itel’s Innovation Lab Offers Clients New Ways to Solve CX Challenges

itel’s Innovation Lab in Medellin, Colombia is an exciting place, where clients can find new ways to enhance their customer experience through digital services, innovation, automation, and new, cutting-edge technologies. What lies behind this innovation powerhouse and what can clients expect when working with its team of data scientists and engineers? Learn how itel has moved beyond business process outsourcing, becoming a leading architect of next-gen customer experience delivery.  

Powering New Insights & Technologies in the Heart of Colombia 

 Inside itel’s Innovation Lab the future of customer experience will be designed and developed, as data scientists, analysts, programmers, and robotics process engineers apply their creative talents to enhance every aspect of customer interaction. 

 “We have some of the world’s best programming talent,” explains Leonardo Borges, Vice President of Data Science & Innovation at itel. “Colombia is known as a global tech hub, and we have sourced exceptional teams. We can supply whatever is needed - innovation, automation, ways to improve efficiency through technology.” 

itel’s Innovation Lab features three main hubs. One, dedicated to data engineering, data science, and data analysis. Another, dedicated purely to innovation, and lastly, one dedicated to reporting analytics and business intelligence.  

In a lab environment, every aspect of a client’s operations can be investigated and analyzed. itel also brings to the table their expertise in operational excellence, training, and recruitment, forming dedicated teams to solve client challenges and maximize opportunities.  

“Some projects are easy and quick to implement,” adds Borges, such as installing a new chatbot or upgrading an existing interactive voice response system (IVR). “We can also work on a project in the long term, such as new app development, which is something we’re currently doing for an insurance client in the U.S.”  

Here, clients work closely, often hand in hand, with itel specialists. It’s the collaborative synergy between client and developers that often yield the best results. Feedback is continually encouraged, along with co-working sessions between operations teams, to ensure alignment when it comes to goals, benchmarks, and deliverables.  

Creating an Entire CX Ecosystem Through Innovation 

 According to Gartner, CX now drives over two-thirds of customer loyalty, outperforming even ‘price’ and ‘brand’. It’s important to keep customers happy and many now expect a seamless, omnichannel experience when interacting with brands.  

Technologies are evolving at a rapid pace, and companies are expected to stay ahead of the curve. Increasingly, organizations are turning to CX vendors like itel, that supply more than contact center services, but the capability and world-class talent to build an entire customer experience ‘ecosystem’ across voice and digital channels.   

“You want to look for service leaders not followers,” explains Borges. “Those that provide real, integral solutions for clients, not only in their services, but through innovation and enhancements to the customer journey. itel can offer that. We have the whole package.”   

Well-positioned in terms of geography, itel operates in nine countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. Locations are easily accessible with only a short flight from the U.S., which makes in-person collaboration and face-to-face workshops much easier.   

The company is also an early adopter of modern technologies that enhance customer interactions, such as speech to text analytics, sentiment analysis, and AI (artificial intelligence), giving itel invaluable insights into their customers, which they pass onto clients, so they can make strategic business decisions that are driven by real-world data.  

Sky’s the Limit with itel’s Innovation Lab  

As to what the future holds for CX innovation, it is truly anyone’s guess. For itel, it will certainly involve moving beyond the basics of customer analytics toward more predictive analytics that help anticipate future outcomes and challenges, so proactive solutions can be prescribed.  

“We want to expand beyond customer experience management,” emphasizes Borges, “into analytics as a service. We also want to look at areas where we, as a vendor, can provide innovation for the client. For example, if we know that people are requesting information for ‘where's my order’, why don't we go one step ahead and do a predictive solution? Develop self-service options that address those questions.”  

The Innovation Lab plans to offer more in-house solution development, customized to each client, which could involve cutting-edge self-service apps or bots that mimic human interaction more closely. 

Of course, there will always be a need for the human touch, even in a largely digital future. Finding the right balance between innovation, tech, and human skill will be the next challenge for many organizations. 

 And itel’s Innovation Lab will surely be at the forefront of these new and exciting developments, as the company uses the hub for its own business and technology enhancements, finding new solutions for the CX challenges of today and tomorrow.  

Looking for a customer experience partner that can help you innovate? Contact us today.