Firstsource rewired CX for a media giant; transform yours next

Traditional call centers can no longer keep up with simple requests, inflated costs, and an eroding customer experience (CX). A leading European pay-TV and streaming services provider aimed to address this by transforming its entire business model. Through its partnership with Firstsource, it created a digital-first, self-service CX model that empowers customers to interact across multiple channels to solve problems, with humans stepping in only when most needed.

Rewire CX around digital-first journeys, or risk losing customers

CX is central to driving satisfaction and loyalty. Traditionally, customers relied heavily on phone calls to resolve queries, often spending considerable time and effort even for basic issues. Today, this landscape is undergoing a dramatic shift. Customers now expect omnichannel interactions, encompassing digital-first touchpoints like websites and chat applications, as well as in-store visits, mobile apps, and traditional phone calls. They want issues to be resolved quickly, easily, and seamlessly. The less disruption they face, the more confident they feel in their choice to stay.

Realizing this need, the media company and Firstsource evolved their partnership from basic chat support to an end-to-end CX transformation in just two years. At the heart of the transformation is a fundamental principle: minimizing disruption. Firstsource now manages 98% of the media company’s digital interactions, covering ~34–35% of all customer engagements. Together, they redesigned customer journeys that leverage self-service, WhatsApp chat, and multilingual support.

Make customers work less, not more

The media company aimed to address a critical challenge: simplifying customer interactions while minimizing unnecessary contact. As a senior executive at the company noted, “Customers with relatively simple queries related to billing and content used to raise queries, taking up both customer and executives’ resources.”

Firstsource and the client’s teams began analyzing how the current content and digital flows weren’t delivering desired customer experiences or results. Their focus centered on three goals: eliminate needless contacts by fixing root causes, make digital the preferred first step, and improve consistency and speed across channels without adding cost.

Through the partnership, the media company redesigned customer journeys to emphasize self-serve and chat, introduced industrialized language translation for digital operations, and applied AI-enabled tools for quality assurance, content management, and knowledge sharing. The results were significant: strong digital containment, lower reliance on voice channels, fewer human-to-human interactions, improved service KPIs, and higher CSAT scores, translating to strong customer loyalty. By combining omnichannel strategies with AI-driven solutions, the media company delivered faster, simpler, and more effective CX, keeping convenience and minimal disruption at the heart of its service model.

Speak, solve, scale: Execute a multilingual, omnichannel, and AI-driven service journey

Product owners from the media company partnered with Firstsource SMEs to lead the transformation. The team redesigned customer journeys to emphasize self-serve and chat, introduced language translation for digital operations, and applied AI-enabled tools for quality assurance, content management, and knowledge sharing.

Their efforts focused on seven core interventions that redefined customer engagement and operational efficiency:

1. Multilingual efficiency: Firstsource used Language IO, an AI-powered translation platform, enabling German customers to chat in their native language and agents to respond in English. This translation capability delivered ~30% cost savings and ensured that customers felt heard, regardless of where support was delivered.
2. Omnichannel expansion: Firstsource manages WhatsApp-based services and document handling, scanning physical mail for translation and digital responses. Customers can resolve issues across their preferred channels, from chat to mobile and email.
3. Analytics and automation: Full QA automation meant that 100% of transactions were evaluated, not just a sample. Journey analytics helped cut call volumes by identifying and removing friction points. Issue recurrence analysis was fed directly into CRM/ERP improvements, ensuring that the service kept getting smarter.
4. Self-serve first: The redesigned help centers and clear online guides made it easy for customers to troubleshoot and resolve issues independently. This resulted in more website visits and fewer calls.
5. Sharper content journeys: Service journeys were simplified and continuously improved, ensuring that customers found answers fast.
6. AI-driven quality and coaching: Every interaction was analyzed, not just a sample. AI summarized calls and guided agent training, driving faster and more reliable service.
7. Clearer conversations: A pilot to reduce accent barriers led to smoother interactions and a measurable lift in customer satisfaction.

The results showed how the client and Firstsource resolved key customer pain points to deliver faster services, higher customer satisfaction, and a more seamless, digitally enabled experience.

Exhibit 1: Interventions were mapped directly to pain points, delivering measurable improvements across CX metrics

Source: HFS Research, 2025

Fix the experience before cutting CX costs

Enterprises chasing lower support costs often fall into a trap: they slash headcount before fixing the experience. The media company’s transformation shows what it looks like to do the hard work first: redesign customer journeys, simplify content, industrialize translation, and deploy AI where it actually matters.

Digital-first CX isn’t about pushing customers to new channels. It’s about making their lives easier and giving enterprises greater control over service delivery. If you’re still tracking deflection or volumes as success metrics, you’re measuring activity—not outcomes.

CX leaders seeking to future-proof their firms must balance technology with people and focus on rethinking processes from the ground up. This example offers three crucial lessons:

• Bold change pays off: The media company’s leap to digital-first delivered more than cost savings; it built loyalty and future-proofed the business.
• Technology + human touch: AI and automation were essential, but so was investing in people, language skills, and continuous improvement.
• Collaboration drives success: The partnership’s evolution, from chat support to digital consultancy, showed what’s possible when expertise and vision align.

The Bottom Line: Customers are your most valued asset. Reflect that through a differentiated and high-impact CX journey.

Going “digital first” allows CX leaders to move beyond adding headcount to balancing human and AI-driven support. By combining omnichannel innovation, multilingual efficiency, and relentless analytics, enterprises benefit from faster, smarter, and more customer-centric service at scale and at lower cost.