The secret to the professional success of Helena Guardans, the current president of Webhelp in Spain, is none other than her ability to adapt. Specifically, to new technologies that have successfully entered all areas of work to revolutionize. This 62-year-old Barcelona native studied at Esade and majored in international business and advertising at New York University. He has focused his career on customer service, an area that has become more technical over the years and has mainly gone from the phone to incorporating tools such as artificial intelligence (AI). guards He is currently a member of the board of directors of Fira Barcelona, a member of the board of trustees of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunta (UOC), the Sifu Foundation and Liceu, among other organizations. TravelPerk board member considered a unicorn for a year.
When asked why he dedicates himself to developing companies with a high-tech component, he says, “The concept is still marketing, giving the best service through people.” “They said that when the Internet comes out, I will be finished. But the work is not done, it is expanding. I include this in my work. The same thing happened when the first mobile phone came out, and then WhatsApp came out.”
Now history repeats itself with artificial intelligence-based chats. Welcome. idiots. The difference between a silly conversation and a conversation that doesn’t exist is the human team behind it,” he argues.
perfect service
Looking back, you remember the days when companies outsourced customer service to cut costs. “Customers didn’t matter, there were many. If they went, others would come.” But at some point, managers realized that “acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than making the customer you already have happy, and a happy customer also attracts others.”
Webhelp was acquired by Concentrix, which has a large presence in Asia, for 4,471 million euros.
The service continues to be outsourced, but now for another reason: Businesses have to face increasingly complex situations marked by digitization and globalization, so they decide to “dedicate themselves to doing what they know how to do well.” “They are looking for someone who can provide excellent service to the shoemaker’s shoes – he smiles”. guards now it does this via Webhelp. But already in 1984 he began to work in the United States as the head of the call center. He later returned to Barcelona, worked in advertising and founded Singular in 1994 for customer service. The number of the company, which started its operations in 2001 with a staff of 3, has reached 60. “We had to invest a lot in technology and innovation, we needed capital and someone to guide us in the technological space,” he details. . So Sellbytel bought most of them and they started operating in different European countries from Barcelona.
for the rest of the world
The company already had a team of 3,400 people. “We had coverage across Europe, but the rest of the world was lost,” he continues. “We needed to grow to cover as many markets as possible. Customers want one service provider that takes care of everything,” he says. So it was bought back by Webhelp in 2018. Under this umbrella, the multinational has billed €220m in Spain in 2022, 15 less than in 2021. And this year it inaugurated a 23,000 square meter headquarters in the 22@ district in Barcelona.
wait
The danger of waiting for the perfect moment to start a project may never come. “You don’t have to wait for everything to be in order because all of a sudden things go wrong and absolutely nothing happens,” he says. Helena’s GuardHe founded Singular in 1994. “I accidentally thought it was the ideal time since I don’t have children.” Months later she became pregnant and two years later her second child was born. “If I had them before, I probably wouldn’t have created it. But I had them and nothing happened.” And she encourages mothers to “find space to enrich themselves and take care of themselves, because if you give your all and you get nothing, you end up with nothing.”
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This is not the end. His story turns upside down again. Now, due to the merger with Concentrix, in an operation initially valued at $4,800 million (approximately €4,471 million), that figure will be finalized when Welphelp’s results are closed at the end of the year. “Increasing vigilance in this industry makes us better off.” They will also go public and be able to offer their clients worldwide coverage. “Concentrix is a huge powerhouse in Asia. On the other hand, we are not. There are too many markets to address and we don’t really step on each other.”
guards He hopes to remain as non-executive chairman of the company in Spain after being absorbed by Concentrix. But everything is in the air. Regardless, she plans to continue to “take a keen interest in women’s leadership issues” and to continue with nonprofits and companies that she thinks can “add a lot of value”.