NEW DELHI: Kartikeyan Gopalkrishnan, Chief Operating Officer at Teleperformance India, in an exclusive interview with  Pageone Asia's Parul Manchanda comments on the growth strategy during the pandemic and the achievements of the company Cloud Campus. Edited excerpts. 

Q- TP India launched Teleperformance Cloud Campus (TPCC) last year. Please shed some light on the initiative.

The revolutionary Teleperformance Cloud Campus is a virtual global workforce platform that enables remote teams to deliver outstanding customer experience and back-office services. It is an award-winning, effective model for digital hiring, on boarding, training, engaging, and management of geographically dispersed but socially connected teams.

Teleperformance Cloud Campuses were set up to accommodate the growing preference from our client partners for a cloud-first approach, by designing an alternate, remote work model. With Cloud Campus, we ensure that our clients can rely on home-based customer service experts offering the highest level of data security, best-in-class cloud infrastructure and the best talent from across the country.

Q-How critical has it been to continue to expand during Covid-19?

Digital transformation is not a new priority for business leaders, but COVID-19 has made it more vital, as businesses were forced to raise their digital maturity score years ahead of projections.

The pandemic has been a game-changer for most companies, but despite the challenges, our main focus was to remain agile in order to adapt to the transition seamlessly. As much we have been accommodating employees’ immediate needs, we have also prioritized thinking about the future at a time that has increased our clients’ appetite for digital transformation.

Growth comes from driving change and innovation, and we believe the purpose of digital transformation is to create value by enabling employees to work more efficiently.

We continue to leverage the latest technology to enhance human interactions; expanding our reach with employee set-up, and maintaining a connection with clients across industries. Needless to say, all of this was effectively enabled by Teleperformance Cloud Campus.

Q-Comment on the growth of Teleperformance Cloud Campus during the pandemic?

We have seen exponential growth in our client base during the pandemic, as we went from three clients in August 2020 to over 50 clients at present. Teleperformance Cloud Campus enables consistent experiences in the remote working world and continues to ensure zero service disruption.

Teleperformance in India is expanding its portfolio of international and domestic clients through Cloud Campus Hubs located in Mohali, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Thane, Chennai, Kolkata, and Jaipur.

We believe diversity must be reflected in the workforce structures to take full advantage of all potential and ability.Cloud Campus enabled us to hire potential staff from any corner of the world. We have successfully hired untapped talent from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in India. It enabled us to offer equal opportunities to all irrespective of gender, age, location, caste and preferences. Unlike earlier, when we had limited access to the talent pool at the location where we had open positions, today we can hire from any corner of the world without the need for the employee to relocate.

Q- How is your High-Tech, High-Touch model helping clients to overcome the impacts of COVID-19?

The Teleperformance ‘high-tech, high-touch’ strategy uses advanced technology, analytics and automation to elevate the customer experience and create lasting impressions with human empathy. By emphasizing the value of the human touch, we understand the importance of going the extra mile to provide outstanding service for both our clients and customers.

Approaching the impacts of COVID-19 with this mantra has enabled us to deliver greater customer satisfaction and create an ecosystem worthy of Great Place to Work® certifications. We used the latest technology to build an ecosystem that focuses on emphasizing and supporting human interactions.

Q-Cloud Campus is the new, successful business model that allows its employees to work from home. Please comment.

We launched Cloud Campus, a global virtual workforce platform to deliver borderless customer experience, as a result of quick thinking during the pandemic. It has grown to facilitate fully integrated digital recruitment, onboarding, training, and workforce engagement for both domestic clients across India, and on an international scale. By launching and integrating the Teleperformance Cloud Campus working model we have created a virtual floor with a permanent, open line connection providing voice and video contact with the project team. The Cloud Campus Hubs are located in our major office sites as the central command centers. With employees working from home, we felt the need to set the pace for resilient work solutions and shine a light on the importance of employee engagement.

Q-How successful has Teleperformance’s 'Anytime Anywhere’ work revolution been?

With Cloud Campus, Teleperformance is leading the ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ revolution and achieves the right balance between resilience, efficiency, employee engagement & social connect in the next normal.

For Teleperformance, delivering ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ customer services is possible because of our resilient workforce with more than 15,000 people on Cloud Campus in India.

As a people-focused and agile company, we believe the work revolution starts by retaining the right talent and upskilling our employees. Our ‘Anytime Anywhere’ working model has allowed us to not only expand, cultivate a more diverse workforce but also take care of our employees’ well-being in today’s unprecedented times. By providing the best-in-class training and onboarding to our employees, we keep our clients satisfied wherever they are.

Q-What are Teleperformance's plans for the year ahead? Which markets are you focusing on?

Our focus remains on innovating and leveraging technology to enhance human interaction as we progress in this digital environment. We offer omnichannel, digitally integrated business services encompassing customer experience, back-office and transformation solutions across industry verticals.

We plan to provide simpler, faster, safer services, with a guiding strategy, hybrid-working model, advanced technology tools, and a cohesive workforce to expand business across domestic and international markets.