Turning Customer Insights into Business Impact Through Cross-Functional Collaboration

In most industries, operating in silos is seen as the enemy, stalling growth and innovation. A recent study completed by Salesforce stated 70% of CX professionals view silo mentality as the biggest hurdle in designing great customer service. Cross-functional collaboration is a key pillar in my strategy as an account manager in the customer experience BPO industry, not only because it can provide insights for operational improvement, but it also allows BPOs to act as true strategic advisors to our clients.

An example I often reference is a few years ago, when I had an Insurtech client in my portfolio. This client saw a 28% improvement in CSAT scores after we initiated an in-depth cross-functional collaboration methodology. I know you know that it is no easy feat, but the results were undeniable.

Two important pieces to that story, and I think critical “ingredients” to that recipe for success, are coordination among the hiring team and cross-collaboration between Learning & Development, Operations, and Quality Assurance teams.

Starting with the hiring team…we all know in a call center environment, front-line employees are hired at scale every day. I’ve seen what happens when there is an established closed-loop feedback system and when there is not. I was thrilled when I was interviewing with Qualfon, and I learned how strong their Learning & Development team is because I know that it is so essential to a client’s success.

Next, it is critical that Learning & Development (L&D), Operations, and Quality Assurance (QA) teams are in sync. With QA looking at interactions and categorizing customer dissatisfaction reasons, Operations can use that information for more tailored performance management, and Training can use it to determine the most impactful up-training topics. Quality teams research and quantify the operational opportunities, Operations, then coaches front-line agents with critical insights, and Training teams are able to execute with precision and close knowledge gaps that lead to positive business outcomes.

Internal insights are great for empowering agents and improving metric performance. I’ve seen this firsthand with my clients and have witnessed the power it has to improve the overall customer journey. When QA, L&D, and Ops are aligned, we bridge the gap between tool navigation, empathy opportunities, and process enhancements in a way that focuses on what our data says is most important.

Again, I was encouraged by what I stepped into at Qualfon. I know I can’t set my clients up for success if the systems around me are siloed.

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is when we get to go beyond identifying call center best practices. Some of the solutions identified during closed-loop collaborations will be out of a BPO’s control and will require intervention from our clients & their CX leaders. Providing suggestions for improvement of mobile applications or CSAT survey distribution is not a typical function of an outsourcer, but this is what builds a foundation of trust for enterprise clients and provides value beyond just staffing and operations. As a CX BPO, we have a front row seat to hear what customers are struggling with, and we must be good stewards of that insight.

We didn’t improve CSAT scores significantly with just the basic coaching motions. Each of our functional teams dug into our findings, paired those findings with a deep understanding of our client’s business and their customer pain points. The outcome was a fully developed and data-driven recommendation to improve their customer care and call center operations. Going above and beyond operational data allowed us to be strategic advisors and to positively improve our clients’ holistic customer care strategy.

Kallyn Mai is a Director of Strategic Account Management at Qualfon, where she supports financial services, insurance, and healthcare clients in achieving their customer experience and business objectives. She serves as a bridge between clients and operational teams, driving performance improvements, strengthening customer satisfaction, and identifying opportunities for long-term growth.