Bertelsmann and Saham’s Customer Experience Business, “Majorel”, Launched; Bold Statement of Intent on Future Growth

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Thomas Mackenbrock, Chief Executive Officer of newly created customer experience services group ‘Majorel’, formally launched the new brand with an ambitious statement of intent on its global growth strategy. Majorel, which has more than 48,000 employees in 28 countries worldwide, is a leading player in Europe, Middle East and Africa and has a strong presence in Asia and the Americas. Early this year the company was formed by combining the worldwide customer service businesses of Bertelsmann, the international media, services, and education company, and Morocco’s Saham Group.

The business is aiming for a leading position in the global customer experience industry in every major market around the world by investing heavily in its regional network and digital customer engagement capabilities. It plans to invest several hundred million USD over the course of the coming years in geographical expansion and in digital capabilities and solutions including analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

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The formation of Majorel came about in response to seismic changes that are happening in the customer experience industry, driven by the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Research carried out on behalf of the company shows that within the next years, up to a quarter of existing contact center interactions could be handled by automated technologies, with this figure potentially rising to almost half by 2027.

This rise will be mirrored by a massive overall increase in customer interactions. Many of those will be handled completely automatically or in self-service, but also an increasing number by ‘tech-enabled’ humans. Experts estimate that that number of tech-enabled human interactions could almost double by 2027, creating new jobs as customer experience services move towards a human-AI hybrid model.

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Thomas Mackenbrock, CEO of Majorel, said: “We will see rapid growth and change in the customer experience industry over the course of the next decade. To meet the challenges and opportunities this brings, you need to find the perfect combination of people, technology and global reach.

At Majorel, we are ready to invest in our future and take advantage of these opportunities. The investments we’re making in our people, in data, in technology, and in our regional network, will allow us to continue to deliver the transformation and reliability our clients need in our constantly changing world. As a result, we firmly believe we will be able to thrive in this exciting market; further strengthening our prominent position in EMEA, expanding our presence in emerging and growth markets, and continuing to expand our trusted partnerships with the world’s most respected brands.”

Majorel will hold a heavy presence in North America with over 1,500 employees operating out of Valencia, California; Chandler, Arizona; Weaverville, North Carolina; Waterloo, Ontario (CAN) and Monterrey, Mexico.

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Fara Haron, Regional CEO North America, Ireland & Southeast Asia of Majorel said: “With a global contact center network and advanced digital and technical capabilities, Majorel will provide top-notch customer engagement to some of the world’s biggest and most respected brands. We look forward to helping North American companies expand into new territories, with an emphasis on culture and the importance it has on a global customer service strategy. We see today’s rapidly changing world as an opportunity to innovate using both people and technology in order to create the best customer experience possible for our clients.”

The new global leadership team of the company consists of:

• Chief Executive Officer – Thomas Mackenbrock
• Chief Operating Officer – Dominique Decaestecker
• Chief Customer Officer – Marc Noortman
• Chief Financial & Shared Services Officer – Otmane Serraj

The role of Chief Digital and Transformation Officer is also being created, with an appointment due to be announced imminently.

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