Arshad Majeed
Regional Vice President - Service Delivery
TELUS International (TI) has led this space for nearly two decades. In their words, “At TELUS International, we know that delivering the best customer and digital experience is crucial for top-performing brands. For us to be your true brand ambassador, you must trust our capabilities, experience, and expertise”, says Arshad Majeed, Regional Vice President - Service Delivery.
Founded in 2005, TELUS International has dominated the next-gen (DX) and customer experience (CX) solutions industry, consistently working on the marriage of demand and technology, strengthening it. It has been leading the space by designing, building, and delivering the next-gen digital solutions to enhance the customer experience for global and disruptive brands. Currently, TI boasts a 650+ clientele list working for some of the most reputed brands globally. It is uniquely positioned to support its clients’ digital and customer experience journeys.
“We enable the full lifecycle of our clients’ digital transformation journey, enabling them to adapt quickly to next-gen technologies and deliver fast and better business outcomes. Our core focus is leveraging the latest technologies like AI, automation, analytics, and cloud to deliver personalized, impactful, and seamless customer interactions through web and mobile mediums.
While utilizing data analytics helps personalize interaction by providing targeted recommendations, artificial intelligence technology solutions like Chatbots or virtual assistants significantly help automate specific customer interactions, enhancing the overall customer experience. We outperform the market through our digital solutions by transforming, modernizing, and re-engineering our clients’ businesses”, says Arshad.
TELUS International owes much of its success to its purpose-driven CX and DX initiatives driven by industry-specific technology, agility in responding to dynamic shifts and challenges, well-crafted solutions, and deep client partnerships. What differentiates TELUS International is its human-centric approach, prioritizing the human elements in its technology-driven solutions. “We understand that technology is best developed with empathy and understanding of the customer experience, employees, and genuine human needs. Our philosophy and initiatives around employability translate into a strong and positive company culture. This attracts and retains the top talent, resulting in superior customer interactions and increased innovation for clients”, shares Arshad.
TELUS International’s portfolio also includes a comprehensive suite of integrated solutions that allow it to become a strategic partner for businesses, helping organizations optimize their business processes and improve digital experience. Significantly, the company’s extensive global presence will enable it to provide clients with scalable and localized expertise and adaptive solutions relevant to different markets and cultures and tailored to specific needs while maintaining the highest quality. Additionally, not to overlook, TELUS International has entrenched a solid team over the period, wherein the employees are excited enough to work and even explore their limits or break free to achieve their targets. This is something that holds great value for the company’s success.
In the context of strategy formulation, its capabilities include scaling startups to large global brands, wherein it innovates across end-to-end customer engagement and growth.
Also, from quality assurance to quality engineering with digital transformation, it improves the productivity of CX operations, leveraging powerful technologies and best practice-driven process expertise. TELUS International’s AI suite helps focus more on the critical initiatives for true business transformation.
The Emphasis on Diversity, Inclusion & Growth
At TELUS International, teams are equipped with the required skills for the job, aiming for the challenging tasks they are efficiently working on, expanding services portfolio capabilities, and reviving credibility. TELUS International and the Digital Solutions division’s work culture is also noteworthy. Despite being a technology company, it values its employees first over technology. Always prioritizing people as its most important asset, the company greatly emphasizes effective communication and takes the time to understand each employee’s level of motivation, accountability, and responsibility. “For any company, people and technology together are a complete package. While we are a technology company, we believe in people first policy too, because at the end of the day, it’s the people who deliver the work to clients, and if anything goes haywire, it all hampers the company’s credibility”, says Arshad.
The company has intrinsically worked on cultivating a caring culture at TELUS International by ensuring the best fit and alignment with the individuals who join the team. To support the same, the company’s Culture Value Chain (CVC) is a proven formula where a solid corporate culture and employee engagement equate to the ability to innovate, achieve higher customer satisfaction, and ultimately display a more substantial financial performance. CVC is the key to corporate culture and better business outcomes. TELUS International’s caring culture has always been reflected in its programs and interventions crafted to keep the team members happy and motivated. For over 19 years, the company has significantly invested in the overall well-being of its team members, too, to support their needs such as on-site health facilities and fitness centers to provide team members with prevention and maintenance care, generous health benefits (that include extensive coverage for individuals and their families), work-life balance, and most importantly flexible working arrangements, followed by other employee-centric policies. Even the company’s HR team does a great job running many employee engagement programs.
A great deal of emphasis is placed on the training and development initiatives of the team members. One example is TELUS International University (TIU), which offers professional development opportunities and courses based on individual interests. If a team member is passionate about music or hobbies, they can pursue courses at a discounted rate through partnerships with various universities and institutes. The company has recently partnered with Symbiosis, allowing team members to pursue degrees at a reduced cost.
Deepika Pillai, Senior Director-HR, says, “We provide internal mentorship opportunities, training initiatives, and leadership development programs for team members at different levels. Our team members also know we prefer to promote from within rather than hiring externally; hence, our training programs aim to empower and prepare our team members for future opportunities. We provide diverse technical training opportunities for those who want to expand their skill sets. We also offer internal cross-training opportunities to help team members diversify within the technical landscape. We have clear career progression pathways for our team members, and these benefits also extend to their families. TIU, for instance, is open to team members’ spouses, children, and siblings investing in our community simultaneously”.
“Diversity is crucial to us; thus, inclusiveness and diverse ideas are appreciated at TELUS International. In this context, we have recently launched the Spectrum group for our LGBT community, another group we have within the company. We also focus on women’s empowerment, not only within the company but also outside of it. For instance, we partner with NGOs like Setu Foundation and support women’s education, child education, and skill enhancement. One of our projects, Samika, aims to support education and skill development, eventually leading to employment opportunities within the company; from this program, we have already employed 20-30 women, making a big impact on society. This program is run in slum areas, and it has motivated the whole community by providing opportunities for skill development and a chance to work with engineers and other professionals. As an impactful company, we aim to take this program to different cities throughout India; we believe that diversity and women’s empowerment are the basis of our culture and are non-negotiable. We provide equal opportunities for all”, adds Arshad.
The Growth & Future
The future for TELUS International Digital Solutions is as promising as its present. While it had a great beginning, it made it with a few acquisitions to expand its digital capabilities. Later, when the Zebin Digital acquisition helped it establish its presence in the US and India, Lionbridge AI complemented the expansion of its portfolio of next-gen solutions. TELUS International’s latest acquisition was Willow Tree in 2023. The company is now exploring strategy consulting and innovative solutions in the Gen-AI space.
In short, with the Digital Solutions division, TELUS International will continue to innovate to drive the digital and customer experience solutions industry forward in advanced, modern, and trending human ways. It has defined and targeted plans for crucial parts of the industry for this year and ahead.
Awards & Accolades
TELUS International has bagged numerous awards in recent years. Some of the more notable ones are Five9 Global Partner of the Year (2024 & 2023), IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 (2024, 2023, 2022 & 2021), Stevie Awards for Great Employers - Achievement in Workplace Health and Wellbeing (2023), Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators (2023), Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces (2024, 2023, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017), Forbes Best Employers for Diversity (2022), including others.
The Emphasis on Diversity, Inclusion & Growth
At TELUS International, teams are equipped with the required skills for the job, aiming for the challenging tasks they are efficiently working on, expanding services portfolio capabilities, and reviving credibility. TELUS International and the Digital Solutions division’s work culture is also noteworthy. Despite being a technology company, it values its employees first over technology. Always prioritizing people as its most important asset, the company greatly emphasizes effective communication and takes the time to understand each employee’s level of motivation, accountability, and responsibility. “For any company, people and technology together are a complete package. While we are a technology company, we believe in people first policy too, because at the end of the day, it’s the people who deliver the work to clients, and if anything goes haywire, it all hampers the company’s credibility”, says Arshad.
The company has intrinsically worked on cultivating a caring culture at TELUS International by ensuring the best fit and alignment with the individuals who join the team. To support the same, the company’s Culture Value Chain (CVC) is a proven formula where a solid corporate culture and employee engagement equate to the ability to innovate, achieve higher customer satisfaction, and ultimately display a more substantial financial performance. CVC is the key to corporate culture and better business outcomes. TELUS International’s caring culture has always been reflected in its programs and interventions crafted to keep the team members happy and motivated. For over 19 years, the company has significantly invested in the overall well-being of its team members, too, to support their needs such as on-site health facilities and fitness centers to provide team members with prevention and maintenance care, generous health benefits (that include extensive coverage for individuals and their families), work-life balance, and most importantly flexible working arrangements, followed by other employee-centric policies. Even the company’s HR team does a great job running many employee engagement programs.
TELUS International will continue to innovate to drive the digital & customer experience solutions industry forward in advanced, modern, & trending human ways
A great deal of emphasis is placed on the training and development initiatives of the team members. One example is TELUS International University (TIU), which offers professional development opportunities and courses based on individual interests. If a team member is passionate about music or hobbies, they can pursue courses at a discounted rate through partnerships with various universities and institutes. The company has recently partnered with Symbiosis, allowing team members to pursue degrees at a reduced cost.
Deepika Pillai, Senior Director-HR, says, “We provide internal mentorship opportunities, training initiatives, and leadership development programs for team members at different levels. Our team members also know we prefer to promote from within rather than hiring externally; hence, our training programs aim to empower and prepare our team members for future opportunities. We provide diverse technical training opportunities for those who want to expand their skill sets. We also offer internal cross-training opportunities to help team members diversify within the technical landscape. We have clear career progression pathways for our team members, and these benefits also extend to their families. TIU, for instance, is open to team members’ spouses, children, and siblings investing in our community simultaneously”.
“Diversity is crucial to us; thus, inclusiveness and diverse ideas are appreciated at TELUS International. In this context, we have recently launched the Spectrum group for our LGBT community, another group we have within the company. We also focus on women’s empowerment, not only within the company but also outside of it. For instance, we partner with NGOs like Setu Foundation and support women’s education, child education, and skill enhancement. One of our projects, Samika, aims to support education and skill development, eventually leading to employment opportunities within the company; from this program, we have already employed 20-30 women, making a big impact on society. This program is run in slum areas, and it has motivated the whole community by providing opportunities for skill development and a chance to work with engineers and other professionals. As an impactful company, we aim to take this program to different cities throughout India; we believe that diversity and women’s empowerment are the basis of our culture and are non-negotiable. We provide equal opportunities for all”, adds Arshad.
The Growth & Future
The future for TELUS International Digital Solutions is as promising as its present. While it had a great beginning, it made it with a few acquisitions to expand its digital capabilities. Later, when the Zebin Digital acquisition helped it establish its presence in the US and India, Lionbridge AI complemented the expansion of its portfolio of next-gen solutions. TELUS International’s latest acquisition was Willow Tree in 2023. The company is now exploring strategy consulting and innovative solutions in the Gen-AI space.
In short, with the Digital Solutions division, TELUS International will continue to innovate to drive the digital and customer experience solutions industry forward in advanced, modern, and trending human ways. It has defined and targeted plans for crucial parts of the industry for this year and ahead.
Awards & Accolades
TELUS International has bagged numerous awards in recent years. Some of the more notable ones are Five9 Global Partner of the Year (2024 & 2023), IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 (2024, 2023, 2022 & 2021), Stevie Awards for Great Employers - Achievement in Workplace Health and Wellbeing (2023), Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators (2023), Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces (2024, 2023, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017), Forbes Best Employers for Diversity (2022), including others.
