GBS WORLD NEWS | WEEK 3 | SEPTEMBER 2023

The global IT and business consulting services giant, CGI, and the multinational convenience-store chain, Alimentation Couche-Tard, have announced a 10-year strategic partnership. The partnership between the two Canadian-based organizations, valued at C$380 million, will see the global convenience store making use of CGI’s managed IT services to advance its customer and employee experiences and accelerate its modernization goals.

Another multi-million dollar announcement was released this week by the digital customer experience (CX) outsourcing company, Ibex, headquartered in Washington, D.C. The company has commenced a stock repurchase program, expecting to repurchase up to US$30 million of its shares over the next six months. This decision stems from the Board’s confidence in the company and its beliefs that the market value does not accurately reflect the company’s value.

In global AI news, workforce performance company Calabrio has released its annual contact center market analysis report. The results of the study highlight AI’s role in supporting agent success but cautions that contact centers need to provide upskilling opportunities for agents to meet the demands of an “AI-fueled future.”

Also in AI news, Microsoft – the multinational technology corporation headquartered in Washington State – has experienced what might be the biggest leak in the company’s history. Following a leak earlier in the week in its Xbox gaming division – which mistakenly provided inside intel and a roadmap for the gaming giant’s plans – the company’s AI research team has also announced that approximately 38TB of private company data was leaked through a compromised Azure link. This data includes backups of employee computer data, including passwords and over 30,000 internal team messages.

Over in Africa, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is considering outsourcing its call center services. In a recently released tender documentation, the agency has noted that its in-house contact center has been struggling to manage its volume of calls and is worried about its reputational risk. It also hopes to address needs such as chatbots, AI, and natural-language processing to establish a digital CX strategy, which it currently is unable to offer in-house.

In India, the Guwahati Police have performed a series of raids on illegal call centers, detaining 250 individuals involved in scams. The scammers are said to have posed as tech support staff. They were able to gain remote access to victims’ devices and claimed that bank account and personal information were compromised in order to coerce victims into making digital payments. The raids took place across eight different locations in the city and were discovered to have international connections to gangs around the world.