HGS’s Future of Smart CX is a quadruple-win proposition

At a recent analyst event, HGS leaders spoke of doubling the typical “win-win” expression as it re-imagines its customer care services. The four wins in question? Employees, customers, clients and in turn… HGS. Clearly there is a winning formula at play here, with HGS’s 2020 annual results showing 9.5% growth in constant currency. Though the impact of pandemic was tremendous, HGS’ significant investments made, building a new operating model which includes migrating clients to the cloud and higher adoption of digital solutions, mobilizing work from home environment, continued recruitment of digital transformation consultants and BPM workforce, resulted in very little disruption to services.

Cognitive Cloud Contact Center offering is a lynchpin of future digital contact center services

One particular standout segment for the contact center firm is the UK arm of HGS Digital Solutions, UK, which is projected to yield 88.3% YoY for the fiscal year 2021. One of the foundational offerings of HGS Digital Solutions is its Smart CX Cognitive Cloud Contact Center offering. This solution includes Digital CX, Data Analytics, CX Transformation, and Intelligent Automation, along with fundamental elements of Customer Care, Technical Support, Product Support, Inbound B2B sales, Social Customer Care, and CX Optimization. The Smart CX solution helps agents use technology to provide solutions to resolve more complex issues, where the self-service bots handle simple queries. This model solves enables handling sensitive data and resolving complex issues by human agents but also allows for seamless self-service with automation (see Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1: HGS’ Vision for the future of customer care is Smarter CX

Source: HGS, 2021

Industry expansion and depth continue to be a core pillar of HGS’ growth strategy

While the telecom and technology sectors have been core revenue drivers in the past, 2021 presented HGS a major opportunity to expand its breadth and depth in other industries. For example, HGS signed several major public sector deals which addressed highly disruptive events including Covid and Brexit. 2021’s results showcase a more diversified and improved vertical portfolio for HGS, and highlights a successful pivot toward sectors that have continued to grow during the pandemic, including BFSI. The digital solutions outlined above should be a boon for HGS to gain further depth into clients’ industry- specific issues.

Keeping employee experience at the heart of the business remains a constant

Employees are the heart of amazing CX.

Partha DeSarkar, Global CEO, HGS

One thing that the pandemic hasn’t changed is the unwavering tie between EX and CX; if fact, it has been exposed as a result of remote working and increased in importance. For addressing EX in a remote environment, HGS is reinventing its operating model with the cloud. HGS’s work cloud is a blend of office workspace and cloud infrastructure, which provides inspirational workspaces for the agents, aimed at keeping them engaged and leveraging digital assistants to improve their work experience. This model enables the hybrid workforce we are now moving into, benefitting employees with social engagements, physical access to IT and HR support, hybrid training and development, and growth opportunities.

The Bottom Line: HGS is making investments in digital solutions and employee engagement to create future-proof operating models for the benefit of employees, clients, and clients’ customers

In the crowded contact center services market where every competitor has its own flavor of a “digital contact center” offering, it is tough to differentiate. HGS is holding its own as a relatively smaller (mid-sized) provider among the giants of the business that are also investing heavily in digital business. HGS’ Digital Solutions’ growth is a testament that these investments are proving to be valuable and sticky for its customers. Clients have long appreciated the nimble, flexible partnership approach that HGS offers, and so long as that continues, clients will reap the benefits of HGS’ cloud and digital expertise as they continue on their CX transformation journey.