The challenge

A UK-based unicorn fintech company with a wide range of banking services prided itself on fast responses and excellent customer support. The company’s services were largely conducted via a mobile app and when customer volume began to outpace its inhouse team, the company needed an experienced and trusted partner to supplement its 200-strong customer support team. It wanted a partner that could support its in-app chat functionality, comply with strict industry regulations, and consistently deliver a superior customer experience.

Our solution

TTEC was engaged to support conversations with personal and business banking customers in addition to overseeing Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Know-Your-Bank (KYB) operations. To meet this need, in fewer than six months we established a team of several hundred multilingual teammates to deliver consistent in-app chat support across multiple lines of business and time zones.

Starting with English support, as the fintech company expanded in multiple geographies, we quickly expanded to teammates providing retail support in German, French, Italian, and Spanish from contact centers in Bulgaria, Greece, Mexico, and the Philippines. As the partnership developed, we have delivered scalable, agile, proactive support in multiple ways:

• At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, TTEC swiftly ramped down to continue delivering excellent customer support without incurring unnecessary overhead costs for the client. And when demand began to increase a few months later, we quickly ramped back up.
• We prioritized our teammates’ safety and well-being during these uncertain times. We quickly mobilized teammates to work from home and provided them with the tools and resources to continue feeling connected to their fellow teammates and team leads.
• In addition to customer enquiries, as the client’s needs grew, TTEC provided Identity Verification and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks to prevent and mitigate fraud, in addition to KYC and KYB services.
• In 2021, TTEC assisted in launching additional chat-based fraud screening services for the client’s retail and corporate banking lines of business, such as reviewing fraud alerts, verifying the identity of customers, and offboarding customer accounts that have violated the client’s terms and conditions.
• While the core service was defined by rigorous performance measures, at weekly Business Reporting sessions with the client, TTEC proactively provided feedback on friction points that affect the customers the most, drivers for positive/negative effects on CSAT scores and offered proactive solutions to optimize workflows and reduce customer pain points.
• The demands of the financial regulatory oversight placed particular emphasis on the quality of training, and TTEC ensured all teammates were fully equipped for their role, such as by providing regular data privacy and fraud training in collaboration with the client.
• TTEC also operated a team mentoring performance model. This ensured performance was measured by team, rather than individual results, which incentivized team members to assist each other in delivering an excellent experience for customers.

The results

TTEC’s expertise, training and agility were fundamental in allowing the fintech firm to scale its customer support up or down as needed in multiple languages, ensuring that customers consistently received excellent service across multiple lines of business.

We achieved a +20% increase in CSAT score in under 6 months and were recognized as the fintech firm’s top vendor partner. And based on a scorecard that the client created in 2021, at a 105% average, we consistently exceeded the client’s capacity attainment KPI (e.g., monthly requests for additional teammates who speak various languages).

What’s more, TTEC is its longest-running partner providing customer support to date.

Working alongside the client’s internal teams, TTEC drove the enterprise forward with best practices and initiatives that were focused on improving four key pillars of our joint success: process, policy, technology, and people optimization opportunities

The relationship is developing all the time and the transparency of communications and performance measurements is helping both partners to understand the challenges and opportunities as the client extends its global reach. TTEC is helping to define what success looks like and to work hand in hand, as true partners do, to provide a forward-looking roadmap that ensures the fintech firm’s operations are best in class at all time.