How Companies Can Immediately Boost ESG Credentials By Thinking Carefully About Their CX or BPO Partner

We were delighted when the Global Sourcing Alliance invited yoummday to participate in their Sustainable Sourcing Symposium on January 31st in London. This was one of the largest conferences focused on sustainability and Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) within the customer experience (CX) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) environment.

Neal Bartram, the head of global client solutions at Yoummday, delivered a keynote talk at the event in London. His theme was ‘How remote work, tech, and a paradigm shift can deliver enhanced ESG credentials to the BPO industry.’

Why is ESG so crucial for the CX and BPO relationship?

It’s because companies that want to boost their ESG credentials rapidly can do so by choosing the right BPO partner. A wise choice can rapidly improve the ESG profile of the client because the partner company will enter into their supply chain and influence their ESG status.

Why should companies take ESG so seriously when considering who to work with for their customer experience solution?

It is true that some executives still think of ESG as a marketing tool - it’s a return of corporate social responsibility. They feel that it has no material effect on the company other than improving its image and is, therefore, just a marketing tool. This is now an extremely dated approach that is fundamentally wrong.

ESG has evolved into a topic that should be on every boardroom agenda for several important reasons:

• Customers want to know about where their products come from. Are they ethically produced? Are they helping the environment and local communities? A good example is how several initiatives to track the textile supply chain completely change the fashion industry - customers want to know where and how their clothes have been produced. Ignore them and watch your sales collapse.

• Employees want to feel good about their employer. Employers that value ESG become more attractive in the jobs market and can attract the best people. According to IBM, over 70% of employees find employers with an active approach to ESG more appealing.

• Investors want to see companies that take ESG seriously. This can now have a material effect on investment and M&A decisions. McKinsey directly draws a line between ESG and corporate performance and deal potential for investors.

• Regulators are creating new rules focused on ESG, and companies must be aware. Governments and regulatory bodies increasingly use rule changes to ensure compliance addresses social issues and environmental risks.

This is a powerful argument. If you want to attract the best employees, attract investment from the market, and continue attracting new customers, you must start taking ESG seriously. It’s not optional.

Companies often need a long lead time to change direction. It can take time to introduce initiatives and cultural change, but the opportunity to introduce a focus on ESG when selecting suppliers can move the dial very quickly.

When you decide which company should help manage your customer service processes, you can immediately start asking all those questions that Neal talked about at the symposium.

• Are you using remote work to reduce your business’s carbon footprint by ensuring that customer service agents can work from home rather than all commuting by vehicle to a resource-hungry office?

• How are you using technology to improve the workplace and encourage greater efficiency?

• What innovations are you exploring so the customer service solution we start using today can evolve into the solution that customers will want next year?

Have you thought about these questions when selecting a BPO or CX partner?

More specifically, have you considered how the selection of a partner that is already focused on ESG can make your own business immediately improve? Not only do you get the immediate boost of this team now being a part of your own supply chain, but they can share their culture, values, and experience of ESG with the broader organisation. It’s like tapping into an immediate source of ideas and knowledge without hiring a management consultant.

Working with a partner like yoummday can give your ESG strategy an immediate boost because our team embraces remote work from day one, it is flexible and innovative, and technology underpins our solution. This is the future of CX.