Diana Monterrubio

For businesses, the customer is king, and communication is key. Each and every customer is precious to a company, and that necessitates that customer interaction with the company is good as possible. It is, as the slogan of Teleperformance says, ‘every interaction matters.’

Teleperformance is a worldwide leader in outsourced omnichannel customer experience management. By offering customer assistance, technical help, customer acquisition, digital solutions, analytics, back-office, and other specialized services to guarantee constantly great customer encounters, it connects the biggest and most reputable brands on the planet with their customers.

Its Procurement Worldwide Strategic Director , Diana Monterrubio , is responsible for managing global negotiations for all Teleperformance Regions and overseeing procurement standards from a global standpoint. She communicates with the legal division on global agreements for hardware, software, networking, voice, and other types of technology. In order to help local buyers and CIOs fulfill deadlines for international projects, she also looks at operational demands as reported by country or regional CIOs.

In an exclusive interview with CIOLook , Diana shares her insights into the changing dynamic landscape of the Procurement industry.

Below are the highlights of the interview:

Communicating to Make the World Better

Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at your company. What challenges have you had to overcome to reach where you are today?

I started in Teleperformance, taking customer service calls as an agent. Growing up in this company has always been a challenge, but it has been a great school for me. Thanks to that, I understand the importance of understanding your business and how it operates.

Tell us something more about your company and its mission and vision.

Each interaction matters, and Teleperformance is committed to making everyone feel heard.

Enlighten us on how you have impacted the procurement niche through your expertise in the market.

I believe the market has impacted me. It has changed so much in the last few years that it is amazing. Three years ago, the world changed, and then, it changed again. Keeping up with it has given me the ability to problem solve better and feel confident when negotiating with my clients.

Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.

I believe I can summarize those. We provide a great workplace that is diverse, equal, and inclusive. We strive for a code and policies that align with the United Nations Global Compact principles.

Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?

Data visualization and standardization are key to achieving automation, especially in the BPO business. We are starting to see a huge tendency toward cloud migration to make info accessible and easier to reach. However, this can only be achieved in a safe matter with the correct cybersecurity improvements, like firewalls and reliable VPNs. Data is key, but how we access and protect it is the best way to leverage technology.

What change would you like to bring to your industry if given a chance?

As data is a big part of daily business, so is communication. I know this is a struggle that all global companies have, but improving communication and our channels for it is key to improving all human interactions.

What, according to you, could be the next significant change in the procurement sector? How is your company preparing to be a part of that change?

Change is not going away in this virtual era. However, the current work environment brings unique challenges. I do believe that Procurement leads to crisis recovery efforts. In the past, we have tackled crises with strategies to recover from financial effects. Now we are dealing with a changed world with high levels of inflation, where we need to be creative and preserve resources as we strive to maintain prices and contracts. In my case, I must mention the shortages that were created by the volatile demand in the tech sector, so anticipating our needs and forecasting is key to navigating the current global situation.

Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for your company?

I believe in the tech sector. I am going to be surprised over and over by how the market changes and adapts to our needs. My goal is to navigate these waters in the best possible way.

What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the procurement sector?

Make a plan and think of what is important to you and how you can use that for your own business. Once you have a plan, the market will change it, model it and complement it. Prepare yourself to learn and to keep on making changes to the original plan, but always remember who you were when you planned it.

Technology today is evolving at a rapid pace, enabling faster change and progress, causing an acceleration of the rate of change. However, it is not only technology trends and emerging technologies that are evolving, a lot more has changed this year due to the outbreak of COVID-19 making business leaders realize the importance of the contactless world tomorrow. Futuristic leaders are constantly learning, unlearning, and relearning the evolving technologies.

Data Science

Datafication or data management has been transforming several aspects into devices or software powered by data. The modification of human activities and tasks into data-driven technology. From our smartphones, industrial machines, and office applications to AI-powered appliances and everything else, is all is recorded in the form of data. The data is analysed and processed for various inferences to help in business decisions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning ((ML)

Artificial intelligence will become more prevalent in 2023 with natural language processing and machine learning advancement. Artificial intelligence can better understand us and perform more complex tasks using this technology. AI is already known for its superiority in image and speech recognition, navigation apps, smartphone personal assistants, ride-sharing apps and so much more. AI will be used further to analyse interactions to determine underlying connections and insights, to help predict demand for services like hospitals enabling authorities to make better decisions about resource utilization and to detect the changing patterns of customer behaviour by analysing data in near real-time, driving revenues and enhancing personalized experiences.

3D Printing

3D printing is a key trend in innovation and technology used to formulate prototypes. This technology has been impactful in the biomedical and industrial sectors. Printing a real object from a printer is a reality. 3D printing is another innovation that’s going to be a big enhancer. Companies in the data and healthcare sector that require a lot of 3D printing for their products, offer increasing opportunities for innovation and product research.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA is the modern software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate human actions interacting with digital systems and software. Similar to people, software robots can do things like comprehending the displayed data and graphics, navigating through the systems, reading, identifying, and extracting data, analysing the data and providing specific conclusions, and performing a wide range of defined actions. The best part of the RPA is software robots can do it faster and more consistently than people, without taking tea or lunch breaks.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality(AR)

Virtual reality and Augmented reality have exciting potential in the future of gaming, marketing, ecommerce, education, and many other fields. Both technologies are known for their enriched experience that brings together a virtual world and the real one with enhanced, 3-D visuals in a comprehensive digital environment. The technology has enabled people in applying visualization skills in creating a virtual world that allows the users to experience participation through their complete journey in the dynamic world.

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology comprises a distributed database or ledger that is shared among the nodes of a computer network. The database is stored in the blockchain electronically in digital format. Blockchains became known for their role in cryptocurrency systems, such as Bitcoin, for maintaining a secure and decentralized record of transactions. The innovation of a blockchain is that it guarantees the fidelity and security of recorded data and generates trust without the need for trusted third-party support.

A blockchain collects information together in groups, known as blocks, that hold sets of information. These blocks have certain storage capacities and, when filled, are closed and linked to the previously filled block, forming a chain of data known as the blockchain. All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled. The structure is very micro-knit and complex in its interconnected level, making it complicated in the broader perspective and thus securing it completely forming the best fortification.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of things (IoT) comprises physical objects with sensors, processing ability, software, and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications networks. Internet of things has been considered a misnomer because devices connect with each other without having to connect to the public internet, they only need to be connected to a network, and be individually addressable.

The realization of having smart homes and smart offices has been made possible by the sensor-mounted devices that sense and analyse the presence of the number of people in the room and switch ON the lights and the air conditioning system and regulate the temperature. Similarly, with the departure of the last member, all the electrical appliances are switched off thereby saving huge amounts of energy and costs.