{"id":2601,"date":"2019-07-29T22:58:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T22:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2601"},"modified":"2019-07-29T22:58:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T22:58:06","slug":"itelbpo-invests-in-career-advancement-of-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2601","title":{"rendered":"itelbpo invests in career advancement of agents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Up to 2018 the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)\nindustry contributed $1.7 billion to Jamaica\u2019s economy and employed some 32,000\npeople. While a majority of employees in the industry are customer service or\nsales agents, others have been able to successfully advance along career paths\nthat lead to managerial and support roles. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At itelbpo, the\npossibility of advancing from an agent to operations supervisor, or trainer, or\nquality analyst is not left to chance. Rather, it is a carefully curated\nprocess, known as career mapping, in which agents are invited to participate\nand take advantage of opportunities for online and peer-to-peer training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur learning paths\nare a combination of e-learning modules which are self-paced and instructor-led\nclasses that are created by itel SMART Academy,\u201d itelbpo\u2019s head of training\n&amp; development, Shurland Buchanan, recently disclosed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe also have\npeer-to-peer training embedded in the learning path, which is feedback from\npeople who graduated from the programme and believe it has added value to\nthem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Buchanan, also the\nhead of the BPO\u2019s training arm, itel Smart Academy, explained that in order to\nsuccessfully navigate any learning path, agents must be willing to \u201csubscribe\u201d\nto the curriculum and work alongside a mentor. In fact, among the training\npaths offered, he informed that the two most prominent are the Jr Quality\nAnalyst (QA) and Jr Trainer programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Describing the Jr QA\nprogramme, the head trainer said it is a combination of compliance, data\nanalysis and coaching. \u201cIt\u2019s the most intense because it\u2019s a well-rounded\nprogramme that is the starting point for people to hone their skills, and from\nthere some have even segued into other learning paths.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lasting about six\nweeks, the last installation of the Jr QA programme took place between March\nand May earlier this year. Over 200 agents applied with 130 being shortlisted.\nOf that number, three participants in Freeport, Grand Bahama \u2014 Davinia Armbrister,\nSheena Lightbourne, Shannon Porter \u2014 were promoted on July1 to customer\nexperience coaches, a title which replaces quality analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>TOP PERFORMER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brian Milton, the\ntop performer from itelbpo Montego Bay, has also been promoted to being a\ncustomer experience coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis year\u2019s Jr QA\nprogramme has truly been an enlightening, exhilarating and self-fulfilling<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">experience,\u201d Milton\nsaid of the training. \u201cThe opening stage proved to be both helpful and\ninsightful, as it introduced me to the various quality management systems and\nthe skills required for the role of a QA. I would therefore recommend the Jr QA\nprogramme to anyone as it was a very thorough and fulfilling experience, and\nwhen I was promoted, the role was nothing new as I was already provided with\nall the skills, I needed to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Individuals who have\ngraduated the Jr QA programme can subsequently transition to training for\ncustomer experience supervisor and customer experience manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like the Jr QA\nprogramme, the Jr Trainer curriculum marks the start of a three-tiered career\npath which also includes Sr Trainer and Training Manager. Also, a six-week\ntraining, the programme received over 90 applications, with only one candidate,\nMonekelya Sommerville from itelbpo Montego, being promoted to an open Jr\nTrainer position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sommervile expressed\nsatisfaction with the programme, though admitting that at first, she was\nsceptical, and today proudly boasts being named as a member of the training and\ndevelopment team.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking on the\ndemands of the Jr Trainer programme, Buchanan stated: \u201cFor the trainer role,\nyou are responsible for the trainees\u2019 success, so it\u2019s going to require a\nlittle bit more assertiveness, which some people don\u2019t have, to exercise class\ncontrol. So, all the skills you have acquired as a coach, you now have to use\nto lead a cohort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The head of training\nrevealed that itelbpo is currently revising its learning paths with a view to\nadd more training for support roles in the People Success, Operations, and\nWorkforce Management departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked if the\nknowledge gained from these trainings can be transferred to other companies and\nindustries, Buchanan quipped, \u201cIt is knowledge gained that cannot be taken\naway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Up to 2018 the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry contributed $1.7 billion to Jamaica\u2019s economy and employed some 32,000 people. While a majority of employees in the industry are customer service or sales agents, others have been able to successfully advance along career paths that lead to managerial and support roles. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[994,1430,1429,1431,30],"class_list":["post-2601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-business-process-outsourcing","tag-itelbpo","tag-smart-academy","tag-western-jamaica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601\/revisions\/2603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}