Gartner's definition of business process outsourcing (BPO) is the delegation of one or more IT-intensive business activities; specifically, BPO contracts that always include the outsourcing of business process administration to a third-party service provider, which may include outsourcing the infrastructure along with application maintenance and ownership. Customer management (CM) contact center BPO is the processes linking an organization with its existing and potential customers (such as marketing, sales and customer services), which can be categorized in four subsegments: *customer selection *customer acquisition, * customer retention *customer extension. The four subsegments should also consistently be executed across the following five primary channels: * telephony * business process as a service (BPaaS) * email response management * web/mobile chat * knowledge management for web and mobile-based self-service.
Gartner defines a voice of the customer (VoC) platform as one that integrate feedback collection, analysis and action into a single unified solution that helps organizations to understand and improve the customer experience. Feedback inputs extend beyond direct surveying to include other direct, and indirect and inferred sources. Voice of customer (VoC) platforms enable revenue and retention leaders to better manage the customer experience (CX) through a deep understanding of customer needs and perceptions. The resulting insights trigger recommendations and actions across the enterprise.