Content Library

Heading out of the office this holiday to grab some eggnog and enjoy the lights? While so many of us are off celebrating the festive season for days at a time, there are scores of people on the frontlines working to keep everything running smoothly in industries ranging from health care, to transportation, to broadcasting […]

As the holiday season unfolds, we wanted to share the amazing words of gratitude that flow every day from our clients’ customers to our agents.  Below you’ll find the best customer service kudos of 2019 (so far!) with quotes directly from the mouths of customers we interact with. MVP Agent. MVP Customer Kudos. This is […]

Quick, is Gen Z old enough to work yet? No checking Wikipedia… Answer: Yes. While there is a bit of a gray area between where exactly Millennials stop and Gen Z starts, demographers pretty much agree that the starting birth years for Gen Z are in the late 90s. So, with the oldest of the […]

Quick, how many services or memberships do you subscribe to? One? Two? Twenty? You know your wallet is stuffed with membership cards (roadside assistance, your local gym, and Costco) and your front porch welcomes monthly subscription boxes (Blue Apron, Trunk Club, and Honest Essentials), while your go-to entertainment is no longer cable TV but subscription-based […]

The oldest Millennials are now hitting their late 30s (gulp… really?) They make up more than 30% of the workforce with a cohort that consists of 75 million people. What does that mean for outsourced contact center employers? In our opinion, it means we better be doing a good job setting up an employment experience […]

If you have a business, you have customers – otherwise, you won’t stay in business very long. And if you have customers, they will inevitably need support. And that costs money. This leads some businesses to think of customer support as a necessary evil, something you’d rather not have to deal with but can’t avoid. […]

  For many organizations, in-house customer care feels like the right choice. It keeps you close to your customers and ready to serve them with your comprehensive knowledge of your products or services. But doing it all in-house also comes with its pain points, and, if customer care is looked at internally as just a […]

  Let’s start with our obvious bias: we are a small player in the global outsourcing industry. So, while you’re thinking that this is just going to be a promo piece saying boutique is better than the big guy, hear us out. Our position is: one size does not fit all when it comes to […]

The concept of ESG has had its place in the business world for a couple of decades, but it is only recently that it has become mainstream. One of the more complex aspects of upholding the standards a company values is ensuring its vendors are similarly committed. This holds especially true in the world of […]

Love them or hate them, in business, as in life, transitions are inevitable. On the Blue Ocean blog, we talk a lot about the process of sourcing a strategic partner for your outsourced customer care program. Usually, we focus on the buying cycle or key decision-making elements to consider, but the fact is, choosing your […]

The concept of ESG has had its place in the business world for a couple of decades, but it is only recently that it has become mainstream. One of the more complex aspects of upholding the standards a company values is ensuring its vendors are similarly committed. This holds especially true in the world of […]

It’s human nature to focus on the red flags that pop up when you’re deep into the customer support RFP process. But knowing what a green flag looks like is just as critical. Here are a few green flag markers that help indicate that you’ve found the best-fit outsourced customer care partner.   If you’ve […]

(This is updated version of our most popular blogs: 52 RFP Questions (2013), 51 RFP Questions (2016), 60 RFP Questions (2020)) Every few years we update our recommended list of contact center RFP Questions. With every evolution in technology, workforce trends, and consumer expectations, the questions shift—which is testament to why generic, boilerplate RFPs never […]

The first mainstream mention of ESG as a concept came from the United Nations in 2004 in their report titled “Who Cares Wins.” The report urged stakeholders to consider environmental, social, and governance factors in their financial processes and investments. Simultaneously, worldwide attention on issues of sustainability and diversity began to take off and haven’t […]

The RFP is the slog you need that 3rd cup of coffee to get through—especially when it’s an RFP for outsourced customer care. After all, we’re talking about a complex, customer-facing solution that needs to align seamlessly with your brand. In our experience, technology, attrition, and business continuity are the hot three areas of any […]

What if you could learn about a new technology just by directly asking it questions? That’s not always an option, but in the case of ChatGPT, the AI chatbot taking the world by storm, it made all the sense in the world. So with this concept in mind, we decided to approximate a podcast interview […]

  For all the grief, losses, and setbacks the pandemic unleashed, there is a general consensus that it also sparked a revolution on the technical front. The adoption rate of new and evolving technologies accelerated at unseen speeds—resulting in 10 years’ worth of change within a mere 10 months. Contact center technologies are certainly in […]

You’ve got your game face on. You’re prepared for the future of customer service. And you’re ready for your outsourced customer service RFP to hit the road and bring you some stellar options for a new contact center partner. But are you asking the right questions about artificial intelligence? While AI capabilities in the contact […]

Did you know that 32% of customers worldwide will quit doing business with a brand – even if they love it – because of just one bad experience? This statistic from a PwC survey is an eye-opener for any organization that interfaces with customers on a regular basis. But what constitutes a bad experience? Although […]

Say hello to the future: the robots are right here. Artificial intelligence is flipping all kinds of traditional business models on their heads. In the customer support space, AI is changing the customer experience for better or for worse depending on the elegance of your deployment. And the new world of AI is creating out-of-this-world […]

If you have a business, you have customers – otherwise, you won’t stay in business very long. And if you have customers, they will inevitably need support. And that costs money. This leads some businesses to think of customer support as a necessary evil, something you’d rather not have to deal with but can’t avoid. […]

Customer experience strategy has been the star of the show in recent years as a differentiator in standout customer care programs. But it’s only one piece of the puzzle. We explore the introduction of total experience strategy, where CX converges with EX, UX, and MX. The fact that silos are the enemy of business success […]

Brand loyalty is a reflection of a customer’s commitment to a relationship with a given retailer or service provider. But, of course, the current era of disruption is changing everything about all our relationships. The way we interact with people and brands has changed—and consumer spending priorities have evolved just as fast.  Read on to […]

  The contact center is ever evolving to meet the shifting expectations and habits of today’s customers. That’s why we like to regularly tune in to experts from the world of customer experience to find out what’s new. We checked in with some of the top thought leaders for their most recent thoughts about customer […]

Our podcast team had the pleasure of sitting down with Sean Mohammed, Senior Manager of HR and leader of Blue Ocean’s Diversity, Equity, and Belonging Initiatives. With Pride Month in full swing around the world, this the perfect time to explore how companies in the customer experience industry are creating inclusive workplaces and fostering a […]

In the outsourced call center world, we measure everything in terms of percentages: minutes and seconds, dollars and cents. Measuring deep into the trenches of the contact center is an absolute must. The math provides us with insights on how to improve the customer experience and gain greater value for the client.  We’re constantly asking […]

  Call volume forecasts are inarguably an essential tool in the successful delivery of customer care excellence. Your program’s forecast is the map that tells you where to go based on where you’ve been. Without it, you’re lost at sea. With it, you’re one significant step closer to delivering an exceptional customer experience. But customer […]

  What do mattress sales, wildlife populations, and peak customer service times all have in common? These seemingly random data points have all been impacted by COVID-19. Mattress sales have skyrocketed thanks to people spending more time at home—and discovering new sleep challenges as a result of the pandemic. Meanwhile, wild animals are appearing during […]

  We believe that every outsourcer should earn your business by delivering value day in and day out whether your relationship with them is in its first year or its 20th year. After all, continual improvement and striving to evolve are the hallmarks of long-term success. Great companies are regularly assessing the ongoing value of […]

If enhancing your customer experience is a strategic priority over the next 12 months, you might be looking at putting out a contact center RFP or RFI early in the new year. Because the partnership you have with a contact center is core to your customers’ journey with you, it’s a relationship that matters more […]