Chris Mackintosh of Logix BPO

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek is joined by Chris Mackintosh of Logix BPO. 

Editor’s note: As of the time of recording, Chris served as Logix BPO’s Chief Operating Officer. He has since been appointed Chief Executive Officer. 

Chris shares his experience of being in the outsourcing industry for 35 years, up to coming into Logix BPO and helping it grow to 2000 staff. 

Logix BPO and Chris’s outsourcing experience

Logix BPO was founded just under five years ago by British businessman Anthony Godley, who “set it up with very strong morals,” as Chris describes. 

They have three sites in the Philippines: Cebu, Iloilo, and Bohol, with the Cebu site serving as their main business hub. Additionally, they run two sites out of India, another one in Kenya, and a final one in South Africa. 

Logix BPO started life in the RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) function, but is now a full BPO with managed people solutions.  

Chris tells of how after beginning his outsourcing stint from India, he ventured to the Philippines. 

“It was a time when compliance started to change. By coming to the Philippines, we noticed the voice quality was superb, [and there was] a direct correlation with the American markets.” 

Handling multiple geos

Chris describes how his longtime clients “don’t like having all their eggs in one basket.” Thus having multiple geos proved beneficial for them. 

“They want something a little more than just the Philippines [in terms of] business continuity planning. It’s kind of the main thing now, that BPO companies have multi geos as part of their remit and offering.”    

He details his experience in dealing with the different cultures and their attitudes toward this type of work. 

“Initially, it was India. India’s relationship with the UK, with Brits, is very strong. And the people are just very, very grateful that you’re bringing business in. 

Therefore you’re able to manage these people because they want to be the best. They want to learn. They want to fight against other countries to keep the business because they’re more likely in danger of losing it.” 

He also comments on the African environment. 

“The politics has changed so much in South Africa in 30 years… it was a good place to go. It was the UK market we were servicing, and it was done purely because the time difference was an hour. So everybody alluded that South Africa would be a good fit.”

As for the Philippines, Chris says that the people are “a very enthusiastic race. You can really work well with them. They’re very good at rapport-building.”  

Responding to changes brought by AI

Chris admits that he doesn’t take the lead when it comes to bringing up AI solutions to his clients. 

“I’m kind of a believer in saying, ‘Listen to our clients for the moment.’ We have solutions for them, and if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

However, he acknowledges that there is a place for the technology. 

“You do come across problems when you are doing, say, back office processes, where there are a lot of manual errors. 

I think that’s where BPO companies really need to invest [in AI] because they’re losing money out the door in terms of financial errors on silly little things like this.”

Naturally, his clients are keen on implementing AI technology, so Chris has been taking steps to alleviate the reduction of staff. 

“I was looking at your base level of agents where AI and chatbots come in and take up more of that work to the point where you get escalation. 

So what I’ve been doing is I’ve been growing and developing our people into a more help desk environment so that it can soon become aligned to this AI and chatbot technology.” 

He finds that an actual agent is still the most helpful solution at this time. 

“I think people get more success from speaking to somebody and having their questions answered uniquely, not kind of randomly as per the current level of AI.” 

You can learn more by visiting Logix BPO’s website. Additionally, feel free to reach out to Chris via email at [email protected]. 

For any other questions, you can message us at [email protected].