What do we mean when we say “co-creation?”

What is Co-creation?

At that time, we can tell you that there are two essential models of any business partner, be it outsourcing or something else:

Model (1) is an order-taker.

In an order-taker model, the company that hired that partner probably has very strict budgets and deadlines, and they already know how they want everything done (processes). They don’t want new ideas, innovations, pilot programs, or anything else. They just want the work done, with cost efficiency, and the numbers/targets achieved. An order-taker model does work in many cases, but it’s not going to create collaboration or trust. It’s just one group working for another group; you cannot even really call it a “partnership.”

Model (2) is co-creation or co-strategizing.

In this model, you find a partner and you have researched their background and expertise, so you bring them in on bigger decisions. You ask their advice on programs, strategy, launches, rollouts, timing, staffing, and more. You might be using the partner as customer support agents, but you roll those support agents into product meetings, sales meetings, and marketing meetings — you let them inform other teams as to what they are hearing from customers.

Model (2) is what we do. It’s ultimately more valuable for the company hiring for it (and you still receive the cost efficiencies). You cannot “collaborate globally” if the main company and the partner are not on equal footing in terms of communication, strategy, and development of programs. That’s the essence of global collaboration. Partners are not on equal footing in terms of communication, strategy, and development of programs.

That’s the essence of global collaboration.

Two quick examples of co-creation:

We wrote a white paper recently about how customer support functions — which are often viewed as a cost center and not necessarily business-critical — can actually help inform product roadmap, marketing campaigns, and sales strategies. Here’s the paper for reference.

Now, we’ve also been working with a client in the gaming industry for about seven years that’s a great example of what co-creation and co-strategizing look like. On that client arrangement, we proposed an expansion of coverage hours. Russian, French, and German moderation used to be 10 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday. Because of trends we were seeing and client needs, we first expanded until 10 pm on Monday to Saturday, then added a Sunday moderation coverage too. The client was pleased with how proactive we were. That client’s main focus was CSAT metrics, so we eventually also evolved our “trainer” function into a “quality control” function, which is where the client wanted it to head. These moves speak to trust, partnership, and collaboration.

That’s how businesses scale.