Atento is one of the main specialist customer management or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) companies within the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector.
Present in 17 countries, Atento is currently the largest provider of comprehensive customer care services in Latin America and one of the most important internationally. Atento plays a leading role in generating employment in the countries where it operates, with a workforce of 156,000 and a client portfolio of over 560 leading companies in the telecommunications, finance, and retail sectors, among others.
In 2011 the company reported revenues of 1.8 billion euros, 8.4 percent over that reported in 2010. By geographic region, Brazil represents 53.6% of the company's total revenue, the Americas region 30.6% and EMEA 15.8%.
Atento has positioned itself on the market as an efficient and committed global partner in customer management and one of the best rated companies by its employees. Its growth strategy is based on differentiation with a focus on efficiency and innovation.
The company offers quality bespoke solutions for those areas of clients' businesses that require customer interaction. The company product portfolio includes: customer service (CS), sales, debt recovery, help desk, back office and Service Desk, all of which may be combined with vertical solutions adapted to specific industry sectors (e.g. telecom, retail banking, credit cards, insurance, etc). Atento's vertical solutions include: B2B sales, mortgage credit, insurance, vehicle financing, fraud prevention and complaint management and prevention.
The company delivers services that range from simple call management to management of complex business processes through advanced multichannel technology.
BPO/CRM consists of outsourcing the management of a set of business processes and activities to companies that interact with the customer or consumer. These activities include customer care, winning and retaining new customers, help desk services, technical support, billing and marketing and sales tasks for clients.
In 1999 the Telefónica Group gave the order for its subsidiaries in Spain, Chile and Peru to shed all those assets that were devoted to customer care and management, in 2000 these assets were consolidated in one group. The decision was taken to open an independent line of business with the aim of leveraging sector growth while at the same time allowing the Telefónica Group to optimize its customer care operations.
Atento's initial development was accompanied by the acquisition of sector companies in Brazil such as Trilha and Quatro A and the setting up of centers in countries where the Telefónica Group was already present and in those where it planned on initiating operations. Therefore, over a period of just 2 years Atento opened centers in 13 countries on 4 continents meeting the objective of exponential geographic expansion. In 2001, the first stage of expansion was concluded leading to a stage of business consolidation and profitability improvement over 2002 and 2003 that aimed to position Atento as one of the main operators on the Portuguese and Spanish speaking markets.
The 2003 strategy marked a new focus with greater emphasis on differentiation. The company thus began a new stage with a strategy that went beyond a cost effective approach and towards quality and generating value for our clients, with the aim of encouraging long lasting strategic relationships.
In 2007, Atento undertook an extensive analysis of the values behind its strategic mission and detected new business opportunities, maintaining the focus on differentiation, quality and the generation of value.
Between 2008 and 2011 Atento developed three large projects that evolved and were the main drivers behind the company's current leadership position. In 2008 Atento undertook a strategic development project that studied its market position and its options for differentiated growth. Over 2009, the company implemented a different strategic project and launched the necessary initiatives to leverage the BPO/CRM sector's full potential in the markets it was already present. Over 2010 and 2011 it consolidated its position as a leading multinational company thanks to a strategy based on service excellence and offering high quality services with total client and end user satisfaction.
Atento offers its clients a wide ranging portfolio of BPO/CRM services through solutions based on its clients' value chains. Furthermore, it continues to offer an increasingly sophisticated product portfolio, in particular in terms of non-traditional services such as technical support, credit management, and especially for its back office and multichannel products.
Atento offers value added solutions through the use of its technology platforms. From these platforms it automates its clients' business processes and interacts with its clients' customers through surveys, market research, multichannel solutions (telephone, SMS, e-mail, social networks). Atento implements rightshore solutions that deliver the optimum combination of onshore (in the clients' own country), nearshore (located in a country near to the client's) or offshore (located in a country distant to the client's) to cover all the final customers' needs.
As well as the many customer management options that Atento offers there is also the possibility of a bespoke service by integrating two or more product components. This way Atento offers an ad hoc service to its clients’ more specialized industry sectors.
In addition, it is important to mention that Atento works very closely with its clients, and as a result of the in-depth study of its clients' value chains, the company delivers real value to the clients' management team and constant improvement of their brand relationship with final consumers.
Atento is present in 17 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Spain, USA, France, Guatemala, Morocco, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Czech Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Atento's business is currently divided in regions: Brazil, North America, South America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa)
Atento's corporate headquarters are in Calle Quintanavides 17, Parque Empresarial Vía Norte, Edificio 3, Madrid, 28050
Atento had 165 contact centers at the close of the 2011 financial year.
Given the wide range of solutions that Atento delivers to its clients as part of its strategy this is not a relevant statistic. Atento has designed a price strategy to give clients an optimum cost/benefit ratio, combining fixed prices, variable prices and bonuses based on key performance indicators. Thus, the number of contacts per day is not a determining factor.
Atento is positioned as the best value added solution on the market due to its range of high quality services developed efficiently with the aim of delivering satisfaction and perceived value both for its clients and their final users.
The management team is made up as follows: Alejandro Reynal, Atento CEO; Aurelio Alonso, Director for Strategy, Planning and Management Control; Borja García–Alarcón, Director of Finance; Diego López, Business Director for the North America Region; Iñaki Cebollero, Director of Human Resources; Juan Gamé, Director of the South America Region; Nelson Armbrust, Brazil Regional Director; Reyes Cerezo, Director of Legal and Regulatory Compliance and Santiago Urío, EMEA Regional Director.
Atento's business is divided into four regions: Atento's business is divided into four regions: Brazil (due to its high revenue is considered a separate business region), the North America and South America regions that encompass all the operations in the Americas except for Brazil, (USA (Texas and Puerto Rico), Argentina, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) and lastly EMEA –Europe Middle East and Africa - encompassing operations in Spain, France, Morocco and Czech Republic.