After Atos, McKinsey, Accenture. Concentrix hires a former consultant

Rattled by AI, slowed down by their size and the departure of the visionary founders who once inspired their strategies, and hammered on the stock market when publicly listed, the world's call-center and outsourced customer experience giants are now looking to consulting firms for their global CEOs or FSM* heads.

Concentrix, formerly Webhelp, announced yesterday that Anne Courtines, formerly of Accenture, will take over as head of its French operations. Her appointment echoes that of Jorge Amar at TP, who came from McKinsey, and Nourdine Bihmane at Konecta, who came from Atos. At Foundever, where the last two founders jumped ship in early July, it's still unclear who will take over or who the newly announced shareholders are.

The moment I stepped off the plane, I felt the shock

The BPO market saw its first year of decline in France in 2025, according to the latest E/Y study. But a few players are doing well, mostly small and mid-sized firms. See the performance table of the main players here. Regardless of size, all of them need to overhaul their practices and business models. That explains the profile of the managers now being hired.

That said, not all is lost — as in jazz, pop, or rock, some acts and artists occasionally manage to reignite careers that were fading. In 1987, Nougayork turned out to be a stroke of genius for Claude Nougaro, who had the nerve to move to New York and record with musicians from entirely different backgrounds. He also handed over much of the creative control to keyboardist Philippe Saisse. The Toulouse-born singer's career got a serious jolt of new energy as a result.

Anne Courtines comes from Accenture, and is a woman

... where she spent over 20 years. She holds a degree from ESSEC. She has led corporate transformation projects and is described as a customer experience expert in the press release announcing her arrival. Are there inspired musicians in consulting too? It happens across the business world: at Gillette, CEO Michel Vinaver was also a playwright.

In France, Karine Jan at TP and Claire Calméjane at Foundever run the local subsidiaries of the sector's major groups. Chloé Beauvallet heads Outsourcia. In a way, these women are the heirs of the industry's great phone-sales pioneer, Sophie de Menthon, who has since left the profession but whose influence is still felt. Here she is, pictured with her dog on the cover of an old issue.

At Santiane, a fast-growing insurance broker, Hanane Benhamed, a Concentrix alum, overhauled the company's policyholder acquisition model in eighteen months, delivering significant results.

In the call-center world, female voices are in high demand: debt-collection AI agents reportedly perform better when they use female voices.

The En-Contact editorial team.

*FSM: French Speaking Market. The French-speaking market accounts for a small share of the business for major global call-center players — somewhere between 4 and 10% — far behind the English- and Spanish-speaking markets. Still, it has produced the world champions of the industry ;)