Client

Elvie

Business type

FemTech

Business area

Baby, Children, Healthcare, Maternity

“Contact Centre Panel very quickly understood our requirements and put the right perspective partners in front of us. The whole process went very smoothly, and their guidance helped us find the right partners for the next stage of our service path.”

Philip Purdy, Global Customer Care Lead

Elvie is a health and lifestyle brand developing smarter technology for women. Elvie are committed to building extraordinary products that improve the health and lives of women everywhere and at all stages of life.

Client challenge and requirements

As pioneers of female-first innovation in tech to improve the lives of women around the world, it would come as no surprise that Elvie have experienced significant growth over the past few years. This growth led to expansion into new territories, including Europe, bringing its own challenges along the way.

The Elvie team had done extremely well to originally source a partner who could support their customers across Europe, servicing multiple languages including (but not limited to) French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. However, coming out of the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team felt it was the right time to go back out to tender to not only analyse the current state of the market but to look at ways of improving their customer strategy – which includes the use of technology.

Primary objectives

The ask, would be more of a challenge when compared to a typical outsourcing brief. Elvie needed to ensure that:

  • All languages could be catered for, no matter the volume. This could be a mix of native speakers or the use of translation technology. In total this covered 11 languages, with some of the more difficult to source including the Nordics.
  • The right type of advisor could be sourced, one that could be empathetic towards a mother who is already under much pressure in looking after their child.
  • The partner could support Elvie’s continued growth, including new territories which brings its own challenges in the form of new languages, culture and extended operational hours to service.
  • Ensure Elvie could leverage their own extensive knowledge of outsourcing, against a third party who could bring new partners to the table they have never previously known/considered.
  • That any process could work around the support the incumbent was already providing, plus enabling the incumbent to also re-bid for this opportunity as part of a fair and transparent tender process.
  • And finally, doing all of the above in the most cost-effective way possible. Elvie were looking to see what costs savings could be made, and where those savings could be re-invested into new technology and/or innovative practices. All of which to provide a better outcome for their customers.

With the challenge at hand, Elvie approached Contact Centre Panel to help support the team with its requirements above. Whilst CCP knew this would be a difficult challenge, we also knew that we had some fantastic partners with alternative solutions that would be able to support the key asks as listed above.

Solution

Having met with the team (The COO, Global Customer Care Lead and the Contact Centre Performance Manager) to discuss and define their contact centre requirements, Contact Centre Panel would support Elvie by finding a best of breed outsource partner who could not only help to support with the BAU requirements, but deliver added value through continuous improvement and innovation that would not only deliver cost savings, but would provide an more rounded service for its customers.

What was clear to see as part of initial discussions, was how important it was to find a partner who could source the right calibre of agent. Specifically mums, dads or grandparents who have gone through the life experience of raising a child and the challenges that can bring. CCP made sure to keep this at the top of its focus going into this process. Without this, the other requirements would become irrelevant.

Using our tried and tested approach, Contact Centre Panel were able to thoroughly document Elvie’s requirements, focusing on the key asks such as (but not limited to):

  • Multi-lingual support
  • Sourcing the right calibre of agent
  • Ability to flex up and down to support growth and peak periods
  • Innovation and the implementation of industry best practice
  • Deliver a high-quality and cost-effective solution for the team

Once the requirements had been documented, Contact Centre Panel began identifying a selection of best-fit nearshore and offshore partners. Like in each sourcing process, CCP was able to use it Radius Tool to create an initial shortlist against the requirements, which was then narrowed down into a focused shortlist as part of an internal review session.

Once the shortlist was identified, we were able to guide Elvie through the briefing process. This included:

  • Setting up and hosting partner introduction sessions.
  • Managing the collation of the proposals submitted by the shortlisted partners.
  • Creating tools and matrices to help Phil and Chris to score the proposals.
  • Providing a commercial summary to Elvie of all the commercial proposals submitted, so that they could be reviewed side-by-side.
  • Conducting several washup sessions with Elvie to review, analyse and score proposals.
  • Facilitating any follow-up calls, including arranging site visits to partners who were through to the final round.
  • Supporting the final decision on which partner(s) to select, which ultimately was Elvie’s final decision.
  • Facilitated the contract review and initial project kick-off with the partner(s) of choice.

All the way through the above stages CCP ensured it remained agile enough to react to any requests/issues, whilst at the same time providing a solid structure to guide Elvie to the end of the process within an agreed timeframe.

Client outcome

Through CCP, Elvie were able to source a solution that would not only deliver significant cost savings from day 1, but also find a partner that could support the team with their aspirations to become best-in-class when it comes to the service and support it provides to its customers.

From going into this process looking for x1 outsource partner, in the end Elvie came away with x2 partners. Through CCP’s process Elvie could see that by onboarding x2 separate partners, they could cater to both their multi-lingual customer support needs and the need to find a partner who can take them on that journey when it came to innovation and best practice. This would make the task much easier than trying to find x1 partner who could do everything, whilst at the same time providing Elvie with operational resilience as it moved into its next phase of growth.

Elvie have since completed the transition from the incumbent to their new partner(s) of choice, and we look forward to seeing these partnerships grow and flourish over the months ahead.

As mentioned to the team at Elvie, CCP remains available when support is required through its Partnership Development Team. This team remains the difference between CCP and your typical broker, ensuring the both the client and the selected partner(s) always have support on hand when needed.

Overall, the CCP team had such a fantastic time working with the Elvie Team. It was so clear to see the passion and commitment the team had when it came to delivering the best possible outcome for their customers.

Client comment

“It was a great experience working with CCP and we are glad that we chose to go on this journey with them. They very quickly understood our requirements and put the right perspective partners in front of us. The whole process went very smoothly, and their guidance helped us find the right partners for the next stage of our service path. We are already seeing the benefits of our new partnerships, so can’t thank them enough for their support.”

Philip Purdy, Global Customer Care Lead