IN TDCX chief executive and founder Laurent Junique's eyes, communication skills are critical for new hires of the company.
"Whether it's written or spoken, (communication) is going to be a super important skill, and we have a variety of ways of testing this," he said.
Since it was founded as a call-centre-focused business in 1995, TDCX has constantly looked to leverage its strength in communication across different verticals. It currently has 3 core verticals: omnichannel customer experience, sales and digital marketing, and content monitoring and moderation.
In particular, Junique believes the company has great growth potential in the sales and digital marketing segment.
On top of the analytics that TDCX reviews to help its clients improve their customer service experience strategies, the company is increasingly offering sales services as well.
"If we're providing customer support, we will also provide a service to sales model. That takes advantage of the possibility that we get an inquiry and provide that support as efficiently as we can, and then we will help them to cross-sell or increase their revenue," he said.
GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Junique added that amid the current macroeconomic climate, it would make more sense for clients to be able to turn customer service, which is generally seen as a cost to them, into a revenue-generating part of their businesses.
This focus on generating sales through service for clients has borne some fruit.
Net profit grew 19.6 per cent to US$19.3 million year on year for the second quarter of FY22, while revenue grew 23.3 per cent to US$116.6 million over the same period.
Revenues from its sales and digital marketing services segment saw the strongest growth, rising by 54 per cent to S$39.1 million in the second quarter. Meanwhile, its omnichannel customer experience solutions segment saw revenue climb 19.1 per cent to S$95.3 million.
"The first thing I've seen over the years is that in times of crisis, clients take steps to reduce their costs, but also compensate for the slowdown with a more aggressive stance around sales," he said.
Because of this, companies tend to look to outsource their customer service while also putting more resources into sales. In one fell swoop, Junique hopes to meet both demands simultaneously while improving the company's margins.
Furthermore, he observed that businesses tend to pay attention to their largest accounts, whereas their smaller accounts may not be adequately served by a smaller sales force.
In such cases, TDCX can make use of its experience to hire people who may have had sales experience and get them up to speed through their training to serve these businesses. The company can also evaluate businesses' existing advertising campaigns and make them more efficient to increase their reach and commit more capital into digital advertising.
With inflationary pressures and rising staff costs, the company has had to deal with largely the same challenges in growing and retaining its workforce as other firms.
However, the company also retains an established recruitment structure in Asia. It has job listings on 33 job boards and hires about 200 recruiters across the region who speak the language in their locales.
TDCX takes advantage of artificial intelligence software to help it quickly identify and make offers to the right candidates in an increasingly competitive job market.
Once new employees are brought on board, they are put on 1 to 3 months of training to help them pick up the soft skills they need for their roles. Training materials are accessible at any time through their digital learning platform as well.
"We have a knowledge base that we leverage to capture all the information you need to be up to date because information evolves a lot," Junique said, adding that it is delivered in a variety of languages too.
Its persistence and savviness in internationalisation, despite being in the competitive world of digital customer experience solutions, led it to win The Enterprise Award at the Singapore Business Awards this year.
Today, the company has more than 17,000 employees around the world supporting clients in more than 30 languages in 11 countries and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company was also ranked No. 15 at the Singapore Best Workplaces Summit under the medium and large category for companies with more than 100 employees.
Keyword added to your list