approach toward driving business objectives. Identifying gaps in expertise and resources and forming tactical partnerships with trusted providers can help augment a company's capabilities and ensure seamless execution of services. Adopting a holistic approach and leveraging the expertise of external partners enables brands to unlock the full potential of AI technology, driving innovation and sustainable business growth in today's competitive landscape.   "Identify where [your brand's] gaps are and if those gaps include meeting the speed, the scale, the different data types, and the security at a level of accuracy and consistency that the organization requires, I would look to partner with a trustworthy organization to address those gaps." - Joe Buggy   What Joe Likes to Do for Fun   When not working, Joe enjoys outdoor cooking and golf, highlighting the importance of work-life balance and sharing cherished moments with friends and family.   To learn more about Joe, connect with him on LinkedIn. Watch the video here. Read the blog post here.  

In Episode 105 of the "Good Morning BSS World" podcast, we are joined by Zen Sithole and Kelli Barabasz from 263Hub, a dynamic company making strides in the BPO sector. Zen and Kelli dive into their respective roles within 263Hub and shed light on the company's operations both in Zimbabwe and the USA.This episode offers an in-depth exploration of Zimbabwe as an emerging business destination, highlighting its rich history, unique geography, and the challenges it faces in the global market. Our discussion begins with an overview of Zimbabwe's business environment, examining the factors that make it a compelling location for business process outsourcing (BPO).Zen and Kelli share insights into the country's evolving BPO market, discussing the variety of services provided and the rapid growth within the sector. We also delve into exciting opportunities in Zimbabwe's gaming industry, a burgeoning field with significant potential. Additionally, the conversation touches on the BPO2Africa initiative, aimed at fostering business connections and promoting Africa as a prime destination for BPO services.Zen and Kelli explain how 263Hub is contributing to this initiative and what it means for the future of business in Zimbabwe and beyond. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the potential of Zimbabwe in the global business landscape and the innovative work being done by 263Hub to capitalize on this potential.Tune in to discover how this vibrant company is navigating the challenges and opportunities in promoting Zimbabwe as a top-tier business hub.  Key points of the podcast:Zimbabwe is emerging as a strong contender in the BPO and CX services industry, offering high literacy rates and neutral English accents due to its robust educational background.The country boasts excellent infrastructure, including 5G connectivity and reliable internet services, which counter any misconceptions about its technological capabilities.263hub, among other BPOs in Zimbabwe, offers diverse services ranging from customer service and tech support to virtual assistant roles and knowledge process outsourcing, leveraging a highly educated workforce at competitive costs.  Links:Zen Sithole on Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/zen-sithole/Kelli Barabasz on Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellibarabasz/263Hub – https://263hub.com/Talk to AI about this podcast – https://gmbw.onpodcastai.com/episodes/WHOAu1syXRS/chat  ****************************  My name is Wiktor Doktór and on daily basis I run Pro Progressio Club https://klub.proprogressio.pl - it's a community of many private companies and public sector organizations that care about the development of business relations in the B2B model. In the Good Morning BSS World podcast, apart from solo episodes, I share interviews with experts and specialists from global BPO/GBS industry.If you want to learn more about me, please visit my social media channels:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/wiktordoktorHere is also link to the English podcasts Playlist - https://bit.ly/GoodMorningBSSWorldPodcastYTLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktorYou can also write to me. My email address is - wiktor.doktor (@) proprogressio.pl  ****************************  This Podcast is supported by Patrons:Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/Damian Ruciński https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/  If you like my podcasts you can join Patrons of Good Morning BSS World as well. Here are two links to do so:Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Or if you liked this episode and would like to buy me virtual coffee, you can use this link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor - by doing so you support the growth and distribution of this podcast.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-morning-bss-world--4131868/support.

Are you confused about Reverse Mortgages vs. Traditional Notes? This episode and video equips you to evaluate and bid on reverse mortgage deals involving deceased borrowers who leave behind vacant properties.In this episode, Scott Carson dives deep into:Key Differences: Reverse Mortgages vs. Performing/Non-performing NotesEvaluating REO & Fix & Flip Opportunities: When Inheriting Property with a Reverse MortgageBidding Strategies: Analyzing Seller Reserve, BPOs, Inspections & Legal StatusInsider Tips: Accessing Seller Information & Due Diligence Reports (Free Resources!)Unlock Hidden Value: Learn how to identify profitable reverse mortgage deals and craft winning bids in today's market.Bonus: Discover how to obtain Seller Reserve Bids, Property Access & Due Diligence (Free with WCN Crew Membership: Link to Note Umbrella: [HTTP://noteumbrella.com])Watch the original VIDEO HERE!Book a call with Scott HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Registration is now open for the Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference, Gartner's flagship CFO event, on 20-21 May 2024 in National Harbor, Maryland. Reserve your space today.Listen to this exclusive preview of the Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference, which helps organizations unlock enterprise value by transforming finance's top roles:CFO: Mastering digital transformation. Measuring AI initiative risks and opportunities.Financial planning and analysis (FP&A): Modernizing data architecture. Creating business partnership influences.Controllers: Revamping governance models. Discovering the future of blockchain and accounting.VP of Finance Transformation: Building future organizational models. Evaluating consulting firms and business process outsourcing (BPOs).Episode highlights: The urgency behind the conference's autonomous finance theme (1:25)The CFO role is expanding to AI initiatives and cybersecurity (6:29)FP&A skill sets for modernizing data architecture (9:25)Controllers are under serious pressure with governance models and automation (11:24)VPs of financial transformation must build future organizational models (13:02)Cutting through the AI hype with expert interactions (15:37)

CX Outsourcers Special Edition: For the next two weeks CX Files will be published on both Monday and Thursday giving previews of the talks that will be taking place in Atlanta at the CX Outsourcers conference on May 1/2... --- Paula Kennedy Garcia is an old friend of the CX Files. She has senior experience in several leading BPOs and is know as a leader in CX innovation and new delivery models. Paula is based in Belfast. In this conversation with Mark Hillary she talks about her planned talk on digital CX to the CX Outsourcers conference in Atlanta on May 1/2. Unfortunately, Paula has had to cancel her visit to Atlanta just before the broadcast of this epsiode (Peter and Mark recorded this about a week before broadcast), but it would be a shame to not hear the conversation so we have still published it here. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-kennedy-garcia-1b90b81/ https://cxoutsourcers.com/  

In this episode, host John Walter talks with Braden Ream, the co-founder and CEO of Voiceflow. They delve into the evolution of conversation design with the advent of large language models. Braden shares insights into the shift from traditional methods to AI-driven approaches and discusses how Voiceflow is pioneering in this space. The discussion also touches upon the emerging trends in outsourcing and BPOs, highlighting the integration of AI in these sectors.Additional Resources:Connect with Braden Ream on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/braden-ream/Learn more about Voiceflow: https://www.voiceflow.com/Connect with John Walter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jowalter/

Nina Čaprić is the Government Relations Manager EMEA at NCR Voyix. She is based in Belgrade, Serbia. Peter Ryan called Nina to talk about her role managing government relationships. How is the public sector different to the private sector and do BPOs need to behave in a different way when national - or regional - governments are the client? https://www.ncr.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-capric/  

Randy Arellano is the head of sales and marketing at DATAMARK. He is based in Dallas, Texas.  DATAMARK offers contact center and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services with delivery centers in the US, India, and Mexico. In this discussion with Mark Hillary, Randy talks about how rapidly the entire BPO landscape has progessed since the start of this decade. The period of the pandemic created a wave of flexible working practices and work-from-home (WFH) that has persisted across the industry. This has also led to new expectations around data security - to protect customer data when services are being delivered using a hybrid of WFH and in-office teams. Randy also talks about how AI is offering new opportunities to support agents inside the contact center and improve the customer experience.  With all these developments available equally to the big and medium players, Randy argues that there is no longer a need to work with the giant BPOs if you want to access the latest technology and flexible working practices - it is equally possible in mid-size partners now. A modern BPO is not stronger just because they have more agents. They are stronger because they have insight and ideas for how to transform CX processes and the ability to work in partnership with their clients - size is no longer a marker of service quality. BPO has transformed inside this decade and we are only at 2024 - listen to Randy explain what has changed and why it is important for CX executives to understand this evolution. https://www.linkedin.com/in/randyarellano/ https://datamark.net/  

To have a podcast on The Cost Approach and USPAP.  How exciting (not)!  You're right.  This is not exactly the conversation you'll have when you get together with friends.  Even if those friends are other appraisers!  But the point is the cost approach is an untapped resource.  It is the sunshine to which appraisers typically do not expose their analytics.  This is a shame, really, since this approach can tell us so much about the quality of our analytics via the other approaches.  How so? We all know that in older neighborhoods, there are likely to be few vacant site sales.  This is where we appraisers can put the cost approach and USPAP to good use.  This absence of data makes adjusting for site differences such as size, view, access, shape, etc. difficult to extract from the market. But you can use improved sales data to extract comparable site values.  That takes a little practice and training, true, but once you master that protocol, life as an appraiser becomes easier.  And, reports go out the door a little faster.  Who doesn't want to produce more reports, thus greater cash-flow, right? And what are the advantages to appraisers who understand the cost approach and USPAP?  More than you think, frankly!  But the eye-opener is that as we come to understand the cost approach, then begin to use it properly, our clients are less motivated to hire AVMs and BPOs.  Therefore, they are more prone to hire us, since we provide services and insights that the other tools simply cannot.  So mastering the cost approach should not be a chore.  Instead, let's look at it as the opportunity to become even more indispensable.  Let's seize the opportunity to become even more professional than we are today!    

Creating a Securely Managed Environment for Callers on Your Network, Days of the Big Dumb Pipe are Over “Now more than ever,” says Sarah Delphey, VP Trust Solutions, Numeracle, “… enterprises are really demanding that service providers get into this realm and help them out.” A company's digital identity, their organization's digital footprint, is an asset, part of a brand that must be protected. Sarah tells us that as we tackle the unwanted call battle, consumers want to know that the calls they receive can be trusted. In this podcast, Sarah argues that its time for the service providers to be enablers of those services which make trusted calling and calls, something that enterprises and their consumers can depend on. “The day of just saying, ‘I am a mere dumb pipe'… those days are over.” We hear the case for taking charge, stepping up and offering a better level of service. We learn how this can be done and about ready to go resources, with a big focus on KYC. Numeracle is an industry pioneer and leader with actionable solutions for legal callers that prioritizes their calling identity as the foundation to restoring trust in the voice channel and to their calls by removing barriers, like improper spam labels, from harming their phone numbers. Numeracle's Entity Identity Management™ (EIM) platform puts enterprise brands, BPOs, and service providers in direct control of their identity, which we vet and verify. Our EIM platform can also be used to manage branded communications, to improve call reputation with blocking and labeling prevention and spam label remediation, and we provide visibility into call display to ensure brand identity is presented as intended, with transparency and consistency. Our KYC-based identity vetting and verification is the cornerstone of the platform; developed in support of evolving federal regulations and telecom standards. Visit www.numeracle.com

Imagine navigating the rapid changes in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How do BPOs need to adapt and evolve to stay competitive in this AI-driven landscape? That's what we're discussing in this enlightening episode, drawing insights from a seminar at the Google campus and exploring the potential of technology to revolutionize contact centers.With a focus on enhancing customer experience (CX), we delve into how technology can be a gamechanger. From backfilling headcount to reducing average handle time, we explore how becoming CX partners for clients can transform your business. We also examine how analytics can provide a deeper understanding of customer sentiment and how gamification can add value to the customer journey.Are you ready for the future of BPO technology? We discuss how BPOs need to become proficient in the latest tools to offer value to customers. From leveraging features like auto summarization and Agent Assist to understanding the impact of chat GPT and its new voice capabilities, we cover it all. We also highlight the significance of automated voice services in increasing customer engagement. Tune in, stay updated, and remain competitive in this ever-evolving industry.We're gearing up to launch OttoQA, the game-changing QA automation tailored for smaller contact centers. But here's the twist — we want you in our inner circle before anyone else. Sign up at ottoqa.com with your email, and you'll dive deep into our exclusive Discord, join insightful industry AMAs, and be first in line for beta testing when Otto rolls out. Be part of our pre-launch excitement and help shape the next big thing in QA!Follow Tom: @tlaird_expiviaJoin our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeekConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geekLinkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

David Neale is the Chief Growth Officer at Nutun CX. Mike Butler is the Executive Director of Sales and Marketing at Nutun CX. David and Mike are both based in the UK, but Nutun operations are in South Africa. Every BPO says that they do Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Every annual report features an update on Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) these days... but are BPOs and clients really taking this seriously? The team at Nutun believes that their approach raises the bar. It involves employees and clients and they can see a dramatic improvement in employee engagement because of the work they do in the local community - this directly leads to better performance and better CX. The CX world is seeing a strong focus on cost at present as many countries are facing up to an uncertain economy, but is the real way to evaluate ESG not just that it is a good thing to do, but it is also good for business? https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-butler/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-neale-08b80011b/ https://www.nutun.com/ https://melloneducate.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4wMzJ03Jvc    

The Expert Tech Leadership Driving Digital Transformation for the Age of AI   Welcome to the debut episode of CX Labs, a new installment of the Digitally Irresistible podcast where we cover the latest CX practices, including performance optimization, technology trends, employee experience, industry developments, and success factors to inspire great CX for your brand.   Our first guest is iQor's Chief Digital Officer PJ Singh. PJ leads a team of technology professionals whose focus is harnessing technology, automation, and human expertise in the delivery of excellent CX for the brands that entrust us to service their customers. . PJ leads a team of technology professionals whose focus is harnessing technology, automation, and human expertise in the delivery of excellent CX for the brands that entrust us to service their customers.    On this episode, PJ shares insights on Symphony [AI]™, iQor's generative AI ecosystem designed to create a holistic employee experience by leveraging intelligent insights at every stage of the employee lifecycle. Read on to learn how PJ and his team harness generative AI in the BPO industry to optimize the entire employee lifecycle to deliver winning CX.   Why iQor Is at the Forefront of Generative AI in the BPO Industry   At iQor, we recognize the transformative capacity of generative AI impacting every industry, including BPOs. Leveraging its capabilities is a top priority. According to PJ, a strong investment in AI takes a lot of engineering. Under his leadership, the company's internal data experts are committed to high-capacity AI development across all CX processes.    While AI technology is always evolving, iQor has longstanding investments in its potential to optimize customer service. For example, our proprietary speech analytics engine, VALDI, leverages AI to translate interaction signals into insights like customer sentiment and key topics. We have years of experience deploying commercial models to monitor for compliance defects in work-at-home (WAH) environments, using AI to improve security protocols with zero trust architecture that safeguards data from threats.     We identify pockets of potential attrition using our machine learning models to understand how we can better retain employees. Our predictive analytics capabilities increase retention by as much as 300% by deploying intervention strategies to support at-risk employees. At iQor, we possess a huge wealth of knowledge, engineering capacity, and the drive to continuously improve all our processes with AI, positioning us to succeed as a leader in AI innovations for BPOs. The Science Behind iQor's Symphony [AI]   PJ explains that Symphony [AI] is an ecosystem of proprietary tools, and commercial technologies designed to optimize the employee lifecycle and unify iQor's dedication to exceptional customer service. Harnessing the latest in AI capabilities and guided by human insight, Symphony [AI] synchronizes the relationship between agent, customer, and client by delivering seamless, smile-worthy experiences.  To this end, our data scientists utilize enormous amounts of data from iQor's accumulated process knowledge as a BPO provider with decades of experience. This information trains our proprietary large language models (LLMs) to deliver outcomes that meet our high standards for CX.  Irresistible Innovations Powered by Decades of Accumulated Process Knowledge   iQor's accumulated process knowledge is the ongoing aggregation of decades of combined experience, insights, and methodologies our customer service experts bring to the table every day. This combination unlocks expert innovations and unique organizational insights for maximizing performance potential at scale. Our accumulated process knowledge forms an invaluable data lake of information to train our LLMs for industry-leading customer service.    PJ offers a simple explanation for the complex LLMs that power Symphony [AI]. Like ChatGPT and other AI familiar to broader audiences, Symphony [AI] is trained on billions and billions of rows of data to understand and make logical sense of information. A well-trained LLM is able to respond to input using natural language, the same way a well-informed human being would respond.    Symphony [AI] uses this input to develop advanced conversational models and provide dynamic chat interactions, performance enablement technology, and automation opportunities that boost KPIs, improve employee retention, and more to shape the bright new future of customer service with AI.     Elevating the Employee Lifecycle With Intelligent Insights    PJ explains that iQor's goal is to supercharge the employee lifecycle with Symphony [AI] by optimizing talent acquisition, accelerating the training process, and evaluating performance indicators to support employees throughout their employee journey. Here's how Symphony [AI] cultivates exceptional experiences at every stage of the employee lifecycle.    Recruiting: Symphony [AI] begins impacting the employee experience before new agents are even hired. Frontline agents present a high value proposition for contact centers which is why we leverage Symphony [AI] to identify and shortlist candidates who meet the requirements. This creates a seamless hiring and onboarding process from the first interaction.   Training: Symphony [AI] enables employee training programs that improve knowledge and skill retention. We optimize training techniques with top instructional strategies in active learning and personalized career pathing to enable every agent to perform with excellence. This personalized ecosystem guides frontline workers through the training process and increases their familiarity with the systems and processes they will use after training. frontline workers through the training process and increases their familiarity with the systems and processes they will use after training.   Continuous Coaching: When agents reach the production floor, they still access that AI partner on their desktop to facilitate conversations and increase time to proficiency. As agents gain tenure with the company, Symphony [AI] provides insights to guide performance optimization, monitor compliance, and maximize employee well-being. The result is satisfied employees who perform at optimal levels and create smiles for customers.   How Harmonious Employee Experiences Create Happy Customers  When customers contact customer service, they want to explain their reason for seeking support and reach a resolution as quickly as possible. The more proficient an agent is, the higher the chance that the customer will be satisfied with the support they experience.    Achieving consistent customer satisfaction is always our goal. Understanding the customer's needs and supporting those needs according to existing systems, processes, and policies is not always straightforward—which is exactly why Symphony [AI]'s ecosystem is a strategic enabler for optimizing agent potential and ensuring best-in-class customer care. With the power of AI augmenting our agents' capabilities, iQor is unlocking the complexity of customer interactions and providing swift, effective resolutions for customers. Symphony [AI]'s impact on the employee lifecycle creates a ripple effect of satisfaction from frontline workers to our clients' end customer that keeps our clients smiling.     To learn more about Symphony [AI] and iQor's digital capabilities, visit iQor.com/symphony-ai.  To learn more about PJ, visit him on LinkedIn.   Watch the video here. Read the blog post here.   

Ready to transform crisis into opportunity? In this episode, we promise to arm you with practical strategies and cutting-edge tools to navigate the choppy waters of crisis management in contact centers. We use our insights and experiences to illuminate the potential of modern Customer Experience tools to mitigate such crises. With our guidance, you'll learn about setting up minimalistic self-service websites, deploying AI chatbots to deliver vital information, and strategizing to handle customer complaints effectively. We don't stop there! Harnessing social media during crisis communications can significantly make a difference. Listen as we unfold various social media strategies, right from TikTok Lives, Q&A sessions, to effective email campaigns. We also delve into the mechanics of adjusting IVR systems, routing calls to BPOs, and utilizing analytics. We shine light on the importance of maintaining consistent messaging for an enhanced customer experience. By the end, you'll be equipped with the knowledge to not just survive a crisis, but to leverage it for growth. So sit back, and let's change the game of crisis management together!We're gearing up to launch OttoQA, the game-changing QA automation tailored for smaller contact centers. But here's the twist — we want you in our inner circle before anyone else. Sign up at ottoqa.com with your email, and you'll dive deep into our exclusive Discord, join insightful industry AMAs, and be first in line for beta testing when Otto rolls out. Be part of our pre-launch excitement and help shape the next big thing in QA!Follow Tom: @tlaird_expiviaJoin our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeekConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geekLinkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

Wes Miller, Research VP at Directions on Microsoft, joins Corey on Screaming in the Cloud to discuss the various intricacies and pitfalls of Microsoft licensing. Wes and Corey discuss what it's like to work closely with a company like Microsoft in your day-to-day career, while also looking out for the best interest of your mutual customers. Wes explains his history of working both at and with Microsoft, and the changes he's seen to their business models and the impact that has on their customers. About WesWes Miller analyzes and writes about Microsoft security, identity, and systems management technologies, as well as Microsoft product licensing.Before joining Directions on Microsoft in 2010, Wes was a product manager and development manager for several Austin, TX, start-ups, including Winternals Software, acquired by Microsoft in 2006. Prior to that, Wes spent seven years at Microsoft working as a program manager in the Windows Core Operating System and MSN divisions.Wes received a B.A. in psychology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.Links Referenced: Directions on Microsoft Website: https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/getwired LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wmiller/ Directions on Microsoft Training: https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/training TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud, I'm Corey Quinn. So, I write a newsletter called Last Week in AWS, which has always felt like it's flying a little bit too close to the sun just because having AWSes name in the title of what I do feels like it's playing with copyright fire. It's nice periodically to talk to someone—again—who is in a similar boat. Wes Miller is a Research VP at Directions on Microsoft. To be clear, Directions on Microsoft is an analyst firm that talks primarily about Microsoft licensing and is not, in fact, part of Microsoft itself. Have I disclaimed that appropriately, Wes?Wes: You have. You have. And in fact, the company, when it was first born, was actually called Microsoft Directions. And they had a reasonably good relationship with Microsoft at the time and Microsoft cordially asked them, “Hey, could you at least reverse that so it corrects it in terms of trademark.” So yes, we're blessed in that regard. Something you probably would never get away with now, but that was 30 years ago.Corey: [laugh]. And now it sounds like it might as well be a product. So, I have to ask, just because the way I think of you is, you are the folks to talk to, full stop, when you have a question about anything that touches on Microsoft licensing. Is that an accurate depiction of what it is you folks do or is that just my particular corner of the world and strange equivalence that gets me there?Wes: That is our parts of the Venn diagram intersecting because that's what I spend a lot of time talking about and thinking about because I teach that with our company founder, Rob Horwitz. But we also spend an inordinate amount of time taking what Microsoft is talking about shipping, maybe servicing, and help customers understand really, as we say, the ‘So, what?' What does this mean to me as a customer? Should I be using this? Should I be waiting? Should I upgrade? Should I stay? Those sorts of things.So, there's a whole roadmapping side. And then we have a [laugh]—because licensing doesn't end with a license, we have a whole side of negotiation that we spend a lot of time, we have a dedicated team that focuses on helping enterprise agreement customers get the most successful deal for their organization, basically, every three years.Corey: We do exactly that with AWS ourselves. I have to ask before we dive into this. In the early days, I felt like I had a much better relationship with Microsoft. Scott Guthrie, the head of Azure, was on this show. A number of very highly placed Microsoft folks were here. And over the years, they more or less have stopped talking to me.And that leaves me in a position where all I can see is their actions and their broad public statements without getting any nuance or context around any of it. And I don't know if this is just a commentary on human nature or me in particular, but I tend to always assume the worst when things like that happen. So, my approach to Microsoft has grown increasingly cynical over the years as a result. That said, I don't actually have an axe to grind with them from any other perspective than as a customer, and occasionally that feels like ‘victim' for a variety of different things. What's your take on Microsoft as far as, I guess, your feelings toward the company?Wes: So, a lot of people—in fact, it used to be more so, but not as much anymore, people would assume I hate Microsoft or I want to demonize Microsoft. But the irony actually is, you know, I want people to remember I worked there for seven-and-a-half years, I shipped—I was on the team that shipped Windows XP, Server 2003, and a bunch of other products that people don't remember. And I still care about the company, but the company and I are obviously in different trajectories now. And also, my company's customers today are also Microsoft's customers today, and we actually have—our customers—our mutual customers—best interest in mind with basically everything we do. Are we helping them be informed? Are we helping them color within the financial lines?And sometimes, we may say things that help a customer that aren't helping the bottom line or helping a marketing direction and I don't think that resonates well within Microsoft. So sure, sometimes we even hear from them, “Hey, it'd be great if you guys might want to, you know, say something nice once in a while.” But it's not necessarily our job to say nice things. I do it once in a while. I want to note that I said something nice about AAD last week, but the reality is that we are there to help our mutual customers.And what I found is, I have found the same thing to be true that you're finding true that, unfortunately, outbound communications from them, in particular from the whole company, have slowed. I think everybody's busier, they've got a very specific set of directions they're going on things, and as a result, we hear very little. And even getting, trying to get clarification on things sometimes, “Did we read that right?” It takes a while, and it has to go through several different rungs of people to get the answer.Corey: I have somewhat similar relationships over the years with AWS, where they—in many cases, a lot of their executives prefer not to talk to me at all. Which again, is fair. I'm not—I don't require any of them to do it. But there's something in the Amazonian ethos that requires them to talk to customers, especially when customers are having a rough time. And I'm, for better or worse, the voice of the customer.I am usually not the dumbest person in the universe when it comes to trying to understand a service or make it do something that, to me, it seems that it should be able to do. And when I actually start having in-depth conversations, people are surprised. “Wow, you were super pleasant and fun to work with. We thought you were just going to be a jerk.” It's, yeah, it turns out I don't go through every meeting like it's Twitter. What a concept.Wes: Yeah, a lot of people, I've had this happen for myself when you meet people in person, when they meet your Twitter persona, especially for someone who I think you and I both come across as rather boisterous, gregarious, and sometimes people take that as our personas. And I remember meeting a friend in the UK for the first time years ago, he's like, “You're very different in person.” I'm like, “I know. I know.”Corey: I usually get the, “You're just like Twitter.” In many respects, I am. Because people don't always see what I'm putting down. I make it a point to be humorous and I have a quick quip for a lot of things, but it's never trying to make the person I'm engaging with feel worse for it. And that's how I work.People are somewhat surprised when I'm working in client meetings that I'm fun and I have a similar sense of humor and personality, as you would see on Twitter. Believe it or not, I haven't spent all this time just doing a bit. But they're also surprised that it tends to drive toward an actual business discussion.Wes: Sure.Corey: Everything fun is contextual.Wes: Absolutely. That's the same sort of thing we get on our side when we talk to customers. I think I've learned so much from talking with them that sometimes I do get to share those things with Microsoft when they're willing to listen.Corey: So, what I'm curious about in the context of Microsoft licensing is something that, once again, it has intruded upon my notice lately with a bunch of security disclosures in which Microsoft has said remarkably little, and that is one of the most concerning things out there. They casually tried to slide past, “Oh, yeah, we had a signing key compromised.” Which is one of those, “Oh, [laugh] and by the way, the building's on fire. But let's talk about our rent [unintelligible 00:07:44] for the next year.” Like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. What?”That was one of those horrifying moments. And it came out—I believe I learned about this from you—that you needed something called E3 licensing—sorry, E5 licensing—in order to look at those audit logs, where versus E3, which sounded like the more common case. And after a couple of days of, “Explain this,” Microsoft very quickly wound up changing that. What do all these things mean? This is sort of a foreign concept to me because AWS, for better or worse, does not play games with licensing in the same way that Microsoft does.Wes: Sure. Microsoft has, over the years, you know, they are a master of building suites. This is what they've done for over 30 years. And they will build a suite, they'll sell you that suite, they'll come back around in three to six years and sell you a new version of that suite. Sometimes they'll sell you a higher price version of that suite, et cetera.And so, you'll see products evolve. And did a great podcast with my colleagues Rob and Mary Jo Foley the other day where we talked about what we've seen over the last, now for me, 11 years of teaching boot camps. And I think in particular, one of the changes we have seen is exactly what you're being exposed to on the outside and what a lot of people have been complaining about, which is, products don't sit still anymore. So, Microsoft actually makes very few products today. Almost everything they sell you is a service. There are a handful of products still.These services all evolve, and about every triennium or two—so every three to six years—you'll see a price increase and something will be added, and a price increase and something will be added. And so, all this began with the BPOS, the first version of Office 365, which became Office 365 E3, then Microsoft 365 E3 then Microsoft 365 E5. And for people who aren't in the know, basically, that means they went from Office as a subscription to Office, Windows, and a bunch of management tools as a subscription, to E5, basically, it took all of the security and compliance tools that many of us feel should have been baked into the fundamentals, into E3, the thing that everybody buys, what I refer to still today as the hero SKU and those security and compliance fundamentals should have been baked in. But no, in fact, a lot of customers when this AAD issue came out—and I think a lot discovered this ad hoc for the same reason, “Hey, we've been owned, how far back in the logs can we look?” And the answer is, you know, no farther than 90 days, a lot of customers hit that reality of, what do you mean we didn't pay for the premium thing that has all the logging that we need?Corey: Since you sat on this for eight months before mentioning it to us? Yeah.Wes: Exactly, exactly. And it's buried. And it's one of those things that, like, when we teach the licensing boot camp, I specifically call out because of my security background, it's an area of focus and interest to me. I call out to customers that a lot of the stuff we've been showing you has not questionable valuable, but kind of squishy value.This piece right here, this is both about security and compliance. Don't cheap out. If you're going to buy anything, buy this because you're going to need it later. And I've been saying that for, like, three years, but obviously only the people who were in the boot camp would hear that and then shake their head;, “Why does it have to be this difficult?” But yeah. Everything becomes a revenue opportunity if it's a potential to upsell somebody for the next tier.Corey: The couple of times I've been asked to look at Azure bills, I backed away slowly as soon as I do, just because so much of it is tied to licensing and areas that are very much outside of my wheelhouse. Because I view, in the cloud context, that cost and architecture tend to be one of the same. But when you bolt an entire layer of seat licensing and what this means for your desktop operating systems on as well as the actual cloud architecture, it gets incredibly confusing incredibly quickly. And architectural advice of the type that I give to AWS customers and would give to GCP customers is absolutely going to be harmful in many respects.I just don't know what I don't know and it's not an area that interests me, as far as learning that competency, just to jump through hoops. I mean, I frankly used to be a small business Windows admin, with the products that you talked about, back when XP and Server 2003 and a few others, I sort of ruled the roost. But I got so tired of surprise audit-style work. It felt like busy work that wasn't advancing what I was trying to get done in any meaningful way that, in a fit of rage, one day, I wound up exploring the whole Unix side of the world in 2006 and never went back.Wes: [whispering] That's how it happened.Corey: Yep.Wes: It's unfortunate that it's become so commonplace, but when Vista kind of stalled out and they started exploring other revenue opportunities, you have Vista Ultimate Enterprise, all the crazy SKUing that Vista had, I think it sort of created a mindset within the company that this is what we have to do in order to keep growing revenue up and to the right, and you know, shareholder value be the most important thing, that's what you've got to do. I agree entirely, though, the biggest challenge I could see for someone coming into our space is the fact that yes, you've got to understand Azure, Azure architecture, development architecture, and then as soon as you feel like you understand that, somebody comes along and says, “Well, yeah, but because we have an EA, we have to do it this way or we only get a discount on this thing.” And yeah, it just makes things more cumbersome. And I think that's why we still see a lot of customers who come to our boot camps who are still very dedicated AWS customers because that's where they were, and it's easier in many regards, and they just want to go with what they know.Corey: And I think that that's probably fair. I think that there is an evolution that grows here that I think catches folks by surprise. I'm fortunate in that my Microsoft involvement, if we set things like GitHub aside because I like them quite a bit and my Azure stuff as well—which is still small enough to fit in the free tier, given that I use it for one very specific, very useful thing—but the rest of it is simply seat licenses for Office 365 for my team. And I just tend to buy the retail-priced one on the internet that's licensed for business use, and I don't really think about it again. Because I don't need, as you say, in-depth audit logs for Microsoft Word. I really don't. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing that that's true. But something that immediately crops up when you say this is when you talk about E3 versus E5 licensing, is that organization-wide or is that on a per-seat basis?Wes: It's even worse than that. It usually comes down to per-user licensing. The whole world used to be per device licensing in Microsoft and it switched to per user when they subscript-ified everything—that's a word I made up a while ago—so when they subscript-ified everything, they changed it over to per user. And for better or worse, today, you could—there's actually four different tiers of Microsoft 365. You could go for any one of those four for any distinct user.You could have one of them on F1, F3, E3, and E5. Now, if you do that, you create some other license non-compliance issues that we spend way too much time having to talk about during the boot camp, but the point is, you can buy to fit; it's not one-size-fits-all necessarily. But you run into, very rapidly, if you deploy E5 for some number of users because the products that are there, the security services and compliance services ironically don't do license compliance in most cases, customers can actually wind up creating new license compliance problems, thereby basically having to buy E5 for everybody. So, it's a bit of a trapdoor that customers are not often aware of when they initially step into dabbling in Microsoft 365 E5.Corey: When you take a look at this across the entire board, what is your guidance to customers? Because honestly, this feels like it is a full-time job. At scale, a full-time job for a department simply keeping up with all of the various Microsoft licensing requirements, and changes because, as you say, it's not static. And it just feels like an overwhelming amount of work that to my understanding, virtually no other vendor makes customers jump through. Sure there's Oracle, but that tends to be either in a database story or a per developer, or on rare occasions, per user when you build internal Java apps. But it's not as pervasive and as tricky as this unless I'm missing something.Wes: No, you're not. You're not missing anything. It's very true. It's interesting to think back over the years at the boot camp. There's names I've heard that I don't hear anymore in terms of companies that were as bad. But the reality is, you hear the names of the same software companies but, exactly to your point, they're all departmental. The people who make [Roxio 00:16:26] still, they're very departmentalized. Oracle, IBM, yeah, we hear about them still, but they are all absolutely very departmentalized.And Microsoft, I think one of the reason why we do get so many—for better or worse, for them—return visitors to our licensing boot camps that we do every two months, is for that exact reason, that some people have found they like outsourcing that part of at least trying to keep up with what's going on, what's the record? And so, they'll come back every two, three, or four years and get an update. And we try to keep them updated on, you know, how do I color within the lines? Should it be like this? No. But it is this way.In fact, it's funny, I think back, it was probably one of the first few boot camps I did with Rob. We were in New York and we had a very large customer who had gotten a personalized message from Microsoft talking about how they were going to simplify licensing. And we went to a cocktail hour afterwards, as we often do on the first day of the boot camp, to help people, you know, with the pain after a boot camp, and this gentleman asks us well, “So, what are you guys going to do once Microsoft simplifies licensing?” And Rob and I just, like, looked at each other, smiled, looked back at the guy, and laughed. We're like, “We will cross that bridge when we get to it.”Corey: Yeah, people ask us that question about AWS billing. What if they fix the billing system? Like, we should be so lucky to live that long.Wes: I have so many things I'd rather be doing. Yes.Corey: Mm-hm. Exactly. It's one of those areas where, “Well, what happens in a post-scarcity world?” Like, “I couldn't tell you. I can't even imagine what such a thing would look like.”Wes: Exactly [laugh]. Exactly.Corey: So, the last time we spoke way back, I think in 2019, Microsoft had wound up doing some unfortunate and fairly underhanded-appearing licensed changes, where it was more expensive to run a bunch of Microsoft things, such as server software, most notably SQL Server, on clouds that were not Azure. And then, because you know, you look up the word chutzpah in the dictionary, you'll find the Microsoft logo there in response, as part of the definition, they ran an advertising campaign saying that, oh, running many cloud workloads on Azure was five times cheaper than on AWS. As if they cracked some magic secret to cloud economics. Rather than no, we just decided to play dumb games that win worse prizes with cloud licensing. How did that play out?Wes: Well, so they made those changes in October of 2019, and I kind of wish they'd become a bigger deal. And I wish they'd become a bigger deal earlier so that things could have been, maybe, reversed when it was easier. But you're absolutely right. So, it—for those who don't know, it basically made licensing changes on only AWS, GCP, and Alibaba—who I never had anybody ask me about—but those three. It also added them for Azure, but then they created loopholes for themselves to make Azure actually get beneficial licensing, even better than you could get with any other cloud provider [sigh].So, the net takeaway is that every Microsoft product that matters—so traditionally, SQL Server, Windows Server, Windows client, and Office—is not impossible to use on AWS, but it is markedly more expensive. That's the first note. To your point, then they did do that marketing campaign that I know you and I probably had exchanges about at the time, and it drove me nuts as well because what they will classically do is when they tout the savings of running something on Azure, not only are they flouting the rules that they created, you know, they're basically gloating, “Look, we got a toy that they didn't,” but they're also often removing costs from the equation. So, for example, in order for you to get those discounts on Azure, you have to maintain what's called Software Assurance. You basically have to have a subscription by another name.If you don't have Software Assurance, those opportunities are not available to you. Fine. That's not my point. My point is this, that Software Assurance is basically 75% of the cost of the next version. So, it's not free, but if you look at those 5x claims that they made during that time frame, they actually were hand-waving and waving away the [assay 00:20:45] costs.So, if you actually sat down and did the math, the 5x number was a lie. It was not just very nice, but it was wrong, literally mathematically wrong. And from a—as my colleague likes to say, a ‘colors person,' not a numbers person like me, from a colors person like me, that's pretty bad. If I can see the error and your math, that's bad math.Corey: It just feels like it's one of those taxes on not knowing some of the intricacies of what the heck is going on in the world of Microsoft licensing. And I think every sufficiently complex vendor with, shall we say, non-trivial pricing dimensions, could be accused of the same thing. But it always felt particularly worrisome from the Microsoft perspective. Back in the days of BSA audits—which I don't know at all if they're still a thing or not because I got out of that space—every executive that I ever spoke to, in any company lived in fear of them, not because they were pirating software or had decided, “You know what? We have a corporate policy of now acting unethically when it comes to licensing software,” but because of the belief that no matter what they came up with or whatever good faith effort they made to remain compliant, of course, something was not going to work the way they thought it would and they were going to be smacked with a fine. Is that still the case?Wes: Absolutely. In fact, I think it's worse now than it ever was before. I will often say to customers that you are wildly uncompliant while also being wildly overcompliant because per your point about how broad and deep Microsoft is, there's so many products. Like, every company today, every company that has Project and Visio still in place today, that still pays for it, you are over-licensed. You have more of it than you need.That's just one example, but on the other side, SQL Server, odds are, every organization is subtly under-licensed because they think the rule is to do this, but the rules are actually more restrictive than they expect. So, and that's why Microsoft is, you know, the first place they look, the first rug they look under when they do walk in and do an audit, which they're entitled to do as a part of an organization's enterprise agreement. So BSA, I think they do still have those audits, but Microsoft now they have their own business that does that, or at least they have partners that do that for them. And places like SQL Server are the first places that they look.Why? Because it's big, found money, and because it's extremely hard to get right. So, there's a reason why, when we focus on our boot camps, we'll often tell people, you know, “Our goal is to save you enough money to pay for the class,” because there's so much money to be found in little mistakes that if you do a big thing wrong with Microsoft software, you could be wildly out of compliance and not know about it until Microsoft-or more likely, a Microsoft partner—points it out to you.Corey: It feels like it's an inevitability. And, on some level, it's the cost of doing business. But man, does that leave a sour taste in someone's mouth.Wes: Mm-hm. It absolutely does. It absolutely does. And I think—you know, I remember, gosh, was it Munich that was talking about, “We're going to switch to Linux,” and then they came back into the fold. I think the reality is, it absolutely does put a bad taste.And it doesn't leave customers with good hope for where they go from here. I mean, okay, fine. So, we got burned on that thing in the Microsoft 365 stack. Now, they want us to pay 30 bucks for Copilot for Microsoft 365. What? And we'd have no idea what they're even buying, so it's hard to give any kind of guidance. So, it's a weird time.Corey: I'm curious to see what the ultimate effect of this is going to be. Well, one thing I've noticed over the past decade and change—and I think everyone has as well—increasingly, the local operating system on people's laptops or desktops—or even phones, to some extent—is not what it once was. Increasingly, most of the tools that I find myself using on a daily basis are just web use or in a browser entirely. And that feels like it's an ongoing problem for a company like Microsoft when you look at it through the lens of OS. Which at some level, makes perfect sense why they would switch towards everything as a service. But it's depressing, too.Wes: Yeah. I think that's one of the reasons why, particularly after Steve left, they changed focus a lot and really begin focusing on Microsoft 365 as the platform, for better or worse. How do we make Microsoft 365 sticky? How do we make Office 365 sticky? And the thing about, like, the Microsoft 365 E5 security stuff we were talking about, it often doesn't matter what the user is accessing it through. The user could be accessing it only through a phone, they could be a frontline worker, they could be standing at a sales kiosk all day, they could be using Office every single day, or they could be an exec who's only got an iPad.The point is, you're in for a penny, in for a pound at that point that you'll still have to license the user. And so, Microsoft will recoup it either way. In some ways, they've learned to stop caring as much about, is everyone actively using our technology? And on the other side, with things like Teams, and as we're seeing very, very slowly, with the long-delayed Outlook here, you know, they're also trying to switch things to have that less Win32 surface that we're used to and focus more on the web as well. But I think that's a pretty fundamental change for Microsoft to try and take broadly and I don't anticipate, for example, Office will ever be fully replaced with a fat client like it has on Windows and the Mac OS.Corey: Yeah, part of me wonders what the future that all looks like because increasingly, it feels more than a little silly that I'm spending, like, all of this ever-increasing dollar figure on a per-seat basis every year for all of Microsoft 365. Because we don't use their email system. We don't use so much of what they offer. We need basically Word and Excel and once in a blue moon PowerPoint, I guess. But that's it. Our fundamental needs have not materially shifted since Office 2003. Other than the fact that everything uses different extensions now and there's, of course, the security story on top of it, too. We just need some fairly basic stuff.Wes: And I think that's the case for a lot of—I mean, we're the exact same way at Directions. And I think that's the case for a lot of small and even into mid-size companies. Microsoft has traditionally with the, like, Small Business Premium, they have an offering that they intentionally only scale up to 300 people. And sometimes they'll actually give you perks there that they wouldn't give away in the enterprise suite, so you arguably get more—if they let you have it, you get more than you would if you've got E5. On the other side, they've also begun, for enterprises, honing in on opportunities that they may have historically ignored.And when I was at Microsoft, you'd have an idea, like, “Hey, Bob. I got an idea. Can we try to make a new product?” He's like, “Okay, is it a billion-dollar business?” And you get waved away if it wasn't all a billion-dollar business. And I don't think that's the case anymore today, particularly if you can make the case, this thing I'm building makes Microsoft 365 sticky or makes Azure sticky. So, things like the Power Platform, which is subtly and slowly replacing Access at a minimum, but a lot of other tools.Power BI, which has come from behind. You know, people would look at it and say, “Oh, it's no Excel.” And now it, I think, far exceeds Excel for that type of user. And Copilot, as I talked about, you know, Microsoft is definitely trying to throw things in that are beyond Office, beyond what we think of as Microsoft. And why are they doing that? Because they're trying to make their platform more sticky. They're trying to put enough value in there so you need to subscribe for every user in your organization.And even things, as we call them, ‘Batteries not Included' like Copilot, that you're going to buy E5 and that you're still going to have to buy something else beyond that for some number of users. So, you may even have a picture in your head of how much it's going to cost, but it's like buying a BMW 5 Series; it's going to cost more than you think.Corey: I wish that there were a better path forward on this. Honestly, I wish that they would stop playing these games, let you know Azure compete head-to-head against AWS and let it win on some of its merits. To be clear, there are several that are great. You know, if they could get out of their own way from a security perspective, lately. But there seems to be a little appetite for that. Increasingly, it seems like even customers asking them questions tends to hit a wall until, you know, a sitting US senator screams at them on Twitter.Wes: Mm-hm. No, and then if you look carefully at—Microsoft is very good at pulling just enough off of the sweater without destroying the sweater. And for example, what they did, they gave enough away to potentially appease, but they didn't actually resolve the problem. They didn't say, “All right, everybody gets logging if they have Microsoft 365 E3,” or, “Everybody gets logging, period.” They basically said, “Here's the kind of logging you can get, and we're going to probably tweak it a little bit more in the future,” and they will not tweak it more in the future. If anything, they'll tighten it back up.This is very similar to the 2019 problem we talked about earlier, too, that you know, they began with one set of rules and they've had to revisit it a couple of times. And most of the time, when they've had an outcry, primarily from the EU, from smaller cloud providers in the EU who felt—justifiably—that Microsoft was being not—uncompetitive with Azure vis-à-vis every other cloud provider. Well, Microsoft turned around and last year changed the rules such that most of these smaller cloud providers get rules that are, ehh, similar to what Azure can provide. There are still exclusives that only Azure gets. So, what you have now is basically, if you're a customer, the best set and cheapest set is with Azure, then these smaller cloud providers give you a secondary—it's close to Azure, but still not quite as good. Then AWS, GCP, and Alibaba.So, the rules have been switched such that you have to know who you're going to in order to even know what the rules are and to know whether you can comply with those rules with the thing you want to build. And I find it most peculiar that, I believe it was the first of last month that Microsoft made the change that said, “You'll be able to run Office on AWS,” which was Amazon WorkSpaces, in particular. Which I think is huge and it's very important and I'm glad they made this change, but it's weird because it creates almost a fifth category because you can't run it anywhere else in Amazon, like if you were spinning something up in VMware on Amazon, but within Amazon WorkSpaces, you can. This is great because customers now can run Office for a fee. And it's a fee that's more than you'd pay if you were running the same thing on Microsoft's cloud.But it also was weird because let's say Google had something competitive in VDI, but they don't really, but if they had something competitive in VDI, now this is the benefit that Amazon has that's not quite as good as what Microsoft has, that Google doesn't get it at all. So, it's just weird. And it's all an attempt to hold… to both hold a market strategy and an attempt to grow market share where they're still behind. They are markedly behind in several areas. And I think the reality is, Amazon WorkSpaces is a really fine offering and a lot of customers use it.And we had a customer at our last in-person boot camp in Atlanta, and I was really impressed—she had been to one boot camp before, but I was really impressed at how much work she'd put into making sure we know, “We want to keep using Amazon WorkSpaces. We're very happy with it. We don't want to move anywhere else. Am I correct in understanding that this, this, this, and this? If we do these things will be aboveboard?” And so, she knew how much more she'd have to pay to stay on Amazon WorkSpaces, but it was that important to the company that they'd already bet the farm on the technology, and they didn't want to shift to somebody else that they didn't know.Corey: I'm wondering how many people have installed Office just through a standard Microsoft 365 subscription on a one-off Amazon WorkSpace, just because they had no idea that that was against license terms. I recall spinning up an Amazon WorkSpace back when they first launched, or when they wound up then expanding to Amazon Linux; I forget the exact timeline on this. I have no idea if I did something like that or not. Because it seems like it'd be a logical thing. “Oh, I want to travel with just an iPad. Let me go ahead and run a full desktop somewhere in the cloud. Awesome.”That feels like exactly the sort of thing an audit comes in and then people are on the hook for massive fines as a result. It just feels weird, as opposed to, there are a number of ways to detect you're running on a virtual machine that isn't approved for this. Stop the install. But of course, that doesn't happen, does it?Wes: No. When we teach at the boot camp, Rob will often point out that, you know, licensing is one of the—and it's true—licensing is one of the last things that comes in when Microsoft is releasing a product. It was that way when he was at the company before I was—he shipped Word 1.0 for the Mac, to give you an idea of his epoch—and I was there for XP, like I said, which was the first version that used activation—which was a nightmare—there was a whole dedicated team on. And that team was running down to the wire to get everything installed.And that is still the case today because marketing and legal make decisions about how a product gets sold. Licensing is usually tacked on at the very end if it gets tacked on at all. And in fact, in a lot of the security, compliance, and identity space within Microsoft 365, there is no license compliance. Microsoft will show you a document that, “Hey, we do this,” but it's very performative. You can't actually rely on it, and if you do rely on it, you'll get in trouble during an audit because you've got non-compliance problems. So yeah, it's—you would hope that it keeps you from coloring outside the lines, but it very much does not.Corey: It's just a tax on going about your business, in some ways [sigh].Wes: Exactly. “Don't worry, we'll be back to fix it for you later.”Corey: [laugh]. I really appreciate your taking the time to go through this with me. If people want to learn more, where's the best place for them to keep up with what you're up to?Wes: Well, obviously, I'm on Twitter, and—oh, sorry, X, whatever.Corey: No, we're calling it Twitter.Wes: Okay, I'm on—I'm on—[laugh] thank you. I'm on Twitter at @getwired. Same alias over on [BlueSky 00:35:27]. And they can also find me on LinkedIn, if they're looking for a professional question beyond that and want to send a quiet message.The other thing is, of course, go to directionsonmicrosoft.com. And directionsonmicrosoft.com/training if they're interested in one of our licensing boot camps. And like I said, Rob, and I do those every other month. We're increasingly doing them in person. We got one in Bellevue coming up in just a few weeks. So, there's opportunities to learn more.Corey: Excellent. And we will, of course, put links to that in the [show notes 00:35:59]. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me again, Wes. It's appreciated.Wes: Thank you for having me.Corey: Wes Miller, Research VP at Directions on Microsoft. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, along with an angry, insulting comment that will no doubt be taken down because you did not sign up for that podcasting platform's proper license level.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.

Breaking New Ground for the Early Success of iQor Colombia  This week, we welcome Fabian Garcia to the Digitally Irresistible podcast. Fabian is senior director of operations and country lead of iQor Colombia. With 15 years of experience in contact center operations and a passion for the BPO industry, Fabian's leadership has been instrumental to iQor's early success in expanding to our first nearshore location in South America.    Fabian began his career as a lawyer before discovering new and exciting opportunities in the BPO industry. His excellent performance and dedication to the industry propelled him through leadership positions and inspired his passion for recruiting and developing successful agents.  When approached by iQor about leading the launch of the company's first South American call center in Medellín, Colombia, Fabian accepted the opportunity to build and grow a successful contact center operation from the ground up with great enthusiasm.    On this episode, we highlight how Fabian's leadership has delivered positive results in this nearshore location through his ability to manage a call center while investing in the career growth and development of the frontline employees on his team. Fabian's devotion to spearheading a brand-new operation, responding flexibly to client needs, and delivering desirable business outcomes for clients has resulted in impressive growth. As our Medellín location continues to deliver favorable results, a number of iQor's clients are placing their trust in the unique talent and irresistible CX that iQor Colombia offers.     Bilingual Talent and Cultural Compatibility Advance Medellín, Colombia's Nearshoring Appeal    According to Fabian, the foundation of Medellín's contact center success is the remarkable passion and strong work ethic of the city's inhabitants. Employee engagement is high, with agents driven to be successful while receiving support from iQor's dedication to retention through positive employee experiences that lead to smile worthy customer engagement.   Another key element of Medellín's suitability for exceptional customer service is the availability of bilingual English-Spanish speaking population. The city boasts many universities and institutes that contribute to a highly educated English-speaking population. In recent decades, the city has prioritized its reinvention as a setting for business and technological innovation, making it an ideal location for many industries, including BPOs, to thrive.   The city's flourishing tourism industry is another factor that promotes competency with the English language. The influx of English-speaking visitors encourages intercultural communication that increases the local population's knowledge of American culture. This awareness builds familiarity and cultivates a cultural compatibility between the local talent and iQor's clients' customer base, facilitating high customer satisfaction on a daily basis.    Leading With Flexibility to Accomplish Client Goals   Clients who have partnered with iQor's outsourced BPO solutions in Medellín have noted the well-structured operations combined with a unique human touch that is essential for creating smile worthy CX. These qualities have contributed to the company's remarkable growth in a new geolocation in a relatively short span of time and highlight Colombia's growing appeal as a nearshoring destination.   Fabian explains how, in a specific instance, a client requested to meet prospective new hires before the operational phase officially began. Fabian promptly advertised the positions, resulting in an impressive response from individuals eager to join the company and willing to be interviewed by the client, who collaborated favorably with the hiring process.    iQor places a high priority on providing CX expertise that incorporates open communication with clients from the outset to meet all goals. Our nearshore outsourcing solutions utilize interaction analytics and strategies to identify new opportunities and provide the tailored support our clients need to succeed. In this situation, Fabian provided a responsive, flexible solution to the client's request that satisfied their expectations. This proactive approach established trust in the local Colombian team and iQor as a provider of strategic outsourcing solutions and solidified a long-lasting client relationship that exists to this day.    Looking Ahead to New Horizons for Nearshoring in iQor Colombia    To accommodate the current growth rate, iQor plans to establish a second contact center facility in Medellín while exploring potential locations for a second city in Colombia to expand the company's footprint in the country and increase the capacity of support for our clients.    Fabian's adept management of call center teams and savvy business strategies have been pivotal in driving operational success in Medellín. His willingness to innovate in uncharted territory has fueled impressive growth and garnered positive feedback from the clients we support, helping establish iQor as a trusted BPO partner with our nearshoring solutions in Colombia.      What Fabian Does for Fun    When not working, Fabian's first priority is enjoying time with his family. He also has a passion for soccer and Formula One racing.   To learn more about Fabian, visit him on LinkedIn.  Watch the video here. Read the blog post here.   

Introduction: Tooba Faroki, an expert in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), shares her journey from graduating in Pakistan to her role at Invisible, a leading company in the automation space. Understanding Automation and AI: Automation vs. AI: Automation focuses on making repetitive tasks self-executing through predefined scripts or bots. In contrast, AI mimics human cognitive functions like learning and problem-solving. A couple of years ago, RPA was limited. It primarily required structured inputs and outputs. With advancements like Machine Learning (ML) and NLP models, there's a shift from structured to unstructured processing. Integrated Robotic Process Automation (IRPA) has been gaining traction. It marries the traditional automation with AI capabilities. Tooba's Personal Journey: Tooba kickstarted her career post-graduation by working at a local company in Pakistan. This foundational experience positioned her as an RPA expert by 2018. Her skills and expertise led her to IBM, where she implemented numerous RPA solutions. While ChatGPT was not present during her early career days, RPA's philosophy was clear: "set it and forget it." About Invisible: Unlike traditional BPOs, Invisible is an outsourcing company that understands client processes and refines them for better Return on Investment (ROI). They aim to deliver solutions faster, cheaper, and more efficiently by removing bottlenecks. They rely on both AI and humans for certain tasks. For example, while AI can generate content, humans are essential for quality assurance. At Invisible, there's a synergy between tech and operations. Communication is pivotal. Tooba, as a solution architect, ensures this smooth flow. Real-world AI Implementation: A Fortune 500 company, referred to as SQU, approached Invisible. Their sales weren't meeting expectations. Invisible stepped in to enhance the product's quality. Initially, the process was manual. Over time, they introduced automation and AI for better efficiency and results. The overarching message Tooba conveys is that while AI can be a game-changer, it's essentially about making statistical predictions. Therefore, understanding its potential and limitations is crucial for businesses. Incorporating AI in Business: Companies looking to integrate AI should shift their mindset. While AI can enhance operations, it's essentially about predictions. There's always room for error. However, the aim should be to leverage AI for betterment. Tooba's Insights and Learnings: One of the most intriguing lessons Tooba learned at Invisible is the importance of diversity. Interacting with a diverse range of people has enriched her understanding of human knowledge. There's a stark difference between professional expectations in Pakistan and at Invisible. In Pakistan, a job usually aligns with a fixed role and function. At Invisible, there's room for creativity and leadership. Every individual is encouraged to be the CEO of their department, driving innovation. Closing Remarks: Tooba's journey from Pakistan to Invisible is testament to her determination and expertise. As AI and automation continue to evolve, her insights provide a lens to understand their real-world applications better.

The Next Generation of Caller ID is all about KYC...is all about Vetted Identity? Darth Vader. No, really! Brett Nemeroff, VP of Engineering, Voice of Numeracle, was putting together a slide deck for the company's masterclass series, on caller ID when Darth Vader called. That was the name being displayed as the incoming call on the Brett's phone. Brett answered the call, where Mr. Vader graciously explained that he's a real estate broker, that, with non-telecom engineering skills, simply logged into his account and set his name as Darth Vader. “It just underscores the problem with caller-Id, that it's not a source we can trust,” says Nemeroff. “It does not take a tremendous amount of technical competence to figure out how to change your name and to ultimately how to change it to something that might make it more likely to get answered by somebody.” In this podcast, Brett discusses how this degradation of the caller-ID service has impacted the utility of by phone communications. Basically, people have lost trust in being able to know who'd calling. That, combined with an ocean of nuisance and scam calls, has devastated the utility of simple outbound calling as a way of communicating. “It all starts with KYC, Know Your Customer,” says Brett. Brett discusses guidance on understanding and defending privacy and security in a world of continuous changes and challenges, as well as the responsibilities and roles in this defense. We get insights into how Numeracle's Entity Identity Management™ (EIM) and Verified Identity™ associate and manage the identity of communications, supporting evolving regulations and standards. Brett offers a perspective on the future of phone calls and the telecommunications industry, including an understanding of how to progress forward with expertise and integrity Numeracle is an industry pioneer and leader with actionable solutions for legal callers that prioritizes their calling identity as the foundation to restoring trust in the voice channel and to their calls by removing barriers, like improper spam labels, from harming their phone numbers. Numeracle's Entity Identity Management™ (EIM) platform puts enterprise brands, BPOs, and service providers in direct control of their identity, which we vet and verify. Our EIM platform can also be used to manage branded communications, to improve call reputation with blocking and labeling prevention and spam label remediation, and we provide visibility into call display to ensure brand identity is presented as intended, with transparency and consistency. Our KYC-based identity vetting and verification is the cornerstone of the platform; developed in support of evolving federal regulations and telecom standards.

The Problem with Unregulated Call Labeling Analytics Engines, Numeracle Podcast: Verified Identity directly to call recipients without relying on intermediaries. Even in the shadow of the STIR/SHAKEN effort and several public and private sector initiatives, illegal robocalling continues to bedevil legitimate use cases, legitimate corporate, government and NGO operators of outbound calling operations. Numeracle is an industry pioneer and leader with actionable solutions for legal callers that prioritizes their calling identity as the foundation to restoring trust in the voice channel and to their calls by removing barriers, like improper spam labels, from harming their phone numbers. In this podcast, we visit with Keith Buell, General Counsel and Head of Global Public Policy, who walks us through his organization's comments to the FCC and offers us a better understanding of Numeracle's vision: Verified Identity directly to call recipients without relying on intermediaries. “We've gone from an industry where carriers have a duty to deliver calls with 99.999% accuracy to an industry that favors overzealous blocking and labeling without consequence to the blocker,” says Buell. On August 9th, 2023, Numeracle filed comments in response to the FCC's Seventh Report and Order, Eighth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Third Notice of Inquiry in the matter of ‘Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls.' A central point, explains Buell: “The FCC should not allow the AEs to insert themselves into the call flow, regardless of whether the call originator or recipient wants them there, and give the AEs carte blanche to make errors and then charge to fix those errors.” Numeracle has offered to provide Verified Identity data to help the analytics with an additional vetted source by which to identify good actors apart from the bad. Numeracle is an industry pioneer and leader with actionable solutions for legal callers that prioritizes their calling identity as the foundation to restoring trust in the voice channel and to their calls by removing barriers, like improper spam labels, from harming their phone numbers. Numeracle's Entity Identity Management™ (EIM) platform puts enterprise brands, BPOs, and service providers in direct control of their identity, which we vet and verify. Our EIM platform can also be used to manage branded communications, to improve call reputation with blocking and labeling prevention and spam label remediation, and we provide visibility into call display to ensure brand identity is presented as intended, with transparency and consistency. Our KYC-based identity vetting and verification is the cornerstone of the platform; developed in support of evolving federal regulations and telecom standards. Visit www.numeracle.com  More news on Numeracle

Alistair Niederer is well known on the CX Files - he was a guest just a few months ago, but was invited back as he has now changed role and he published an important new white paper on ESG. Most leaders are now concerned about their Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) measures - but are they really focusing on change or just how to score well in the audits? Alistair has been focused on exploring ESG in CX and BPO and he talks about his recent research in this episode. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniederer/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/needlerock/ https://www.intelligentsourcing.net/esg-essential-to-bpo-competitiveness/   BPO Guide to ESG https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aniederer_bpo-guide-to-esg-activity-7069295941454835713-XVe_?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop  

“People are angry,” says Sarah Delphey, VP of Trust Solutions of Numeracle. “It's very empowering,” adds Delphey. As people continue to receive nuisance and scam robocalls, one of the things that they can do is file a complaint with the FCC. Delphey tells us that she is among those that have responded this way too. Nobody is immune from the onslaught. The challenge for organizations, of all sizes, is the compromise of brand reputation. “Just like any company can develop bad online reviews… in just the same way, a company that's just going about their business, not committing fraud, not committing anything illegal, if their calling is leaving the wrong impression, or if people think it's an impersonation attempt, that could cause people to file complaints about you, without your knowledge, and those complaints could be having a negative impact.” Delphey notes that in her previous work inside a carrier, these complaints can move the carrier to consider cancellation of service. Her experience is that customers were often unaware that there was even a problem. In this podcast, Delphey outlines the damage that can occur, and how Numeracle can help clients have visibility to the problem, before it escalates, along with actionable information. She notes that when a carrier's client can outline how they are responding, it moves the carrier to see the client as a responsible actor. Numeracle is an industry pioneer and leader with actionable solutions for legal callers that prioritizes their calling identity as the foundation to restoring trust in the voice channel and to their calls by removing barriers, like improper spam labels, from harming their phone numbers. Numeracle's Entity Identity Management™ (EIM) platform puts enterprise brands, BPOs, and service providers in direct control of their identity, which we vet and verify. Our EIM platform can also be used to manage branded communications, to improve call reputation with blocking and labeling prevention and spam label remediation, and we provide visibility into call display to ensure brand identity is presented as intended, with transparency and consistency. Our KYC-based identity vetting and verification is the cornerstone of the platform; developed in support of evolving federal regulations and telecom standards. Read the White Papers Read the Blog Visit www.numeracle.com

Welcome back to another episode of the CX Goalkeeper Podcast! In this episode, we're thrilled to have Rob Dwyer, a seasoned expert in the contact center and BPO industry, join us for a deep dive into the world of customer experience.Rob shares his journey from the mortgage business to his current role, where he's making a difference in the lives of customers and employees alike. He also gives us a glimpse into his podcast, Next in Queue, and shares a memorable shopping experience that turned a routine checkout into a game show!We discuss the importance of prioritizing customer experience, the delicate balance between speed and quality in service delivery, and how to foster an innovation mindset in contact centers. Rob also shares his insights on employee engagement and retention, and the role of leadership in creating a cohesive team.This episode is packed with valuable insights and advice for anyone interested in customer experience and leadership in the context of contact centers and BPOs.

Today we are talking with Zach Beach and we are looking at creative ways to expand your skillset and diversify your offering. If you are still doing things the traditional way, then you are blending into the crowd with a million different agents.ResourceGet a Copy of Zach's BookReal Estate Marketing DudeThe Listing Advocate (Earn more listings!)REMD on YouTubeREMD on InstagramTranscript:What's up? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the episode of Real Estate Marketing Dude Podcast. Folks, the market has changed. We're going to change with it. And what we're gonna be talking about today is a way to do that. If you're still doing business, the way you have 12 months ago, you're probably suffering. There's a reason why 60,000 real estate agents that I keep saying is probably 40,000.00:04:11:23 - 00:04:27:04It's going to be 150,000. It doesn't matter because when the market shifts, people don't know what to do. And most of you've never seen a shift in your life. And to the tune of like 80 plus percent of all real estate agents have never seen a shift. When the shift happens, it's the opportunity. This is when people make their money in real estate.00:04:27:14 - 00:04:42:20And what we're going to be talking about today is a creative way to go ahead and do that. If you're are a real estate agent or your lender and you're still doing things traditional, there's nothing that makes you different. The reason why some people make a lot of money in real estate is because they do things no one else knows how to do.00:04:43:01 - 00:04:59:00And that's why we're going to chat about today. And the more problems you can solve, the more money you will make. And if you're doing what everything else does, like every other agent, there's a million of you guys, a million real estate agents. Great. I could go out and sell a house. Good. Fucking big deal. I have access to the MLS to anyone can sell a house.00:04:59:00 - 00:05:20:00It's how you sell it that makes people hire you. It's the value you bring to the table, which is a skill set. Today we're going to be talking about creative financing in real estate so you can see how you do deals, how you can advise on deals and bring value to the table. Because the one who does is the one who's going to not only succeed in this market, but they're going to take market share.00:05:20:07 - 00:05:41:06So without further ado from smart real estate coach dot com, we have Zachary Beach to come in and schools today. What's up, Zach? Why what's going on, my man? I couldn't agree with with I couldn't agree with you more with most of the things that you said there. Although I'm not a real estate agent, I work with many real estate agents and show them how to get on the investment side.00:05:41:21 - 00:06:05:15But also my partner was a broker owner for 18 years and my other partner was a realtor for eight. So totally get that side of the business. But now is the opportunity, especially is less opportunities in the traditional side or rear in their heads. Now is the opportunity to get on the investment side, especially in an unstable market, which is exactly where creative financing it's said every real estate agent should be in investing.00:06:05:15 - 00:06:21:02Like if you're investing, you should. I mean, if you're sitting and you should be investing. ECOtality doing if you're not that's all purpose because you'll burn out. I burnt out ten years in a real estate agent if you're really doing deals like if you're doing 30 plus deals a month, 40, 50, 60, you're burnt out after ten years.00:06:21:02 - 00:06:36:21It's it's a hard business and it burns you out. So I ended up in San Diego. But let's get into this thing on on creative financing. And one I want you to tell us a little bit about what type of creating financing you're doing. So I know the exact property types and all that, and then I got a whole bunch of other questions.00:06:38:06 - 00:06:59:16Yeah. So, you know, me and my family have been buying specifically to create a fantastic for over ten years now, we've been teaching people on how to actually execute our creative financing strategies with our trademark three a system for about ten years now as well now have done hundreds of millions of dollars worth of deals without using cash, without using credit, without going to banks.00:07:00:07 - 00:07:27:20So the three strategies that we used after we kind of utilize those three things as, as our, as our rules per se are our lease options buying properties subject to the existing loan and seller finance. So a lease option, really, all that is, is just the ability to control an asset without ownership, with the intent to go ahead and sell it on a on a lease option, most likely owner financing it.00:07:27:20 - 00:07:46:21Just when you're you're speaking with sellers and you're solving a seller's problem and they want to be your bank. And this goes great with a lot of people that have, voila, equity in their property or have no debt where it's second homes or have inherited properties. They see that asset or they see that property is now a liability on that asset.00:07:47:03 - 00:08:11:09And you can go in and step in and they can get some cash flow from it. I lost a lot of tax benefits associated with it and then the last one would be buying a property subject subject to the existing loan, which really is the complete opposite of owner financing. It's where a property has little equity in the property and you go ahead and you close on this property subject to the existing loan, meaning the loan is going to remain attached to the seller's credit.00:08:11:16 - 00:08:31:06So that can be paid off. But title will transfer to your business. And that's that's how we control these assets own these assets. And then our primary exit strategies are rent to own or owner financing as well. So we do two creative on both sides. Okay. I need to talk to you about something after this podcast on that.00:08:31:13 - 00:08:48:11All right. So let's start let's dig deep in. Let's let's lease option as lease option, give you equitable right their interest to go ahead and actually like do show with the property. So I could dumb that down for people. Yeah, 100%. I mean, that is basically what at least that option gives you the ability to then go market the property to an end buyer.00:08:48:17 - 00:09:12:11Our end buyers tend to be people that need time in order to qualify for loans. Is the UN bankable people and what they really need is time. So that's anybody that has a legitimate hiccup in their credit, somebody that is an entrepreneur and a self-employed business person because they need seasoning. It could just be anybody that right now that needs time because they could qualify for a loan at 3% and now they can't qualify for 7%.So these are legitimate buyers that just need time. So, yes, the lease option agreement and we do it slightly different, which is which is really important. If you actually if you have people that have done creative writing deals, listen, this podcast, here's a small tweak that you can make right now. Or if you're brand new at real estate investing, you're going to be doing it right day one.And I think it's different than what everyone else is doing. And that is when we go ahead and lock down a property in our lease purchase agreement, we actually lock in the position of the seller and all we're guaranteeing is paying off the loan in the future and giving the seller the equity that we locked in to. The difference between us and someone else is most other people's lock in a purchase price.So they have zero protection for a down market and they don't get the benefit in the principal pay down or the appreciation as much of the appreciation on the property. So really cool tweet there for you as well, Suze. We're controlling that asset now. We're going to go ahead and sell the property on a lease option as well.It's also known as a sandwich lease option. So what's it out there? A scenario of that? Because here's where I think a lot of agents, if they're putting together these deals and whatnot, most you guys are lenders or agents listening to shows. I'll speak through that. Give me a scenario where I'm coming across and where this might be just my play.So like because books here's what the reality is. You see a lot of distressed deals and people are going be open to these type of conversations. Right. And you need to know how to take them down, not only just for yourselves, but like you might have some other client. You're doing this on behalf and ultimately you just need to know how all this stuff works because it just puts you in a different category.So give me a let's do it like an example, like how this would play out. Yeah, absolutely. So if I'm if I'm also listening or listening to this and I'm looking through this as a lender or a or realtor lens, right now, if I'm a realtor, I'm sitting and I'm saying anything that doesn't fit inside my current box because I'm not I'm not suggesting after you listen this podcast, that you completely throw out your normal business.You keep that running everything that fits inside of your box and anything that does not fit inside of your box. All right. Well, now you have options for you solve a seller's problem because that's all creative financing, is it just we have different tools and mostly more tools to solve someone's problem because we don't fit inside a box.And then if I'm a lender, if I'm a lender, I'm able to add a realtor, but I'm looking at more probably the buyer side where buyers that cannot qualify for loans and it's roughly 60 to 80% of the market right now can't walk into a bank and get a loan because they need time and they need more money down.I need higher credit score. They need to see if I'm the lender. I then look for somebody selling all these options to help them work on their credit. And then now you're banking on that. You able to sell that loan in 24 months or 12 months or 36 months. So you from a lender perspective, you said something important is that here's where because here's the here's what happens is that a lot of the real estate agents and guys, this is another option you offer.This is another service you offer. Just doesn't have to be the only service you a vast majority of buyers are looking to go listed. You're out. People buy the same way for you, so don't overthink this. But he says something really important is that because here's here's where all agents come through. I have a fiduciary duty from the National Association of Realtors, and I need to always act in the best interest of the seller.Folks, highest and best dollar is not always in the best interest of the seller. Get that shit out of your head. You have to realize that the only reason people like Zachary and the other millions and millions of real estate agents are investors in the world. Exist is because they're nothing more than just problem solvers for people that have house issues, period.That's all this is. So there is no taking advantage of people. When you're just 100% transparent, tell them exactly what you're doing. But trust me, they will never sign off on it if it's not doing them a favor. And if not, you're just not practicing ethically and you should get you're asking, but you know, you could be ethical and be a real estate investor.There's a million ways to do it. So because I know what people are saying oh at I'm that means you're going to that's that's fraud. No, dude. Yeah. I need to understand how how it works. And if the seller is not willing to play ball well, then it's just not an option for them. But when they are in these situations, it is.So the lease option would be somebody. What's the seller scenario on there? Who's more likely wanting to do a lease option? Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. So lease options, I mean, they don't they're kind of a best seller, but it's the simplest way to start creative financing. So a lot of real estate investors start there because they can solve a seller's problem and not have title transfer.So these are the deals you hear. It's like no money down deals and creative mindset because even if you bought property and you didn't have to pay a seller a down payment, you still have to pay for closing costs. So these are the no money down deals. So if you know a seller that is interested in getting top price is interested in not paying a realtor commission, right?Because they want to maximize their profits, but most importantly, is willing to wait for their equity because they would rather maximize their profit. So that's an important distinction when it comes to creative writing that is in it. In a scenario where a seller has equity, their their pain threshold has to be greater, that they want a higher price or more profit than they need their money now.Yeah. So that that tends to happen. But also, I mean there's about 80% of our deals that we've done over the past ten years just in creative writing are coming from expired listings because they've gone on the market, they've received feedback, they either agreed with it or not, and then their options are Now do I go list in take on that feedback like I got to paint the house or I going to lower my price or I get to do X, Y and Z or they find something like us.So it's like, okay, I get it. The traditional market didn't provide you the solution you were hoping for. So now here's how we may be able to structure the deal. And then now they can go ahead. And instead of going through another six month process, they can now go ahead and actually make a move and we can close on this relatively more quickly.So that's where a lot of the deals come from that are for sale by owners because there's people out there that will not no matter what, even if you're the best age in the world, hire a real estate agent. Yeah. So now we can go direct to them and now we can structure something that that solves the problem.So again, if I'm an agent, I'm listening because I'm assuming a lot of agents you've been directly I'm listened to this podcast and that is it's you you can make multiple options for somebody where you can say, here's what this looks like. If I list your house and here's all the benefit you're going to get, here's the profits.But also here, I just want like, you know, I buy real estate here. I can provide some solutions. Here's what this may look like, because you mentioned a point earlier which is not all highest and best is always the best option for people. Sometimes people come to us because they want time and flexibility like they don't want to sell and immediately have to leave their house or somebody is behind on payments and they need that thing to be caught up immediately.And they can't wait 90 days to close or 60 days to close or somebody is has no equity in their house and they actually have to pay you out of pocket in order to close on this deal. So just so many different scenarios like that makes sense. So somebody that the lease option that would be someone who has what's their equity situation usually like or is it just more of like like let's just paint a picture for the market right now people what seven at least in my markets in like California 7% interest rate on like a $1.5 million house is a big difference than a 4% on a $1.5 million house.So what? But a lot of the people out here have a lot of equity over the last few years. The reality is it looks like things aren't selling the way they were because of the interest rate hike. You know, it's sort of buying people in the house. So the problem that people are having, those, they can't sell that house that they live in.Now, if that's primary owner. Yeah. And then replace the same type of lifestyle with a comparable property. So that's issue number one because it's a lot smaller house that they would get at today's rate. The second half of that is that a lot of these people aren't able to sell what they think it's worth and people are starting to come to the reality of like, Oh shit, the market isn't quite what it is, but they might be willing to wait for it to come back.Is that an ideal scenario here? Someone who can't sell right now, but they're willing to wait and then they have a tenant with an option there and then yeah, here's here's three. These are three general managers, three generalized say motivations or problems we for sale is whether it's a lease option subject to owner finds it perfect what is they want to maximize their profits to is they need debt relief or three is they're settling for they want a poor estate or tax planning purposes.00:18:01:01 - 00:18:26:15UnknownThose are three reasons why people would go a creative financing route because yeah, you're right, there's a lot of transition right now in the market. There's a lot of things that are happening where sellers are unable to sell their property for what they owe. And now exactly what you're saying, which is they have this idea of what the price the price was 6 to 12 months ago, and now they have unrealistic expectations of their house.00:18:27:05 - 00:18:53:09UnknownSo if I'm a creative financing real estate investor, although I'm not suggesting you always buy market or above market, but what I am suggesting is price is just one of the terms that we care about. If I buy your house right now at Market value and even though it's slightly inflated and I have ten years to pay off and I have the benefit of principal pay down, I'm going to cash flow that thing and I'm going to sell it at a higher price to a tenant.00:18:53:09 - 00:19:17:06UnknownA buyer, I don't know. That price is always a small factor in my decision making process, where the traditional market is like the number one factor in their decision making process. Now, it's actually more of a factor, I would say, than even the interest rate on the property, because most people buy for the price or you know, what they did during cover with support for the interest rate and not the price.00:19:17:06 - 00:19:40:00UnknownAnd now we're seeing what's happening with that, which means people under underwater. So just those three factors tend to be and I know they may be generalized, but it's all about solving someone's problem because I could buy a property on a lease option that has no debt and just the seller does not want to give up title for tax planning purposes or the benefit of ownership.00:19:40:16 - 00:20:03:20UnknownThey also might not want to transfer title because they don't trust me, which is understandable for some, and they can also buy a property. We always decide we're on a lease purchase which has zero equity in the property and if that's the case, it just the term length is going to be more important to me because any time I'm buying a property with no equity, I need two things to happen.00:20:03:20 - 00:20:25:21UnknownI need the price to appreciate over time, which you and I both know, especially if we go through cycles over time, it's going to always increase and I need the principal pay down to go to pay down on the interest and the mortgage balance on that property over time because then that creates equity. So we bought a we said we bought a lease option from a seller for ten years, ten year lease options.00:20:25:21 - 00:20:50:18UnknownYou just want to give up for whatever reason up in Northern Massachusetts, she relocated to D.C., got another property, get a new mortgage, and she had a vacant house because it expired off the market for about six months, was paying 20 $300 basically just to keep it up. Never was there. We were able to solve that problem because we stepped in to start making those mortgage payments, filled the property with a tenant buyer.00:20:51:05 - 00:21:09:11UnknownThat lease option lasted up to eight years on that house. She had no equity at the time. That property ended up netting about $170,000 over the course of the time frame. For her, for me, for us, not for us. And she was able to walk away and not actually have any problems, which, you know, that solves their problem as well.00:21:09:11 - 00:21:28:13UnknownSo I you just you, you name different scenarios and different all different facets of life and all the people's different challenges. And it just the decision making for them is that they want to wait for well, the seller of that she got the price she wanted to back then she's locked in for eight years. But she also gets there's eight years of write offs and all that, right.00:21:29:06 - 00:21:50:10UnknownYeah. Plus she sold the realtor at the time. She would have paid, you know, 15,000, $20,000 out of pocket the between realtor closing costs and she was paying 80 plus about $12,000 by making month, even though it's going to hurt you know it was 2000 dollars amortized right but she's still paying out of pocket that's $12,000 six months with a vacancy.00:21:51:00 - 00:22:09:14UnknownWe were able to solve that and step in and solve a problem really quickly. And she saved money and that we had an asset that we can now go in. So it makes sense to me. I think the seller finance has a lot of opportunity coming up with a lot of these people that can't sell their properties but have equity and are willing to carry paper.00:22:09:22 - 00:22:31:01UnknownCan you talk a little bit on that and you see an opportunity with seller finance more so now that the rates have gone up and the market shifted, then prior? Oh, it's always been one of our favorite strategies we primarily were targeting and it's still due to this day. But I say targeting meaning like we're we're going to do direct mail pieces or looking for a specific property type.00:22:32:04 - 00:22:58:20UnknownIt's we're looking at debt free houses, huge benefits for you as a real estate investor and a lot of tax benefits for the seller. If you can if you can strike a deal with them and solve a problem where now you in the seller get to determine the terms of the mortgage. How powerful is that? Yeah, because if you go ahead and buy a property traditionally who controls the terms of the mortgage, it's the bank.00:22:58:24 - 00:23:17:00UnknownThey tell you how much money you need now, what your credit score needs to be, what the immunization schedule is going to be, if there's, you know, if there's any other collateral, it's just it's insane. So when we go to buy a property now, it's if I can solve the seller's problem now, meaning the seller, I get to decide what the interest rate is, if any.00:23:17:02 - 00:23:39:03UnknownThere's plenty of deals that we do where it's 0% interest, and you must be wondering why people do that. Lots of sellers because they're getting just principle month over month, don't have to go ahead and report for interest as income. So we have different strategies where I can actually pay a premium on the house but pay in principal only.00:23:39:21 - 00:24:01:20UnknownAnd now the seller's actually getting the full amount in place. And as far as capital gains go, they get to stretch it out right over how. Yeah, that's really time frame we're doing. So you here that is. But this is the skill set I opened up with you guys is you have to like know this shit. Like you have to know what tax advantages are for seller so that you can present that.00:24:02:05 - 00:24:15:01UnknownBecause if you look at the numbers, it looks like a bad deal. But when you actually do the math, you're like, this is actually a good deal. When you talking about if you don't know how to explain that to it to a seller, you know, I don't know what to tell you. This is where you need to sharpen.00:24:15:01 - 00:24:34:07UnknownThis is what people look for in these markets. But look what he's saying. You guys at every every other sentence he's saying problem, solve, problem, solve, problem, solve. And that's the key here is that you're in business to be a house problem solver. You don't have to overthink any of this stuff, in my opinion. Let's get into the marketing of this because I know people are going want to ask about that.00:24:34:20 - 00:24:58:22UnknownHow are we finding these types of sellers? You mentioned one, he's going after debt free houses, but how else are you locating? Yeah, so I it's these people because agents are like, oh, it sounds easy, but it's not. If I'm an agent, I am already in front of how many people per month. Yeah. Where I can make additional offers.00:24:58:22 - 00:25:24:21UnknownSo if you're already involved in real estate investing, where you're an agent, you're lender, you're a wholesaler, you're a fiction flipper, you're buying like you're already in front of people. It's now and you can just pick up one extra deal per month or every other month. It makes a dramatic difference when we look at our deals. It ranges from, say, $40,000 on the low end semi over the course of about 24, 36 months on average, up to $250,000.00:25:25:18 - 00:25:43:10UnknownThere's there's deals in which are just 60 months and there's multiple six figures just because of how they're structured. Yeah. So I'm saying that because you don't have to do as many deals. It's not like this. This does have to be a high volume business if you get the right deals. We have a we have an investor up in New Hampshire.00:25:43:13 - 00:26:06:08UnknownHe's done five deals. They all averaged over $100,000 over the course of 48 months. And just because you have a full time job, two or yeah, he was a he's a government contractor and he's just doing this on the side for his retirement. Yeah. But again, back to your point, as far as marketing goes, it's it's really simple in our we we pull expired listings to cancel withdrawn for sale by owners.00:26:06:14 - 00:26:24:24UnknownWe make direct contact with them. We reach out to them via phone and as though they doing it maybe 3 hours to go make it a handful of deals and reach out to a couple people. I set up an appointment with a seller that has he has got a lot of equity in his property, but there's tenants he doesn't like and and that's why he's selling.00:26:25:02 - 00:26:47:09UnknownSo really can solve this problem rather easily as he could still cashflow this property. And I get cash flow too. And he's still a professional company instead of a tenant. So dear landlord then and then. So we have that and then you have direct mail pieces that of course lead to, you know, a virtual assistant pulling together the information and then you're following up.00:26:47:21 - 00:27:05:06UnknownIt's really we try to keep this three as uncomplicated as possible and shore up your as you grow and scale, you can do Facebook ads and Google ads and you can you can spend a lot of money on online marketing. Or it could be you could spend very little in this business too. And so generate the deals you need.00:27:06:02 - 00:27:22:15UnknownYeah, it goes back to the if you have a budget and you can leverage your time with it. Right. But if you don't then you need your time to do the work. So but I want he said something else a couple you guys this isn't like a every agent like if you're full time or what if you're in real estate full time.00:27:22:15 - 00:27:35:07UnknownWe got to way. You're right you could be title rep. Listen, this doesn't matter. This is like something most people I see get into real estate investing started on the side, literally. They're like, Oh, I'm just going to do a deal or two and see how it goes. Like, Oh, fuck, I made a lot of money. I mean, go out, do this deal.00:27:35:07 - 00:27:51:11UnknownI'm going to to a year and three year and something you could grow passively, but it is something I would put on your radar this year, you guys, because I mean we're targeting distressed hard I'm such in my entire model I'm going right after the distressed markets but I know what's coming and I'm well ahead of all of you guys.00:27:51:11 - 00:28:14:21UnknownI'm like three years ahead of you guys. It doesn't you don't have to be. And I'm not saying that in a bragging type of way. I'm just saying I know what's coming. And, you know, over the last 12 months, I've been sort of formulating our idea. We're doing a lot of sale leasebacks. For example, there's different creative options that we're putting in there because people are going to look for creativity because the traditional listing isn't as easy to get rid of the property.00:28:15:04 - 00:28:34:19UnknownSo you're going to see a lot of these opportunities open up. Mark my words, I guarantee you it's going to happen. Would you agree with that? I think in every market, too, I don't care where you're at in the country. I'm positive this is going to happen. Guys. Yeah, I'm not as I would say, I'm not as decisive as you on that as far as how how drastic the market's going to shift.00:28:34:19 - 00:28:55:08UnknownAnd I think we're all due for a market shift no matter what, especially with the unprecedented times and COVID and what happened afterwards. I think there's a reason why creative fighting is like the number one and talked about and searched on subject right now talk about being ahead of our time. We've been doing this now for over ten years just in this market.00:28:55:08 - 00:29:20:09UnknownI'm just in creative writing. I haven't done anything else in real estate investing since the 2008 crash. And we've noticed, as always, when there's turmoil in the market now, creative financing options become a a more normalized, traditional way of buying and selling real estate because when there's turmoil, that means that the market needs more help, needs more solutions.00:29:20:13 - 00:29:46:07UnknownYes. And that's exactly what we're seeing right now. We're seeing more deals and better deals because we're able to really saw people's problems. And as you're saying, what's interesting is even if people aren't distressed because they hear so much noise, they actually feel distressed, which means that there are actually there's a lot of sellers that will sell properties either below market or more creatively just because they hear everything that's going on.00:29:46:07 - 00:30:02:02UnknownAnd although they're in a really good position, they don't feel like they are. And now we can go ahead and step in and solve that problem as well. You feel like the temperature's changed with sellers and you guys are doing a nationwide thing if students all over. But and because before it was like sellers are sort of dicks like fuck you, I'm not going to sell my house, this thing is worth it.00:30:02:03 - 00:30:34:08UnknownThis is the Taj Mahal. Like no one's touch this thing for less than $10 million, but now they're starting to open up a little bit. Right. And it takes 6 to 8 months for that to happen, which is I think we're there now because it's hard. The market is always lagging behind, even like I remember back in 29 or 2010 when the market was depreciating so fast that the comps on paper were showing higher than what the true values that people are willing to pay big are a major issue in the BPOs and the appraisals at that time, because the market was depreciating fast and it was going up.00:30:34:08 - 00:30:53:00UnknownSo in the last six months of comps, if you're Joe with a 200,000 or sales price, but that's not 175. Well, you're at a there's it's hard to get the bank to accept that but it came I caught up. So you're going to see that in this market as well. And I think there's going to be more. More and I'm not saying you get fucking like crazily distressed.00:30:53:00 - 00:31:15:05UnknownI just think that there's going to be people I know there's people with higher credit card debt right now. I know that the people who bought in the last 12 months are all underwater that got FHA or VA financing. So there's dire situations that now on the flip side of that, their payments are very affordable. Right. So you don't know what they're going to do with it and we don't know if people are going to do that.00:31:15:05 - 00:31:33:15UnknownBut what I know is that there's people that are looking at their houses and what they do with them in way more creative ways than they were just in school. Listed on Zillow or for sale by owner. But on the MLS that's going to make a whole lot of money. Yeah, I'm Mike and I think it's important that you hit on exactly what you just said, which was one of our strategies buying property subject to.00:31:33:15 - 00:31:51:09UnknownI mean, what we're what we're doing right now is we're buying properties with 3% interest rates, two and a half percent interest rates where nobody else can get access to 7%. So as long as you can solve that seller's problem, because if I'm a seller and I'm underwater, I don't know where to go. I'm not a real estate investor.00:31:51:16 - 00:32:08:10UnknownYou know, we know. Sit tight, wait or move out and turn into an asset. And because you get it, because you get cash flow on it. But most people don't think that way. And now all of a sudden if something dramatic cabins they walk through these exit. I like this scenario let's walk through it so they get an idea.00:32:08:10 - 00:32:32:15UnknownSo let's just say and we're actually have one here in San Diego and most of these loans, you consumer the early FHA or VA, is that accurate? Can you assume a conventional. Well, I'm not assuming anything. Just I mean, the because there's different I'm thinking of subject to mortgage but you could actually assign mortgages to and there's a lot of real estate agents you're doing stick VA's VA loans you can assume if you choose to.00:32:33:03 - 00:32:53:06UnknownBut remember my rules or our rules, and that is we don't sign personally on debt. So what we're doing and I know with the subject deals, the number one worry is about the down sales clause and everybody freaks out about it. But the truth is, it's like, do you want sales calls? And I have a specific measurement, but I have heard of very few do on sales scores happening.00:32:53:21 - 00:33:23:24UnknownBut I know that there are techniques that are attorneys have suggested how we acquire the properties primarily, primarily through family trusts because the Garden State Germain Act, I think it's 1982 or 84 states that a do on sales clause cannot be called if it's for state or taxpaying purposes for a transfer of title. So then we just buy the trust that is like one, two, three, Jump Street Smith Family Trust, and we're the beneficiary of that property.00:33:24:15 - 00:33:42:12UnknownI like it. It's very smart, though. So and at the end of the day, a lot of these deals in which we're doing, is it worth the risk of the on sales clause being called? Because there's other ways to pivot, too, because basically the bank saying that they're going to foreclose and do on sales. And how long does that take?00:33:42:14 - 00:34:13:16UnknownMany times. In many cases, it takes a long time. You can exchange the beneficiary back to the seller in order to protect the seller, you could sell the property before it's fully been completed. There's just so many different ways in order to structure these. And in most cases, because I can already hear people saying, in most cases, when we buy properties like this, we're actually improving the seller's credit because most of this most of these circumstances, they may be behind on payments or they don't have any equity in their home.00:34:13:16 - 00:34:37:03UnknownSo we're actually improving the lives of the sellers by doing this because it's still attached to their credit. And they're they're benefiting from that because we're always making our payments on time, because at the end of day, it's our asset. We're trying to get this thing the finish line makes sense. I could do it. Any other things? Thoughts, wild things you want to see or mention?00:34:37:03 - 00:35:00:17UnknownAnybody know? I just would say this and that is credit. Finances are a lot of fun because every deal is different. At the end of the day, there's still deals that are happening now. We've done hundreds and hundreds of these great fancy deals. There are still deals that we approach now that have nuances that we have never seen before and that we get to work through and and structure out, which is a heck of a lot of fun.00:35:00:17 - 00:35:26:18UnknownBut know this too. If this is the first time you've heard of creative financing from a guy from Massachusetts that talks super fast, then they're used to this notion they just know like this was a my intent for today was a perspective change to say there are other options out there that you may not be familiar with that can help solve people's problems and also make it very profitable for you as a real estate investor.00:35:27:08 - 00:35:57:14UnknownSo I encourage you and I know we wanted to give a giveaway today, which is I encourage you to go read our first Amazon bestseller book, Real Estate on Your Terms. You get it absolutely free, so you not going to go buy it on Amazon. I'll give it to you right now for free. We'll actually ship it to you at no cost and you just have to go to wicked smart books dot com forward slash marketing guy with a get smart books dot com for XYZ marketing guy And in that book you're going to hear not only our stories, but you're also going to see how each one of these transactions comes to play in00:35:57:14 - 00:36:16:18Unknownthere. And in those case studies, why the seller did it, why the buyers did it, and then how the cash flows there. So a lot of good a lot of good material for you to go through. And then at that stage, you'll now be able to start my, my, my guess is you'll start recognizing more opportunities than you maybe passed up on.00:36:17:24 - 00:36:40:23UnknownLove it. Why don't you tell everybody where they can find you online as well and make sure you guys go ahead and get that download. I'm going to get it as well and check it out. But what you tell them what your website is, you guys have a these guys coach, they train. If you guys want to learn this stuff like go on their site, buy some of their info or their products and then you guys can learn more about it.00:36:40:23 - 00:37:00:14UnknownBut my point today is getting yourself out of your traditional mindset and realizing the opportunities are going to be all around you. They always have been, but I think it is a big opportunity coming up in the next few years of concentrating on because everyone is scared and they're all hiding in the closet because they're being a bunch of pussies and they're scared and don't know what the hell is going to happen to them.00:37:00:14 - 00:37:18:10UnknownAnd they're worried about this and they're worried about that. And at the end of the day, you guys, you got to just man up, woman up. You got to make the change. Nobody's got it. No one can do it for you. You got to do it. You just have to learn it. And what you know in your head, in the skills you have, is what makes the difference between what happens during this time.00:37:18:20 - 00:37:39:02UnknownSo, yeah, you can find you can find us at smart real estate coach dot com fans on Instagram TikTok Facebook at Smart Real Estate Coach Also on YouTube at Smart Real Estate Coach, we have over I think it's over 300 deals structure of Sunday's now we call them where it's either our deals or the deals that we helped our students do.00:37:39:10 - 00:38:01:13UnknownAnd we literally whiteboard it out where we found the seller, what the deal looks like, why the buyer needed us, what the payments were, the paydays on it. They'll they'll continue to help share with you exactly how this may work in your current business model right now. Sweet man. Well, appreciate you sharing your insight today. We appreciate all you guys listening.00:38:01:13 - 00:38:16:09UnknownAnother up. So the real estate marketing do podcast folks. If you have any additional questions, want to check out our new software. We just lost referral suite ecom. This is part of suite assist and if you're looking for a referral marketing system that firms your database makes them not forget who the hell you are, what you do. This is all you need.00:38:16:22 - 00:38:32:20UnknownLearn about it, research it, and then I'll follow you around the internet and so you can buy it. And we'll meet in the middle somewhere. Referrals to and referrals Slate.com. Appreciate it, dude. You guys have a great week and we'll see you guys next Saturday. Bye bye.

This episode is a conversation with Sanjay Pai from Gnani. We talk about Gnani's technology for voice authentication, conversational AI, agent assist and how ChatGPT has influenced their business model.  We also discuss their approach to collaborating with BPOs.To learn more about Gnani, here is a link to their website: https://www.gnani.ai/To learn more about Sanjay Pay, here is his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjay-pai-83ab293/To learn more about John Walter, here is his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jowalter/  

Peter Ryan has been talking to Marianne Withers for some time about the special needs of vulnerable customers. Marianne is the founder and CEO of The Verity Centre, a boutique contact centre and BPO in Portsmouth, UK. Marianne is joined in the discussion by Cath Wohlers, LIAISE Manager at England Illegal Money Lending Team, to talk about how comanies can engage with their most vulnerable customers. How can contact centres and BPOs help vulnerable people get their life back on track if they have been caught out by gambling addiction, loan sharks, or just huge increases in their regular energy bills? How can BPO agents handle customer contact effectively when they may be talking to customers that are threatening to take their life if the company insists on collecting the debt? Can it ever be moral to hire a BPO for collections and pay them only if they force customers to pay? This aggresive approach is common, but does it ever achieve results if it just forces customers into even more debt? How can a BPO force their employees to act in an aggresive way, ingnoring the need of any vulnerable customers. The difference between what a company wants to do may not be morally correct. How do BPOs handle this dilemma? The economy remains uncertain in many major economies at present, but in the past year the UK has had a very tough time with energy and property rental/mortgage prices soaring. How can BPOs help their clients to ensure bills are paid, but in a way that also accepts that vulnerable customers need more empathy that others?   Marianne Withers Founder and CEO, The Verity Centre Portsmouth, UK https://tvc15.co.uk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianne10/   Cath Wohlers LIAISE Manager at England Illegal Money Lending Team Liverpool, UK https://www.linkedin.com/in/cath-wohlers-2a5328134/

Romaine Piper is the Founder and CEO of Call Center Escape - an “Upwork” built for BPO companies. Known for his cross-dimensional approach to company growth, he has helped some of the fastest growing start-ups across Silicon Valley, the U.K, and Europe to identify and hone their top growth levers - adding millions to their bottom line.  No one would've guessed his 6-year remote work journey in customer success, sales and growth hacking started in the Jamaican BPO industry as a customer support agent for Microsoft - which is why he's back to his roots to make BPO companies that are scaling remotely 1.5 to two times more profitable with an industry-first solution.   Questions • So, we always like to ask our guests in their own words, if you could share a little bit about your journey, how it is that you ended up on this path? • So, the BPO industry, it's a very evolving industry, an industry with a high level of attrition. What has been your experience as an owner in this industry for attracting the right talent, and actually keeping the right talent? • Could you share with our listeners, seeing that you're helping the BPO to strategically position themselves as a value center versus a call center, what are two or three things that you do to help them get to that point? • What are your views on Artificial Intelligence (AI) replacing human capital? • Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? • Could you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that you've read that have had a great impact on you, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, that has definitely left a strong mark on you. • Could you share with our audience what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. • Can you tell our listeners where they can find you online? • Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track if for any reason you got derailed.   Highlights  Romaine's Journey Romaine stated that as Yanique mentioned a lot about his background, and the whole tech industry and everything. But here's the plot twist, he actually started off pursuing his career in medicine. And he had really high grades, he got a scholarship from St. John's University in New York. But the thing is, even though they're willing to pay half tuition, he still couldn't afford the other half, so anybody out there that's listening, it's not easy to give it up a scholarship that you've worked really hard for, it's very emotional, he experienced like weeks of crying.  And so, the BPO industry was to him a quote, unquote, fall back period, if that makes sense, where, he just wanted to like dust himself off, put some experience on his resume, and just try to figure out, “Okay, what's next?” Then he realize this is actually a blessing in disguise, because he worked for Sutherland Global Services, and they placed him on a Microsoft account. Being on the Microsoft account, like fresh out of high school, it's a whole tonne of learning for him. And just to give you like the idea of what it's like, at the time, across all of their customer support teams, they had over 500,000 articles, which is the most he's ever seen in a knowledge base, ever.  And so, this was what pushed him from liking the tech industry to literally loving the tech industry to craving, to for having that passion, and also into what allowed him to work with start-ups around the world. Within those four years, customer success, sales, growth, hacking, etc, and to be advising start-ups. He remembered to that his mom, he thinks around 3 or 4 years ago say, “Hey, now that you can actually afford to pay the tuition for medicine, like do you ever consider going back?” And he said, “Hey, I'm pretty good at what I already do. I love it.” And like that ship was long sale. So, anybody else out there with the BPO industry being your fall back period, literally, you just take it serious, do really well, and you'll figure it out.   In the BPO Industry – Attracting and Keeping the Right Talent Me: The BPO industry, it's a very evolving industry, an industry with a high level of attrition. What has been your experience as an owner in this industry for attracting the right talent, and actually keeping the right talent?   Romaine shared that Call Center Escape is radically different because they are a call center, they aren't a BPO. What they instead do is they help contact centers to evolve. In other words, to increase their profit per hour per employee, by 150% to 200% by focusing or helping them to strategically focus on two core things, which is their payback period for every new hire. In other words, how quickly can they break even in all the things that they used to invest in that new hire, as well as the employee lifetime value. In other words, how much is their ROI for each employee over the duration of their tenure at the company.  And so, this is what allows them to help to take contact centers to break away from this traditional cost center model, it just no longer works in this post COVID and post ChatGPT environment anymore, this is a new era.  So, they help them to shift away from that, and to shift into the new era of what he calls earning more with less. So, that's also why they call themselves quote, unquote, Upwork for BPOs in terms of like to describe what they do, because everybody's familiar with Upwork, even if they're not, they're familiar with their virtual assistants. So, they certainly know the autonomy, they know the approach that they will take now to having a person on their staff, etc, it's the same exact process when a contact center partners with them is just that the reason why they added built for BPO part to it, it's because they optimized for those two core things that makes them more profitable.   Helping BPOs Strategically Position Themselves as a Value Center versus a Call Center Me: Could you share with our listeners, seeing that you're helping the BPO to strategically position themselves as a value center versus a call center, what are two or three things that you do to help them get to that point?    Romaine stated that to understand that, they first have to mention, what are the core money sucking areas that contact centers usually have to struggle with. So, it's usually three areas, its operations, or what he calls like focusing on pleasing the client, whether it's customer experience, solutions, or investing more in coaching, etc.  And then you have retention is the second one, which is the largest one. In other words, employee replacement costs. And then also hiring, and training, which is also a huge part of the pie. The thing is, the contact center industry hasn't really been innovative at all since the foundation in most of the areas, it's only been innovative in one area, which is operations. Polishing how they deliver that CX experience, but not really focusing on hiring and training, not really focusing much on retention. In other words, if every single Contact Center Executive wants to wake up tomorrow, and see a 10% yearly annual attrition rate, or $100 new employee costs, the industry wouldn't be in the mess that it's in today.  So, those are the things that they focus on, the two core things that especially when you're scaling remotely, it's just harder to solve.  So, he'll give you an example of how they do it more strategically. So, let's take hiring. When you add up internal recruiting costs, external recruiting cost, the fact that around 30% of new hires don't make it to production, he even remembers seeing some numbers of around 50% of new hires leaving within 30 days.  He thinks it's best or in other words, he and his team have decided that the best way to really approach hiring would be from like, how you would see like a grocery shop grow. A grocery shop, for example, which is a really good analogy they tend to use would have a variety of different customer segments, whether it's from like low value to high value customers.  So, some customers would spend $100 for the month, some would spend $600 for the month etc. What if you market to only one spending $600 per month. In other words, the high value wants. That same principle can be applied to HR, that same principle can be applied to talent acquisition, where the high valued ones, at least based on their guidelines are the ones over three years of experience and have already been working with like previous Fortune 500 clients. So, when you market to them, it requires you understanding their motivations and not trying to go after the motivations of everybody across the board. You cannot fight Goliath using the resources that you don't have, in other words, the ones that are at the top, they have all the resources that they need to build these gyms or health centers or anything that you normally see, like the huge corporate BPOs using to attract a lot of people. But if you do the same thing, you're going to crash and burn as a smaller company. And so, what they're saying is don't try to mimic them, try to out compete them, by competing differently instead of similarly. So, that's one of the ways.   Artificial Intelligence (AI) Replacing Human Capital Me: So, you mentioned at the beginning of our conversation about artificial intelligence and ChatGPT, that's a big thing now since November of last year, what are your views on AI replacing human capital? I do recall us having a previous email conversation where you mentioned that they're building computers with human brain cells.   Romaine stated that he doesn't know why he always love talking about this topic. But growth hackers, we tend to see these things like very regularly, whether it's Google Glasses, or even with Crypto, we tend to see these new things and the hype built around them, he thinks ChatGPT is the same thing.  It's a good product, but they have even better marketing. Because they use the fear of people possibly losing their jobs, to drive the exposure to your product. But growth hackers they always try to realign back to reality.  In other words, they ask themselves two things, does it move the needle for our business? And another thing that they ask is this something that can be easily adopted amongst the masses?   They knew that cryptocurrency wouldn't grow radically as other people would put it, because it has a lot of friction just to be a part of it, it's the same thing with ChatGPT, it doesn't really move the needle when it comes to customer service, because customer service, more has to deal with customer relationships.  These are things that businesses rely on to get more revenue, to get higher customer loyalty, and all of these other things. When you put something that is at the ceiling or near to the ceiling of what it can do in terms of mimicking humans, in control of your customer relationships, it's not going to end well.  And a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University mentioned this, they didn't call ChatGPT, but they said AI is nearing its ceiling. And it takes he believes the research said like over a million times more energy just for it to perform exactly like the human brain for 40 minutes, which isn't sustainable at all.  So, the only way that they can really get to that next level of AI is to merge human brain cells with artificial intelligence, in other words, they call it organoid intelligence, where they use themselves to mimic brain cells or tissue that can operate like the human brain cells, and then to try to configure that or merge that with AI to enhance automation abilities. So, unless that is done, which is around decades from now, or if not a few years, ChatGPT and any other AI tool that's going to be created will just be good at automating processes, and not so good at automating relationships or being creative as human beings because it just doesn't have that ability, it's more of a process based thing and less of a, “Hey, I know exactly what I'm doing” type of thing, because it's only mimicking, that's all it's doing.   App, Website or Tool that Romaine Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Romaine stated that definitely Webflow for sure, it's better than WordPress, in his opinion. WordPress has a few kinks when it comes to like plugins and SEO, especially with technical SEO, etc. but Webflow is more, you're like, hey, just handle design and we take care of all of that, all of that backend stuff. So, definitely the Webflow.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Romaine   When asked about books that have had a great impact, Romaine shared that the one that he always resorts to is Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis. So, Sean Ellis is literally the person from Silicon Valley that coined the term growth hacking.  This book will allow people just to understand the realities of growth hackers, and why is it that we tend to always aim to look beyond the surface of things. Why is it that we tend to always focus back on the question, does it drive the needle?  And also, why is it that allows us to be change agents within organizations like with Volkswagen hiring growth hackers to lead their innovation team so that they can take on either Musk and Tesla. So, this book can literally help you to just have a greater appreciation for the work of growth hackers across the world.   What Romaine is Really Excited About Now!   When asked about something that he's really excited about, Romaine shared that he knows this is going to sound a bit cliche, but definitely Call Center Escape and it's a good reason why, not just because they're helping contact centers to do what was once impossible such as influencing external retention factors or just finding more innovative ways to increase profitability. But also, because one of the solutions, or upcoming things on their immediate roadmap, at least within this year, is it solves a problem that contact centers usually face that would allow or would push clients to cancelling their contracts. What they're doing is they're turning this thing, because he can't really reveal too much right now.  This solution they're pushing, they're enabling for this problem that's been there for decades to no longer have an impact on any contact center that partners with them to scale remotely, which is a huge deal, because that means that they can go into their sales meetings and say, “Hey, we've partnered with Call Center Escape, we have this guarantee. And just like our other clients that are benefiting from it, you're going to benefit from it as well.”  That's going to lead to them literally closing more deals, and even capturing some of the clients that's been just shopping around for just more providers, so better providers, which has been a lot according to Everest Group's Research.  And then the last one is, he would say, one of their big hairy, audacious goal. And that is to follow up on research that was released recently, which stated that when you increase employee engagement significantly, you can boost revenue by 50%, and profit by 45%.  This is a very notable piece of research, because the Head of Global Growth for Salesforce was one of the persons on a team of researchers, which is a huge deal. And so, what they want to do is to partner with researchers of their own to do a follow up on that report with the help of the contact centers that they've partnered with to scale and to present this research to her, as well as to Salesforce, so they can get their endorsement to get Salesforce endorsement.  In other words, to get the leader of the customer experience space endorsement, this would mean that they're no longer just putting contact centers at the front runner of the contact center of evolution, but it would also mean that they're changing the way in which they assume instinctively work, which is a pretty big deal. And he thinks with a prestigious universities such as the University of the West Indies that's in the top 1.5% globally, by their side to help with that research, he thinks this quote, unquote, dream will be much easier to achieve. So, to answer the question, he's very much excited about it.   Where Can We Find Romaine Online  Website – www.callcenterescape.com LinkedIn – Romaine Piper   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Romaine Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Romaine stated that definitely. He's not sure how many of the listeners know Charlie Munger, he is Warren Buffett's best friend, they're both billionaires. He has a quote that goes, “Spend each day becoming wiser than you were when you just woke up.” This is powerful. And Romaine tends to literally live by this quote. It's also why he was able to break into the growth hacking industry. It's an industry where there are lots of people in their 40s and 30s, he hasn't yet hit his 30s and yet still have gotten in only because he spends each day just becoming wiser and wiser at what he does. So, it works.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links      Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!   Our Next Webinar – May 16, 2023 at 10:00 am   Register Here  

In this episode, Dan talks about what BPOs are, and why they can't be taken at face value. He goes into detail on why BPO values tend to be inflated and then uses real-world data from his own deals to determine how to adjust the values when doing your pricing analysis. Want to learn more about note investing? Check out this introductory online training course here that will give you a gameplan: Note Investing Gameplan Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here's How » Join the The Note Investor Community today: fusionnotes.com  

Simplr is a new type of BPO.  It blends AI and human agent support in a way that most BPOs would never consider.  I sincerely believe that BPOs that do not adopt a similar business model will start to lose chat, email, and SMS support clients in the near future.In this episode we talk about how AI is:Allowing shared agents to perform on par, or better than, traditional dedicated agents;Making attrition an irrelevant data point; andDrastically reducing the cost of digital (email, chat & SMS) support while providing a superior customer experience.To learn more about John Walter, you find him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jowalter/To learn more about Daniel Rodriguez, you can find him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drodriguez4/

How does it feel to own stock in Invisible? Andrew is excited Its the future of work How do you handle the skepticism from the audience of Andrew being a PR/marketing team member and talking about Invisible on a podcast? Why did Andrew join Invisible? He was drawn in by the iconoclasm that Invisible represents The vision in particular came out from Francis' medium articles How did Invisible make outsourcing sexy again? Invisible is the first cyborg and its totally virtual Combine humans and tech to get shit done faster Invisible can do things others companies can't What has Andrew read recently? Art of War Secret mission from Francis Andrew calls back on it everyda Zero to One How is the Art of War by Sun Tzu relevant to a startup? Strategic backing and Framework Silicon Valley Bank is a perfect example of not having a strategy What are the barriers to entry that Invisible has? Segmentation of clients and work Invisible built a world class agency Most other BPOs have a bad track record of treating their employees well Invisible creates a comfortable and supportive home for the agents Agents want to be with Invisible for 5 years If you were a company looking for a BPO, what would make you choose Invisible? The ops and training frameworks are excellent The technology production cycle and top knotch over 300 automations that they can bring off the shelf Remote: How do you feel emotionally connected to the company? Andrew hasn't met one person yet and he still feels incredibly connected Interfacing all the time The conversations meetings on Friday Rasanath, the top coach, had everyone in Zoom breakout rooms, paired with Manoj What are you afraid to ask someone? What does it mean to be a partner not an employee? What does it mean to have a conversations practice as a company? How are decisions made as a company? Part of being a partner is the idea of ownership Strategy behind decision making Andrew is alone on the PR team and so he HAS TO OWN IT along with being a partner As the company grows and as time collapses, how are we going to maintain the culture? As it gets bigger, people feel more atomized Andrew flips it back on Francis, how has Francis done it for so long? Drastic measures Partner pay model Extreme transparency Francis as a founder took way less equity In this way Francis got talent through equity Making a bet on labor rather than capital Francis mentions how creating a larger amount of business units to incentivize people to own as the total number of partners grow Infinity is the larger holding company while Impossible is the marketing as a service business unit “Show me the incentives, I'll show you the outcome” - Charlie Munger Maintain romanticism while maintaining alignments through incentives To get over the physics of a larger organization you need to break it up into many business units Andrew's experiences with Invisible convince him that this wont be a problem, he sees culture in action rather than culture just in words What is the difference between the values that Invisible holds as opposed to its action in practice? The incident between Andrew and Francis They had tried to get a podcast venture off the ground. No one was listening to each other. Podcast didn't get off the ground for a year Francis got angry. Andrew got scared. Francis sent a wrong email threatening to fire people. Andrew had his heart sink as he read the email. What was the reaction? A check and balance that reviewed the email. Partners can go to a neutral body to check the leadership of the company when they aren't maintaining objectivity The plan worked, this is how the culture actually maintains its value Andrew was not convinced at first, but now that he saw the check and balance worked Usually in companies the executive branch has the only judicial power. Francis thought that this was crazy so he instituted this check and balance No governance system is perfect, trust gets built in the institution over time. If trust gets lost for a person, does the institution lose trust or does it work? What was it like to lose trust in Francis temporarily after that email? Andrew's first feeling was avoidance Time is the healing function, getting a chance to see how everything evolved in the process Andrew actively took a passive approach. He wasn't going to engage directly. Watching Francis self reflection was so important Francis' reflection: Blame is a double edged sword, he was blaming too much but ultimately he had to take responsibility The solution had to come from Francis taking responsibility Francis feels relief that he doesn't need to be perfect all the time Building a company sets up the circumstances for a lot of pressure. This was the first time that Francis was able to see how he didn't have to be perfect, having to fail but then get redemption from the team How much time does Francis spend thinking about Invisible? Very hard to define what time Francis is spending on the company He designed a financial instrument on the dance floor on a friday night with his friends The next day he shared it with the business advisor and they all validated it How do you define this as work vs personal? Francis hasn't fired an executive since Dec 2019 even though things have been controversial and tense The value is that people talk things through. Committing to the process implies trust Francis has partners who are friends. When you do business with friends, things get tricky. Even the customers are friends. The layer is intense There is no way that Francis can be perfect but the friend component tricks things up. Human nature is to not have hard conversations but progress comes from having the difficult conversations. As ChatGPT commodifies content, it is obvious to discount most marketing, as a marketer how are you getting the signal out through the noise of this situation? ChatGPT has been a boon to Invisible's marketing strategy but at the same time that advantage is also in their court What is the most difficult concept to communicate about invisible? Best ads are breakthroughs in communicating nuance You can't market specs well, Apple shows that specs weren't the reason that Apple was winning. What is the biggest challenge about this for Andrew? Invisible can do everything but a customer wants just ONE thing Invsible does LLMs, back office, lead generation. If it can do all of those things, can it really do any of these things? What if you had a magic box that could do anything? Thats a great line but how do you communicate that? What has ChatGPT done to the pollution of words? SEO did it first The power of words remains but most people have lost the ability to use words powerfully The power of the editor has increased because the noise has increased as well The true artists aren't going anyway, they will remain, but the median is going to disappear The old books will remain dominant. They have become more accesible than ever but maybe will become less accessed What will AI not be able to do? It wont ever be a good story teller It won't be able to glean emotion Generate a truly perfect myth As a student of myth, the stories of the great myths are perfect and cannot be edited. If anything was changed, something else would have been needed to fill the gap Are you sure that AI wont be able to generate the great books of the future? Current movie and TV shows are already formulaic AI is an augmentative tool not a story telling tool The next great writers are going to be the best prompt engineers Final Gratitude exercise as the ending Who has most supported Andrew in his life over the past year and what role have they played? Chris Chavez, his manager Andrew's Wife, she encouraged him to take the leap into Invisible

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This episode is for you if you are a BPO owner/operator. In this episode of ACG, we talk about benchmarking the financial aspects of your BPO, setting up your books for maximum valuation, multiples in the market, maximizing your BPO for an exit, and so much more.Every day, contact center BPOs are focused on many operational metrics or KPIs that describe how the center is performing.But that's not the entire picture. Eric Crouse, Partner at Kommit & Company, an M&A firm that specializes in the contact center BPO market takes about a benchmarking report created by his team that analyzed a huge data set of public and private contact centers that will peel back the curtain on key financial benchmarks of our industry.Combining operational performance with financial performance is the key to long-term growth and profitability for our industry, and what you will discover from this report may surprise you.Here is the link to the youtube video of this episode to view the slides and data in context:https://youtu.be/Kg9O9rDpBY0Here is the link the free benchmarking report:https://gokommit.com/#callcenter #contactcenter #callcentergeekObserve.AI is the fastest way to boost contact center performance with live conversation intelligence. Learn more about the leading conversation intelligence for contact centers at Observe.AI.Follow Tom: @tlaird_expiviaJoin our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeekConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geekLinkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

If you are a BPO owner/operator, this episode is for you. In this episode of ACG we talk about benchmarking the financial aspects of your BPO, setting up your books for maximum valuation, multiples in the market, maximizing your BPO for an exit, and so much more.Every day, contact center BPOs are focused on a large number of operational metrics or KPIs that describe how the center is performing.But that's not the entire picture. Eric Crouse, Partner at Kommit & Company, an M&A firm that specializes in the contact center BPO market takes about a benchmarking report created by his team that analyzed a huge data set of public and private contact centers that will peel back the curtain on key financial benchmarks of our industry.Combining operational performance with financial performance is the key to long-term growth and profitability for our industry, and what you will discover from this report may surprise you.Here is the link to the youtube video of this episode to view the slides and data in context:https://youtu.be/Kg9O9rDpBY0#callcenter #contactcenter #callcentergee.If you are looking for USA outsourced customer service or sales support, we here at Expivia would really like to help you support your customers.Please check us out at expiviausa.com, or email us at info@expivia.net!Follow Tom: @tlaird_expiviaJoin our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeekConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geekLinkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

I was asked to talk to a class of pre-startups on the topic of Marketing and Branding at Gannon University where I am vice chair of the Erie Technology Incubator.In this presentation, I talk about what I do every day to create content at scale to grow my personal and business brand.Marketing, branding, sales... these are the pillars of new business and community building.  I get many questions from BPOS on "How do I get new clients" and I see many of you out there trying to advance your personal brand.I hope that this episode inspires you to start your branding or take it to the next level.If you are looking for USA outsourced customer service or sales support, we here at Expivia would really like to help you support your customers.Please check us out at expiviausa.com, or email us at info@expivia.net!Follow Tom: @tlaird_expiviaJoin our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeekConnect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geekLinkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel