Effective project setup is essential for establishing a robust, successful, and scalable operation. This is fundamental to the service we deliver for our clients today. Our 16 years of experience in contact center transition and setup spans the globe. Our dedicated and highly experienced project management team has worked across multiple locations from North America to South Africa and China.

Despite a vast mix of locations and cultures, Percepta’s project management philosophy has been used consistently across each setup, from initial scoping and project plan creation to implementation and launch. We know it works.

Our highly trained and skilled team faces a fresh set of challenges for each project. Still, it works tirelessly with our clients to ensure a smooth implementation process and a seamless transition to “business as usual” operations.

Percepta has helped to launch projects for our clients across five continents.

Setting up an ASEAN Center of Excellence

In 2012, our Project Management Team launched the ASEAN Customer Relationship Center (CRC), developed to support customers in Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia on behalf of our volume automotive client.

We had to overcome several key challenges when centralizing the CRC, including recruiting in four different languages and ensuring all local country employment laws and legislations were adhered to. Our objective, despite the challenges, was to complete a smooth, controlled transition of each market’s business into the new center.

Initial Scoping and Development of a Transition Plan

In preparation for the project, our Percepta project management team undertook a detailed scoping exercise to evaluate the existing operational structures, processes, and IT systems and highlight any operational challenges that lay ahead. Based on the findings, a refined proposal and robust transition plan were prepared to ensure the implementation maintained the continuity of service and met key client objectives.

Project Kick-Off

We initiated the project with a formal kick-off meeting, bringing together the Percepta team, project sponsors, and the client’s key stakeholders. As with every Percepta project, we were careful to record all team responsibilities, dependencies, and milestones for future review.

For the ASEAN project, it was agreed that steering group reviews and key functional workstream meetings would be set up to update the team on the plan’s progress and focus on deliverables from the functional areas, including HR, IT, and Operations.

Transition and Launch

To ensure launch success, it was agreed that each of the four markets would transition individually in a controlled manner to the new center. This would include recruitment of the new team, IT deployment, and training design and delivery. We had to ensure that we considered language and culture differences for each market.

Recruitment, for example, was carried out in both English and then in the local language to ensure that there were no misunderstandings.

Following the launch of the first market, a period of post-implementation monitoring was completed to ensure the market was stable. This was repeated in line with the plan until the whole transition was complete, and all four markets were together in the center. Following a review of each market to ensure setup was a success, the project was officially completed, and our project management team was ready to hand the Center of Excellence over to the Operations team.

Final Post Implementation and Project Evaluation

During this transition to ‘business as usual, all operational KPIs and SLAs were monitored to ensure a steady operation. We concluded the project with an ‘invaluable lessons learned’ session to identify any critical areas of improvement.

Overall, the implementation and launch of the ASEAN CRC were considered a complete success – and as it stands today, it is one of the highest performing areas across our client’s business!

Our ASEAN CRC continues to be one of the highest performing Customer Relationship Centers for our global automotive client.