A global leader just clinched one of the industry's highest honors, sending a clear message to the marketplace: leadership in customer experience is now defined by the capacity to innovate, adapt, and deliver measurable impact.
TP (formerly known as Teleperformance) Asia-Pacific's President, Dave Rizzo, brings pride and perspective to this year's Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Company of the Year Recognition in the Asia-Pacific customer experience management services industry. The company was recognized for its visionary innovation and sustained customer impact.
Landing the "Company of the Year" award demands more than momentary excellence. The Frost & Sullivan assessment draws on meticulous benchmarking tools and criteria, comparing TP not just to regional peers but to the elite tier of global service providers.
For Dave Rizzo, the award is more than a milestone; it is validation at both a personal and organizational level. It reinforces the belief that an ambition to exceed expectations, no matter how tough the industry, can resonate and deliver extraordinary results across every market they serve.
Award Significance & Leadership
Congratulations on receiving Frost & Sullivan's Company of the Year award. What does this recognition mean to you personally, and to TP's leadership team in Asia-Pacific?
Dave: This is an extraordinary moment, not just for me, but for every member of the TP community in Asia-Pacific. The Company of the Year recognition from Frost & Sullivan validates every investment we've made in our people, in digital innovation, and in building a forward-looking, inclusive culture. It reinforces our commitment to shaping the future of AI-powered, human-centric customer experience. Personally, it's a point of pride to see our leadership vision acknowledged, but most importantly, it energizes the entire organization and affirms our responsibilities as industry leaders.
How does the Company of the Year award reflect TP's journey in the region, and what unique factors do you believe set TP apart from other industry leaders?
Dave: Our journey has always been rooted in understanding the unique dynamics of the Asia-Pacific, and this award shines a light on our ability to blend global scale with local expertise, leveraging advanced technology, AI, and analytics to deliver personalized, data-driven experiences. What sets us apart is the way we approach each market, not with a one-size-fits-all solution, but with tailored strategies that address the cultural, linguistic, and regulatory nuances that are critical here. Our high-tech, high-touch, and high-standards philosophy means we never compromise innovation for empathy, or vice versa; it's what enables us to drive measurable impact and long-term value for clients and their customers alike.
Dave, Frost & Sullivan specifically recognized TP for "addressing unmet needs." Can you walk us through how you identified the specific gaps in Asia-Pacific's CX market that others weren't addressing, and how your team transformed these insights into TP's innovation roadmap?
Dave: Early on, we noticed many CX providers struggled with rigidity. Either they were technology-driven but disconnected from human reality, or locally grounded but unable to leverage technology for big-picture client outcomes. We listened to clients and observed the pain points in their end-to-end journeys. With this, we strive to deliver the most advanced, digitally powered business services to optimize talent and technology across the region.
Frost & Sullivan has recognized us as 'the leading global provider of outsourced, digitally integrated business services encompassing CX, revenue growth services (marketing and sales), back-office and financial operations, trust & safety, and enablers such as its Technology, Analytics, and Process Excellence (TAP) framework, AI-powered data services, and cloud & security capabilities.
Our approach constantly questions how to make experiences simpler, safer, and more meaningful. For instance, our end-to-end services are designed to optimize the entire CX journey, spanning marketing, sales, fulfillment, service, insights, retention, and advocacy. Our global employees manage interactions in over 300 languages for major international brands across verticals.
We ensure seamless customer engagement across touchpoints that align with modern customer expectations by integrating diverse voice, email, chat, direct messaging, video, and social media channels. That mindset directly informed the development of our omnichannel delivery, multilingual hubs, and industry-specific Centers of Excellence.
How has TP adapted to megatrends like AI, hybrid work models, and digital transformation to develop and roll out new proprietary technology and accelerate your transformational growth journey in Asia-Pacific?
Dave: Digital transformation is never just about technology for technology's sake. The power of AI, automation, and hybrid working models lies in their ability to unlock new forms of value, not just for us, but for our clients.
For instance, our ecosystem of GenAI-based platforms enables everything from smart and efficient self-service to guided and empathetic conversations, expansive and automated quality assurance, and insightful analytics. These bring real outcomes from data-driven tactics and save customers and agents alike time and effort with an elevated customer experience. These aren't just incremental tweaks. They're shifts that deliver measurable client improvements.
TP Gen AI solutions are embedded in the fabric of TP's solutions to clients, driving the momentum to tangible Transformation outcomes. Bringing TP GenAI into customer engagements frees up resources for higher-value activities, optimizing workforce productivity and reducing operational costs.
Krishna Baidya, Sr. Director, ICT Practice, validates TP's best practices and superior infrastructure that drives success in its centers of excellence (CoEs) in key markets. Krishna mentions, "TP's GenAI initiative represents a significant leap in leveraging advanced generative AI technologies to enhance CX delivery and operational efficiency."
Frost & Sullivan has highlighted TP's 5.1% like-for-like revenue growth in FY2023. What do these numbers mean about your service delivery and business culture? How does your leadership approach enable TP to drive market dominance?
Dave: Our growth numbers reflect a performance-driven, client-centric culture. They also represent the results of a strategy that has established and sustained our leadership position across the Asia-Pacific CX management market. Revenue results from our focus on solving the correct problems, delivering value every step of the way, and expanding our client portfolio year after year.
For 47 years, with nearly 490,000 employees globally and a Smart-Shoring model tailored to APAC's diversity, we have expanded our client portfolio across global brands in technology and SaaS, BFSI, healthcare, retail and eCommerce, telecommunications and media, travel and hospitality, and digital platforms (trust & safety). Today, the company operates over 90 delivery centers across 11 regional countries, serving at least 22 markets with one of the industry's largest multicultural teams supporting our global operations.
This growth is anchored in strategic investments and an expansive operational footprint, supported by an understanding of regional dynamics. We've focused on building market dominance in core geographies while continuously introducing innovation and operational excellence.
A key contributor to this sustained success is our commitment to growing multilingual hubs, which allow us to deliver culturally relevant and highly personalized experiences. Over the past year, TP has opened Digital Labs to showcase and test next-generation solutions with clients, beginning in Singapore and Japan and expanding in 2024 to Shanghai, Seoul, and Melbourne. These hubs are home to innovation and service excellence that reinforce our leadership and keep us attuned to clients' evolving needs.
TP is renowned for blending advanced AI and digital tools with high-touch, empathetic service. How do you balance large-scale digital transformation with the local, human touch that's critical across such a diverse region?
Dave: The balance between digital transformation and human empathy is the foundation of our entire operating philosophy. Our 'high-tech, high-touch, high-standards' approach recognizes that technology should amplify human capabilities, not replace them.
When we deploy AI solutions, we're not trying to eliminate the human element. Instead, we're equipping our agents with the insights and tools they need to deliver more personalized, empathetic service.
The key is understanding that each market in Asia-Pacific has its own cultural expectations and service standards. What makes this work is our commitment to continuous training and development. We invest heavily in ensuring our teams understand the technology they're using and the human dynamics of great customer service. This ensures every solution we deploy enhances rather than diminishes the human connection.
Krishna Baidya also commends TP's high-tech, high-touch approach. He mentions, "TP's high-tech, high-touch approach is a testament to its commitment to blending technology and human empathy, combining best practices powered by analytics, automation, platforms, and consulting expertise to deliver a more compassionate, human-centered CX."
The Future: Sustaining Momentum
Now that TP is Company of the Year, what's next? What priorities or initiatives will you drive forward as you look to 2026?
Dave: Winning this award doesn't mean stopping. It sets the bar even higher for us. We're doubling down on emerging AI applications and deploying increasingly autonomous systems alongside experienced, human oversight. At the same time, we see strong expansion opportunities in rising economies like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and we're investing substantially in the next generation of leadership across the region.
Our evolution is guided by a single, unifying purpose: to go beyond experience and redefine what partnership means in a digitally connected world. We are orchestrating intelligent operations that deliver measurable value, drive efficiency, and unlock sustainable growth.
While technology enables us to solve today's challenges, our true focus is on designing tomorrow's enterprises, organizations that are agile, intelligent, and human at their core.
Through TP.ai, we seamlessly unite the next generation of digital capabilities blending the power of GenAI, automation, analytics, domain expertise, human intelligence, and secure technology into one cohesive ecosystem. This integration positions TP to deliver a truly connected, one-office service model, where local expertise is amplified by global scale to drive meaningful impact and lasting value for every client, every day.
If you had one piece of advice for companies aspiring to transform their customer experience, what would it be?
Dave: Start with your customer's needs, not with the technology. It's tempting to chase trends, but true transformation happens when you solve real problems for people and scale from there. Technology should amplify human strengths, not undermine them. We at TP stay adaptable, stay grounded, and never stop evolving.
