"Coach Duha" is going to try to reassure call center bosses

The former co-founder and CEO of Webhelp — now Concentrix — will take the floor on June 25 in front of a room full of BPO executives.

"If you were still CEO of Webhelp in 2026, what would your three-point strategy be to keep growing in the face of the AI threat?" That's the question "Coach Duha" has been invited to tackle — and it's a live one for Concentrix, Teleperformance, Foundever, Intelcia, Armatis, and every player whose business depends on call centers for sales or customer service. AI conversational agents are now genuinely effective, capable of replacing or augmenting sales and customer service teams — to varying degrees depending on the industry, but the trend is no longer debatable. Recently, players in the camping sector and B2B sales have shared results from campaigns run with AI agents. 
The stock prices of the major global BPO players tell the same story: they're all down sharply, -80% on average.

An independent voice?

The turnout at the elegant Parisian hotel hosting the event should be significant — especially given that the technology publisher behind the invitation is a well-known, long-standing innovator in the space. But how much weight should "Coach Duha's" advice actually carry? It may be worth taking with a grain of salt: the Brussels-based entrepreneur, who made a considerable fortune through the Webhelp journey, has since invested in conversational AI agents — which gives him every reason to talk up that kind of technology.

A few years ago, he wrote a book on the importance of the human factor in customer experience. Has he changed his mind since? Or does he now believe AI will assist call center agents and take over repetitive tasks — the classic corporate line, often used by large companies that don't want to spook their workforce into thinking their jobs are on the line?

For this session, Olivier Duha will have just 15 minutes, starting at 9:30 AM. In French prep school tradition, these oral exams typically run a full hour. Fifteen minutes forces you to cut to the chase. According to our sources, registration among BPO sector executives is running unusually high.

Where should you be on June 25?

A second event that day tackles another pressing topic — new customer acquisition. The New Biz Forum runs all day Thursday, June 25, at La Grande Épicerie de Paris in the 16th arrondissement. Air-conditioned. "Coach Binelli" will address a critical question: how to run effective and legally compliant outbound calling campaigns starting August 11, 2026. Hipto's legal director — a specialist in intent-based leads, former attorney, and former Concentrix employee — knows this subject. It's one that keeps insurance brokers, energy providers, pet food sellers, and pool equipment dealers up at night. They'll walk away with answers.

Manuel Jacquinet

Photo: Olivier Duha © Edouard Jacquinet