- Alorica appointed Mike Clifton and Max Schwendner as Co-CEOs to lead the company’s aggressive digital pivot, focusing on integrating next-gen technology like AI to enhance customer experience (CX) services.
- They plan to build a partnership ecosystem and retool marketing and sales for greater client intimacy and outcome-based pricing, maintaining a nimble delivery network across 19 countries.
- Despite the digital push, Alorica emphasises the need for human-centric support for complex interactions, aiming to transform into a tech-first company while expanding its development and process improvement teams.
In May, Alorica announced the appointment of Mike Clifton and Max Schwendner as Co-Chief Executive Officers. Previously, Mike served as the company’s Chief Growth and Transformation Officer, while Max held the positions of President of Business Services and Chief Financial Officer. Their combined leadership marks a strategic shift for Alorica as it navigates significant changes in the customer experience (CX) services market.
Navigating industry transformation with dual leadership
The CX services market is experiencing substantial transformation with the rise of GenAI, driving automation across the sector. BPO players face pressures from rising global labor costs, lower volumes in core sectors, increased competition, and clients’ growing interest in leveraging GenAI to reduce live agent support. Alorica’s adoption of a co-CEO model, more commonly seen in tech giants like Oracle and SAP, positions the company to respond more agilely to these challenges. This leadership change aligns with broader industry restructuring, as seen with CEO transitions at firms like Konecta, iQor, Firstsource, Transcom, and others.
Aggressive digital pivot and technological integration
Under Mike and Max’s leadership, Alorica aims for an aggressive digital pivot, equipping the company with next-gen technology to implement AI-first conversations. As a private company, Alorica has the flexibility to make significant investments in this area. The co-CEOs plan to build an ecosystem of partnerships with platforms like Google CCAI, Genesys AI stack, OpenAI, and Crescendo, aiming to capture more CX technology implementation opportunities. This strategy includes a fully managed model with built-in automation and large language models (LLMs).
Alorica is also retooling its marketing, sales, and account structures to achieve greater client intimacy through go-to-market verticalisation. This involves outcome-based pricing integrated into a managed service platform model, encompassing voice and digital applications under a single transaction price. Convincing clients to adopt these new pricing constructs and understand the benefits of tech-enabled outcome-based delivery is a critical part of this strategy.
Maintaining human-centric support amid digital transformation
Despite the push towards AI and digital solutions, Alorica recognises the need for human-centric support in handling complex CX interactions. The company plans to maintain a nimble delivery footprint across 19 countries, focusing on long-term market demand. Alorica will continue its strategy of limited capital investments in multilingual hubs, instead leveraging a language portfolio delivery network with real-time machine translation and AI voice enhancement via Alorica ReVoLT. This approach allows Alorica to tap into talent pools and achieve cost efficiencies for clients.
Becoming a tech-first company
Alorica’s immediate roadmap includes embedding solutions from Alorica IQ labs in Bangalore and Mohali, India, across all centres through a federated services approach. This model facilitates faster client enablement and promotes a tech-first mindset within the company. Internally, Alorica is expanding its development and process improvement teams, focusing on AI collaboration and persona training. The goal is for Alorica IQ to become an expert in technology selection, particularly AI wrappers.
Additionally, Alorica plans to invest in the VC ecosystem to gain early access to emerging solutions and identify potential acquisition targets. The focus will be on expanding service lines, particularly in revenue generation and the existing cards and loans servicing practice.
These strategic investments and initiatives underscore the co-CEOs’ vision for Alorica to evolve from a managed services provider into a digital-first company, while maintaining its core strength in delivering exceptional CX services.
About Alorica
Alorica is a global leader in customer experience solutions, renowned for delivering exceptional service across a diverse array of industries. With a steadfast commitment to excellence, Alorica leverages cutting-edge technology, innovative processes, and a passionate workforce to create personalised, seamless interactions that enhance customer satisfaction. Headquartered in Irvine, California, and boasting a robust presence in over 14 countries, Alorica’s expansive reach and local expertise enable it to meet the unique needs of clients worldwide. From customer care and technical support to sales and collections, Alorica’s comprehensive suite of services is designed to drive growth, foster loyalty, and achieve measurable results. With a mission to make lives better, one interaction at a time, Alorica stands at the forefront of the customer service industry, transforming the way businesses connect with their customers.
