MERCHANTS: MAKING DIGITAL HUMAN

MERCHANTS MAKING DIGITAL HUMAN

WHO WE ARE

Merchants is a leading customer management partner specialising in business process outsourcing (BPO) that delivers customer experience and customer interactions.

We have been creating and managing contact centre operations around the world to blue-chip clients since 1981. Our services and solutions are built on tried and trusted models, systems and processes that are based on best-practice standards in the contact centre industry.

We are passionate about people. Our ability to attract the best talent, coupled with our rich history of success and innovation across different industries around the world, is what differentiates us from our competitors.

SOURCING SOLUTIONS

Merchants offers a full range of sourcing solutions ranging from facilities and IT infrastructure support through to full-service Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), services with a strong IT infrastructure underpin.

Our operations range from inbound customer service to outbound sales, delivering business-to-business, or direct-to-end customer, alongside back-office processing. Currently Merchants employs over 4 000 staff members worldwide, supporting our diverse range of services and clients.

Our industry coverage includes Telecoms, Insurance, Government, Banking, Airlines, Retail and Internet Service Providers, both domestic and international. Merchants has the distinction of being recognised by winning the Frost & Sullivan Award for BPO Operator of the year in South Africa.

CORE BELIEFS

• People matter.

• Utilise technology to create the right experiences for people.

VALUES

• Be curious, be courageous.

• Be different, be humble.

• Be human

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Always do the right thing.

• Be nimble and disciplined: We always plan for the complicated. We respond dynamically to the complex.

• Be relentless: We deliver. Always.

• Our communities are our people: We have a duty to enrich and empower our people and communities.

• Learn fast: Make mistakes. Then learn, iterate, change and succeed.

• Earn the right: Have hard conversations. Provide feedback. Lead.

• Be deliberate and decisive: We meet less, collaborate more and achieve together.

• Know who we serve: We passionately believe in creating a culture of service.

ACCREDITATIONS

• Retained Level 1 B-BBEE rating for 2020/2021 financial period

• The first company in the Southern Hemisphere to be accredited with the Impact Sourcing Standard by the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition

• South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) accredited

• Top Employer South Africa Award (2020)

• Business Process Enabling South Africa (BPESA) GBS Awards (2019)

OUR COMMUNITIES ARE OUR PEOPLE

Merchants was part of the founding team and partner member of Global Impact Sourcing Coalition team that designed, tested and implemented the Global Impact Sourcing Standard and became the first Southern hemisphere-based organisation to gain accreditation that promotes and applies the impact sourcing principles in our workforce through our people practices.

The Standard promotes inclusive hiring practices that target individuals who are vulnerable or disadvantaged due to their experience of being long-term unemployed or living under the national poverty line. This broad definition for job candidates and employees benefiting from Impact Sourcing (“Impact Workers”) enables

Impact Sourcing service providers to be flexible and to adapt their inclusive hiring initiatives to the unique demographics and priorities of the regions in which they are operating.

SISEKHAYA (WORKING REMOTELY IN THE OFFICE)

At Merchants, we truly want to be a game changer in the outsourcing world and bring job opportunities to communities across South Africa, our remote Sisekhaya solution will help to build sustainable cities and communities across our country.

Rather than draining talent away from once-thriving communities, our aim is to pioneer the migration of job opportunities to rural areas. Through socio-economic development, technology and improved connectivity, Sisekhaya will bring the benefits of work to people’s hometowns.

Sisekhaya meaning “we are home” in Zulu, is the development of an initiative launched by the Good Work Foundation and Village Up, Merchants are proud to join this partnership to deliver significant value by building Contact Centre operations within the regional communities of our people.

WORKING FROM HOME (“EKHAYA”)

Ekhaya, meaning “home” in Zulu, is Merchants answer to the Work from Home model, unlike many providers Merchants has taken an approach focused on quality and sustainability which has resulted in significant development to ensure we provide mitigation for the following key risks:

Connectivity

– Merchants, as part of the wider Dimension Data/NTT group of companies, has a significant advantage and has utilised the group’s excellence in this area to develop this component of the model.

Stability and Continuity

– As part of Merchants Ekhaya solution each employee receives UPS batteries, alternate devices and significant support to minimise the risk of any disruption.

Recruitment

– Merchants digital recruitment platform MyCalling with its leading behavioural baselining and analysis tools have been utilised to build the optimum profiles to ensure increased success.

Training

– Merchants provides specific and bespoke training programs to all its clients, these programmes engage both online, face to face and remote training.

Coaching and Development

– Delivered using benchmark online training methodology, Merchants develops coaching programs that can be tailored to both individual or larger groups and focus on an interactive learning experience.

Merchants is also investing in the development of gamification into its remote training which will continue to see the remote coaching programme develop and enhance its effectiveness.

Communication

– Merchants use multiple methods of communication tools including more commonly used tools such as Teams, Slack, Highfive and Zoom. Merchants will either adopt the preferred tool of our clients or provide a recommendation to be used across the partnership to ensure ease of collaboration and information sharing.

Employee welfare

– Merchants provide an “office in a box” solution for all members of the WFH solution, this includes ergonomic chairs, OHS certified desks and other regular office items that ensure our people’s safety and welfare is maintained regardless of the environment they operate in.

BPO SERVICES

The advent of cloud and multichannel solutions has transformed the contact centre into a complex hub of inbound and outbound communication. And, with the accelerating pace of technological change, customers have become savvier and want to communicate with companies in the manner of their choosing and at the time of their choosing.

Merchants believes that the ability to seamlessly integrate voice and digital channels, and more importantly to understand when digital interactions need to become human ones, is key to the success of any modern contact centre.

In line with this, we offer a full range of BPO solutions including functional, infrastructure and security, and support services. Our services and solutions are built on tried and trusted models, systems and processes that are based on best-practice standards in the contact centre industry. We consider ourselves experts in creating and delivering end-to-end BPO solutions that are aligned to our client’s brand and specific business needs.

FUNCTIONAL SOLUTIONS

• Customer Service

• Retentions

• Sales

• Back Office

• IT Service Desk

• Card Services

INFRASTRUCTURE & SECURITY

• Technology

• Connectivity

• Facilities

• Business Continuity

• Integration

• Security

SUPPORT SOLUTIONS

• WFM

• Quality

• Analytics

• Recruitment Support

Company DetailsAddress: 57 Sloane Street, Bryanston, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 202

Tel: +27 11 575 2000

Website:merchantscx.com

Social Media: Facebook:@merchantsdimensiondata |Instagram: @merchantscx | Linkedin:Merchants | Twitter: @CCMerchBPO