Brazil’s contact center industry has grown rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many enterprises have partnered with service providers to better meet customer needs under social-distancing restrictions, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for Brazil finds many contact centers faced much higher demand with the onset of the pandemic as Brazilian consumers increased their use of e-commerce and delivery services or sought assistance with issues including health care and unemployment benefits.

“Successful contact center providers in Brazil have responded to diverse demands during the pandemic,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “While some providers were overwhelmed by the new business realities, those that were prepared expanded their client rosters into new industries.”

The COVID-19 crisis also pushed Brazilian contact centers to implement new technologies, including omnichannel services, cloud migration and artificial intelligence bots. A broad automation drive has made Brazil the world’s second-largest market for chatbot and voice bot deployments, the report says, citing industry research.

Following the rapid transition to working from home early in the pandemic, Brazilian contact centers are beginning to see the longer-term effects of remote work, the report says. Productivity is up for some operators, while others say remote work lags brick-and-mortar contact centers when it comes to outbound calls and complex operations such as collections. Onboarding and training for remote employees are more challenging, and workers are more likely to suffer from isolation. Nevertheless, most contact centers plan to establish home-based work as a permanent model.

The growth of remote work has also accelerated Brazilian service providers’ efforts to protect their operations against cyberattacks in less supervised work settings, ISG says. Providers are investing in advanced authentication measures, such as facial recognition, but local labor regulations have prevented them from adopting other tools, such as 360-degree cameras in home offices to enforce clean-desk policies.

In recent months, contact centers have also had to ensure their operations comply with Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD), a Brazilian data protection law similar to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The law, which came into effect in May 2021, is expected to have a significant impact on business models, ISG says. Among other effects, LGPD is intended to curb the use of cross-selling campaigns that use unauthorized or leaked mailing lists, with the first fines having been imposed on financial companies.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for Brazil evaluates the capabilities of 37 providers across four quadrants: Digital Operations, AI & Analytics, Work From Home Services and Social Media CX Services.

The report names Atento, Neobpo and Teleperformance as Leaders in all four quadrants and AeC, Connvert and Sercom as Leaders in three quadrants each. Algar Tech, AlmavivA, Konecta and Plusoft/Pluris are named as Leaders in two quadrants each, and Home Agent and Sitel Group are named as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, Sitel Group is named as a Rising Star—a company with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in two quadrants. Callink and TTEC are named as Rising Stars in one quadrant each.

Customized versions of the report are available from AeC and Home Agent.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for Brazil is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.