A.S. Watson

“We could never have done this so quickly and efficiently on our own,” says Joris Matla, interim operations manager customer care Benelux. He explains how AS Watson brought balance and peace of mind to a complex customer contact organisation with a custom solution from ContactCare.

A fresh perspective on customer contact

AS Watson, known in the Netherlands for brands like Kruidvat, Trekpleister and ICI Paris XL, has made great strides in professionalising its customer contact over recent years. “We transformed from an ad-hoc customer service team into a structured customer care organisation with clear goals,” says Joris.

“We realised that we were receiving a wealth of valuable customer feedback that we could use to drive improvements across the entire company. It’s all about being there for our customers in the best way possible. By identifying issues at the source, we can resolve them before they even become problems.”

The scale of AS Watson’s customer contact operations is impressive: everyday, around 60 employees in the Netherlands, a small French-speaking team in Brussels, and about 60 agents in Turkey at an external partner handle inquiries for the three major retail brands in the Benelux. Approximately 70 to 80 per cent of first-line contact is outsourced, with channels like phone, email, chat and social media being closely monitored daily.

However, for a long time, they lacked the core steering mechanism for the operation: workforce management. “We simply didn't know which days would be busy or when we needed to scale up capacity.”

The urgent need for workforce management

In this complex, multi-lingual, and brand-specific environment, staying in control was a challenge. “We didn't have insight into peak times, how much capacity we needed, or where to direct our focus. There was no forecasting, no capacity planning, and no real-time traffic management,” says Joris.

“We knew Black Friday was our busiest time. But predicting exactly how busy remained a challenge. Keeping track of the live situation on the day itself was also tough.” Using data from systems like Genesys, the team started doing basic analyses to spot patterns, explain deviations, and make better assumptions. “But in the end, we came to a clear conclusion: others can do this much better and much more cost-effectively than us.”

Choosing Suriname

The decision to fully outsource workforce management, especially to a partner in Suriname, was both practical and strategic. “We were already in touch with ContactCare, and we deliberately wanted to keep this separate from our main external customer contact partner. Workforce management is a delicate role within an operation like ours—it involves checking work, adjusting schedules, and monitoring hours. Independence simply works better in this setup.”

The connection with ContactCare was instant. “They didn't have an off-the-shelf solution ready, but they immediately said: 'we can build it for you.' And they did exactly that. It was customized, quick, and above all, highly collaborative.”

Unique and highly effective

While offshoring customer contact is common practice, offshoring workforce management is relatively new – especially to a location like Suriname. “I only realised how innovative this was after the fact,” laughs Joris. “But for us, it felt completely logical. You bring in top expertise without having to invest in training, systems, or hiring people yourself. And it worked beautifully from day one.”

A pilot kicked off in late 2024, just in time for the busiest season of the year. Forecasting, capacity planning, and traffic management were seamlessly taken over by a dedicated team in Paramaribo. “That team monitors all brands, channels, and languages. They maintain perfect balance, make real-time adjustments, and handle the reporting—all completely remotely.”

Joris Matla. Image: AS Watson.

Overcoming challenges

While the implementation was smooth, it wasn't without its challenges. “Our systems are quite segmented; we use different platforms for phone calls, live chat, and social media,” Joris explains. “On top of that, we have agents spread across three countries. Getting a company laptop shipped to the right employees can involve quite a journey!”

The time difference was also a factor to consider. “When it’s 9 AM here, the team in Suriname is still asleep. And our traffic managers play a critical role—if they aren't online, we face a real challenge. That's why we established clear agreements on availability, backups, and communication.”

Measurable results

According to Joris, the partnership with ContactCare is already paying off handsomely. “We now have a dedicated team keeping everything in perfect balance. Previously, we could have a situation where Kruidvat's phonelines were quiet, while ICI Paris XL had a queue of 13 people waiting. Now, we shift resources in real-time—even across different brands.”

Twice a day, Joris receives a performance snapshot, complete with key insights and tips for improvement. “I no longer have to spend time searching for that data myself. Even email, which is often the forgotten channel, is now actively managed.”

This has also brought great peace of mind to the agents. “There is now a single point of contact, clear guidelines, and far fewer sudden changes. This creates a calm, structured, and predictable work environment.”

Looking ahead: blending and automating

The next step for AS Watson is to further optimise customer contact through blended working. “Right now, agents focus on one specific channel, brand, or language. We want to move towards a system that automatically assigns the next task—whether that is a chat or a phone call. This requires less manual steering and makes traffic management even simpler.”

For AS Watson, offshoring workforce management proved to be the key to a stable, agile customer contact structure. “We had a challenge, shared it with a trusted partner, and received a tailor-made solution,” Joris concludes. “Without this collaboration, we could never have achieved this level of efficiency and success.”