Latest / The Tech Matchmaker / Ethical AI, CX Innovation & Social Impact | Bryce Cressy (Nutun) on The Tech Matchmaker
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- Gina Gibson: Welcome to the Tech Matchmaker, the show where contact center challenges meet their perfect tech match. I'm your host, Gina Gibson, and in just 15 minutes, we serve up the smartest, coolest innovation shaking up the contact center industry. Whether you're searching for your next solution or just love staying ahead of the curve, we've got the insights to keep you in the know. Let's dive in and discover what's next. I promise you it's going to be fun. Thanks for hanging out with us on the Tech Matchmaker. I hope today's spotlight sparked some fresh ideas and real solutions for your contact center. Want to dive deeper into the tech we featured? Hit up the show notes for all the links and extras and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if there's a challenge you want us to tackle, don't be shy, reach out. I'll catch you soon with more innovation, more use cases and more ways to keep your business moving forward. Hi everybody, today we are chatting with Bryce Cressy, the VP of International Partnerships and Strategic Solutions from Newton. And he's going to talk to us about the AI-empowered BPO space. Bryce, welcome to the podcast. Bryce Cressy: Gina, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure. Gina Gibson: Now we can tell from the accent, Bryce, you're clearly not from the U.S. So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Stay curious, stay bold, and keep exploring what's next. Bryce Cressy: I am from South Africa, Johannesburg specifically. Born and bred in Johannesburg, thankfully get to see as beautiful as South Africa is, I get to see the US quite a bit. I get to see the UK quite a bit and I ⁓ always up coming home and ⁓ have plans on that changing in the near future. Gina Gibson: ⁓ tell us one thing about that we may not find on LinkedIn. Bryce Cressy: Sure. Well, I'm relatively active on LinkedIn. I do share quite bit. So I probably say something that I don't share as much is I ⁓ a huge lover wildlife fan. So I go to the Kruger National Park very, very frequently in South I love the serenity that the wild brings. ⁓ kind of go there for a recharge and it's fuel for the soul for me. So certainly wildlife safari lover. Gina Gibson: I love that. It's always it's on my bucket list for sure to get over there. So envious. So us. ⁓ Yes. What is What does Newton do? Give us tell us a little bit about what Newton's all about. Bryce Cressy: You missed come. Fantastic. Well, Newton is a publicly traded outsourcer, we're than that. So we're providing outsourced CX ⁓ debt collection to enterprises around the world a boutique specialized and consultative fashion. We are providing 6,000 people plus proprietary AI to augment CX and debt collection solutions globally. Whether be for retailers, banks, travel providers, companies, telcos, we provide, we're providing tailored customized solutions that aren't just simply a bum on a seat, as lovely as our are. We are augmenting our people technology, but with process changes, with operational model redesigns. We like to think we are, we're partners. are not ⁓ executioners from a decision-making and a customer experience perspective. Gina Gibson: Thank you for that. Tell me, now sometimes we hear people might have concerns about an offshore BPO or whatever the case may be. How would you address those concerns? Bryce Cressy: Well, one thing I'd say is come to South Africa and see for yourself. think that addresses a lot of concerns because people, especially, think South Africa is a bit of a newer destination to the U.S. I think there might be a bit of misconceptions on the country has to offer. And I often when we've got clients and prospects visiting, it changes their perception quite rapidly about the country. I think some concerns are data concerns. ⁓ technology and infrastructure concerns. Well, we have one of the most accessible countries from a fiber and internet perspective across the globe. Everything comes through the Southern tip of Africa, and that is where we are. from a data perspective, we have all the certifications, that U companies, and enterprises and regulatory bodies ⁓ are looking for. I think. ⁓ One thing, if you ever come to South Africa and you see our banking system you've live in the U S and you see what we have accessible to us, the infrastructure, the security, the digitization and technology, you'll be astounded because South Africa is in very many places, a third world country. but with first world infrastructure governance and technology. And certainly I think there's, there might be an issue, there might be a conversation around, offshoring being a reduction in quality that you can get from a custom experience perspective, as well as maybe some accent concerns that are people in the US like wanting hear an offshore accent. South African accent, as you can hear from my accent, is very neutral. Some people get us confused with English. So from Britain or from Australia, very similar kind of cultures. And that's what you expect. as well as from a quality perspective, very similar to Onshore US, Onshore UK as well. Gina Gibson: Excellent. It's funny because we were just chatting a little bit before you, you joined for the podcast and I said, you know, the South African accent, it's one of the most pleasant to listen to, right? As far as that goes. So with you on that. Now, one one of favorite parts ⁓ of, of and I think one of your, another one of maybe your differentiators is the transformative impact you have in the community. And I. no other business out there that I know that does what you guys do a philanthropic standpoint and and that is something very near and to my heart. So can you talk to our listeners a little bit about not just I it was a overview of the company but how you help your community as well. Bryce Cressy: Yeah, and I think the biggest driving factor that brought me to Newton, but not Newton specifically, all the BPO's in South Africa, we have a very similar stance in that there's a lot of inequality in South Africa. There's exorbitantly rich, wealthy affluence, amazing, beautiful houses that you see with the top half percent of the world. But there's equal poverty as well as inequality and hardship that many of our people in South Africa go through. We have an unemployment rates of over 36%, which is, believe, unfortunately, the highest in the world. And % of that, I think even more than 60 % of that is people between the ages of 18 and 35, which we consider youth. Now that 18 to 35 is supposed to be the future of your country. It's supposed to be the foundation of where the country is going. And I think the thing again that drew me to the BPO industry is the fact that one client from the US that outsources their support to South Africa can affect thousands of people in South Africa. And one person takes care of five people in the household in South Africa. So 1000 agents takes care of 5,000 people. So Gina Gibson: Mm-hmm. Bryce Cressy: It's an easy sell, right? If when we are selling South Africa and offering South Africa, because we see it day in, day out of the inequality of I've I'm privileged to have an opportunity. Why can't my neighbor next to me have the same opportunity? call center is a stepping stone to get that opportunity in many, in many geographies. Call centers isn't as seen as a stepping stone towards something greater, but it is a career. in South Africa, we have many people in our organization that's risen from agent all the way up to operations executive. that is, it's to the fact that ⁓ one, enjoying the job, enjoying the work in South Africa and two, there's real And I think something else that's very close to my heart ⁓ is Newton with a company called Shadow Careers in South Africa is actually taking people from townships in South Africa. where we see a lot of informal settlements that sprouts up just because there's not enough housing for everyone else. And we are, we are taking people from those areas in partnership with Shadow Careers and training them on is work? What are the necessary skill sets do they need to be employable? Then once they've got those necessary skill sets is what do they need to be employable in the contact center? Gina Gibson: Okay. Bryce Cressy: And then once you've got that, then the next step is, OK, let's talk about which industry you're going to go into. And then in partnership with the Strive Academy at Newton, it's ensuring that they are employed from an industry perspective and then going further into what the company's is as well. So it's really taking them out of townships, out of very informal areas in South Africa and them something that they wouldn't have had before that 36 percent of people in South Africa don't have. And one more thing that I can talk to you from an impact perspective is our one agent, one child initiative that many of our US partners and US are partnering with us on. One ⁓ of our biggest top 10 bank, they chose South Africa and chose Newton specifically because of the impact that we're making. and the ability that they can invest through us into the community in South Africa. And their investment is helping for every one agent that they bring with us. One child goes through foundational literacy, which is the ⁓ ⁓ a child education is reading, learning how to read. If they can't read, how can they further educate themselves? And currently, I think that campaign is supporting about 200 kids just to read. And that's one, that's one, that's one business. imagine, we, I know we're, we're not unique to say that, we're the only one doing incredible things for the community in South Africa. Many of our partners, of our competitors in South Africa are doing the same thing, which is fantastic. So we often say we're not selling Newton, we're selling South Africa. Gina Gibson: I love that. And, you know, when talk about the stories of pulling people from these communities and helping them, you know, learn how to work and what the skills are and that kind of thing, that breeds more and confidence in themselves, which is a better employee experience, which is going to lead to a better customer experience for your customers in the end as well. Bryce Cressy: Exactly. it comes up, it comes from a perspective of enthusiasm as well that you wouldn't get because you're giving people a real opportunity and very grateful for that. And that expresses in their personality and their energy on the phones, on emails, on chat that reflects in a positive customer experience as well. Gina Gibson: love that. Newton spoken, just pivoting a little bit to the AI side of things because of course that's what everybody's talking about these days, but ⁓ you have spoken openly about ethical AI. What does that mean in your business context? Can you talk a little bit to the people listening to this and help us understand that? Bryce Cressy: So I think AI has a couple different meanings depending on how you're looking at it. The way we are talking about ethical AI and CAI is AI augment and empower agents. AI from an outward perspective is not to mask that AI is actually human and not trying to pretend that it's human, but it's there to perform a ⁓ task. So Newton ourselves, we've deployed developed our own voice AI technology that's acting as an outbound agent today. But it's never going to take away complex workflows from agents. ⁓ not going to take away the empathy that is so crucial and ⁓ to humans. It's not taking away that once one human element that we all crave. But it's used in a way that is very specific simple monotonous tasks that agents don't actually want to do in any case, free them up for something more complex, something more meaningful. So I think augmenting agents as well from an agent productivity, AI assist, and them and empowering them to be the best that they can be on the phone is also the way we are envisioning AI play out in our environment. Gina Gibson: Yeah. And I've heard that a lot about, you know, the repetitive tasks, the menial tasks, and it really is, to your point, things that agents don't want to be doing anyway. It's the part of their job that they hate. So ⁓ think when AI is introduced properly, the will adopt it because it means they don't have to do what they don't want. ⁓ And we all like that in our jobs, right? Taking that away. Bryce Cressy: Exactly. Gina Gibson: Can you share, and I know you've shared the US Bank and that is such a great story, but can you talk to me a little bit or share with the audience? What's a client success story you've had? Maybe what did they come looking to you for? What had they experienced before coming Newton? And then how did the culture and the caliber of staff and team at Newton, how did that change their experience? Bryce Cressy: So we're working with Fintech in the US. They're a large card provider and credit bureau within the US. And they came to us looking for something more than just do as you're told, just bums on seats, not adding value. They came to us because they were sick of the same old same old, they going to a call or a BPO and they're getting the lowest cost at the lowest price for the lowest and the bare minimum. think ⁓ where we changed the for them is diving into, so fraud obviously the rise right? Especially within the U S. ⁓ in South Africa, we have Gina Gibson: Mm-hmm. Bryce Cressy: tons case studies of South banks dealing with fraud in a really robust, secure and governed way. And we've taken some of those examples and we're trying to and doing our best to put them into very slow moving and rigid, financial in U the SwinTech being one of them. and we at the moment are redeploying their fraud management call center operation. it's coming from a point of understanding their current process. What is going in a fraud operation? How have segmented their teams? How are they working How is the technology working together with their teams as well? Because there's four or five systems in play at any one time that an agent is needing to navigate. And we ⁓ have broken it down to the bare bones are currently rebuilding it from the ground up to that they are silos per fraud instance, per customer experience, pod, should we say, of agents. And then ensuring that all the different systems, even they're four or five that are still in use, whether it be CRM, CCAS solution. the card issues, a Visa or MasterCard system ensuring they all speak together through API connection automation and ensuring that from a quality perspective, you need to ensure that fraud is QA'd very, very carefully and very succinctly and having many different points that talking to each other that might be managed even in Google Sheets or in Excel, ⁓ there's a single of truth. Gina Gibson: . Bryce Cressy: And we have specialized agents to be extremely good at A and B and another agent to be extremely good at C and D of expecting one agent to subjectively handle A to Z in that process and do it their own way with little consistency in that process. So sometimes just going back to basics and going to simple, robust governance is the best way to innovate. Gina Gibson: Thank you. I love that. And is there any specific, ROIs or KPIs that clients typically come to you saying, please help us fix this? Like here is where we're, lacking. Is there anything that you're seeing trending right now from that perspective? Bryce Cressy: call resolution is on the rise. that's my with AI is that it can give agents the ability to resolve a call at the very point of with that customer because they've got all the information that they need. We are thankfully seeing less of AHD efficiency because my own opinion is that... AHT is an antiquated metric we to be moving away from getting a customer off the call as quick as possible to solving their query the first time, no matter how long that may take. So I'd say FCR is the real trending one at the moment. Gina Gibson: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and you've mentioned so you mentioned credit. Is there any other verticals that you work with Bryce or is credit your main focus? credit and collection Bryce Cressy: ⁓ no, it's, it's one, yeah. Credit collections. It's, it's a big vertical for us the finance and finance broadly finances is big for us. but we have tons of retail clients in the UK and us as well. travel is very, very, very trendy as well, but I'd say telehealth ⁓ and, virtual is on the rise. are seeing many, many unicorns that we're working with now. that are growing incredibly because there's so many appointments and issues that people don't want to be going to in person for that they'd prefer to have it done virtually. And that is where Newton is excelling at the moment as well. Gina Gibson: Excellent, thank you for noting that because I'm sure there are a lot of people listening that are in that health care sector and is great to know. Are any emerging trends other than the telehealth that you were talking about that you're particularly excited for or preparing for? Bryce Cressy: use of voice AI as well as, real voice translation is certainly that we're looking into. we were recently developed our own, as I said, for our own outbound voice AI agent called Zoe. That if anyone listening to this was at CCW Vegas and you may have come past our booth and had a demo of, ⁓ Zoe, let us know what you think. we thought it was very popular, and very specific use case of. being very good at collections, payments, information gathering. then having as the base language and having the ability to communicate across the globe digitally ⁓ over phone through voice translation solutions is also on the rise. And we've seen a lot of German interest, a lot of French interest, a lot of Spanish interest, because we already that energetic, empathetic agent in South Africa. at a significantly lower cost than you will be getting onshore UK and US. Layering that agent on with next generation technology is, think, going to be the future. Gina Gibson: Absolutely, and it's funny, I have a couple of clients in South Africa and what I didn't know is that there's almost as many dialects, different dialects in South Africa as there is in the Indian language. And so, you know, it was kind of interesting to learn that. To wrap up today, Bryce, I've always been a fan of James Lipton. And so we end the podcast with three little rapid fire questions. So what is your favorite word? Bryce Cressy: innovation right now. Gina Gibson: Innovation, love it. And what is your least favorite word? Bryce Cressy: Basic. Gina Gibson: what excites you the most? Bryce Cressy: people and and doing things differently to how we did them before. Gina Gibson: And Bryce, if somebody wants more information on Newton, who should they reach out to? Bryce Cressy: free to reach out to me, Bryce Cressey on LinkedIn or BryceC at Newton.com. But also feel free reach out to Gina. She knows our business in and out and I'm sure she is more than happy to help you along your way. Gina Gibson: Wonderful, Bryce. Thank you so much for joining us today and for sharing all the wonderful work and innovation that Newton is doing and bringing to the BPO space. a great day. Bryce Cressy: Thank you, Gina.