GBS WORLD NEWS | WEEK 4 | APRIL 2022

The week commenced with the acquisition of a Croatian-based provider of outsourced specialized services, heloo, by TaskUs, a global leader in outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience (CX). heloo delivers digital CX solutions to European technology companies, particularly in the e-commerce and gaming vertical industries. The acquisition forms part of TaskUs’ strategy to expand its European language capabilities, as heloo’s employees speak 20 languages across seven additional Eastern European countries, including Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia. Exciting developments are underway to position Uganda as an African innovation powerhouse, particularly in the delivery of business process outsourcing (BPO) services, guided by the country’s Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. Plans to create an enabling business environment that fosters innovation was unveiled during the Dubai Expo 2022. Uganda’s ministry officials showcased the country’s BPO capabilities, along with local BPO executives, including Xente, PRISMS, Emvigo Technologies and Badaye Technologies. An interesting rebranding move occurred in the US city of Nashville, where CX solutions provider, VHT, has renamed itself Mindful. Aligning with its philosophy for how enterprise brands should treat people, Mindful focuses on dispensing benefits not only to the customer but also to all its stakeholder segments, including agents, employees, contact centers and brands, a business strategy known as Total Experience (TX). The first and only streaming bundle is now available in Canada through Telus’ Stream+. The premium streaming bundle combines Netflix Premium plan, Apple TV+, and discovery+ on one single bill for CA$25 per month, which existing TELUS Mobility customers now have access to. The product launch came after a report commissioned by Telus, which found almost half of Canadians use three or more streaming platforms and, to save money, 90% would bundle streaming services together if they could. South Korea’s largest telecom firm, KT Corporation, has announced the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) kiosks in its customer service channels. This new service, which will be called Giga Gini AI Human, will communicate with humans in real-time. Enabling this exciting initiative is KT’s confirmed partnership with Deep Brain AI, a specialist in developing visual AI technologies. Some analysts speculate that KT is trying to pass the Turing Test through its Giga Gini AI Human service. Over 93% of international buyers used online sourcing platforms since the dawn of the pandemic, according to a new survey commissioned by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). Of the surveyed international buyers, 85% of them stated they attended virtual fairs to source their products/services. However, most buyers pointed out that they would prefer to attend physical fairs (63%) or hybrid fairs (59%).