Satel, France's rare telemarketing specialist sold to a customer experience and AI specialist

Satel from Auvergne joins Assist Digital, the Italian-born European specialist in customer experience solutions.

Backed by Ardian since 2023, Assist Digital is strengthening its presence in France with the acquisition of Satel, co-founded by a pair of rugby buddies who have never been separated by the years and the ups and downs of life. Bertrand Aucagne and Olivier Safin set up a telephone answering service in Vichy, which went on to become a recognised specialist in telesales and premium customer service, with several sites in the Auvergne. Laurent Wauquiez worked hard, as he recounts in Un Huron à l'Assemblée Nationale, to attract the two entrepreneurs, who were growing rapidly at the time, to Puy-en-Velay. Salomon Cohen (Orange) is well versed in the subtleties of telemarketing, and is one of the Auvergne group's loyal partners and contacts.

Paris, 22nd October. Assist Digital, a European leader in customer experience (CX) solutions and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, last night confirmed the acquisition of Satel, a French company and a recognised player in customer relationship outsourcing for over thirty years. This strategic acquisition enables Assist Digital to significantly expand its footprint in France and consolidate its market position. Thanks to this operation, Assist Digital now has six sites in France and more than 450 additional expert employees. The group is forecasting sales of more than €220 million for 2023, giving it a proven BPO and call centre arm. Over the past thirty years, Satel has succeeded in winning the loyalty of customers such as Orange, EDF and The Originals Hotels group.

Assist Digital has been present in France since 2018, when the group acquired Attoma, a well-known design agency operating mainly in B2B. Since then, the company has expanded its range of services to include service design, UX/UI design, CRM and AI technology consulting.

Headed by Executive Chairman Enrico Donati and Managing Director Francesca Gabrielli, Assist Digital has become a pan-European market leader, supporting more than a hundred high-profile clients, including ENI, Stellantis, Toyota, Luxottica, Vodafone and DAZN. Prior to this acquisition, the company employed more than 600 professionals, experts in consulting, data science, IT engineering and UX/UI design, as well as 5,000 experts based in its European offices. ‘The integration of Satel's sites in France significantly extends Assist Digital's European reach and enhances its expertise in the design of advanced technological solutions, while remaining true to the values of customer proximity and flexibility for which Satel is renowned. By harmonising artificial intelligence with Satel's recognised expertise, our union aims to transform customer interactions and excel in the delivery of services that precisely meet the requirements of European consumers,’ states the press release sent to our magazine.

According to our information, the group is also working with one of the world leaders in tourism and a major French industrial player with factories in the Rhône-Alpes region, particularly Grenoble.

Andrea Donadel, Managing Director of Assist Digital France: 
‘This acquisition marks a strategic turning point for our development in Europe. It strengthens our ability to innovate and offer exceptional services to our customers in this key market. Satel's expertise in customer relationship management is a perfect complement to our portfolio of AI technologies and digital solutions’.

Olivier Safin and Bertrand Aucagne, co-founders of Satel: 
‘This sale will enable our long-standing customers to continue to benefit from the expertise and talent of our 450 employees, while at the same time benefiting from Assist Digital's skills in designing advanced technological solutions. In a market that is constantly evolving, this is an important step for our group to win new markets, more than thirty years after its creation’.

Dual loyalty to the Auvergne, Rhône-Alpes, telesales and what it teaches
‘I got to know Olivier and Bertrand in the early years of Colorado Conseil, which I set up in Annecy, before the consultancy and training company moved to Paris. I worked with and trained a lot of people at the Satel sites in Vichy, Montluçon and Le Puy-en-Velay. At the time, Laurent Wauquiez, a young member of parliament for the department, wanted, like many politicians, to take advantage of the boom in contact centres in France to relocate quality jobs to the Haute-Loire town where he was not yet mayor. Then it was the same thing in Saint-Flour, with a senator. Through all these stages, which have not always been easy, Olivier and Bertrand have always stayed the course, remaining true to values and a conviction that seem outdated today: motivated, well-trained telemarketers and staff can make all the difference when they make a simple call. As O. Safin said, we had nothing to lose, because we had nothing. There aren't many entrepreneurs left in this business in France, which is a shame and a bit like the end of an era. The last Mohicans are mostly based in Africa. But with the conclusion of this merger, both companies are showing that they still have the right vision for the game’, says Manuel Jacquinet.

Is it enough to suffix everything with AI to be effective? Le Bottin, a Who's Who in CRM, BPO and customer experience. Release of the 5th edition.
The two co-founders remain operational managers of Satel, of which they have sold 100% of the capital. This deal is a further sign that consolidation is well under way in the French BPO market, where there are still few profitable players with a diversified portfolio. Comearth, Euro-CRM, Iteractii, OceanCall, Tersea... ?

What AI and the digitalisation of customer service operations will make possible is the big question of the moment.

Comete.ai, Onepoint or Gemini, Ino Global... which tools and service providers should you bring on board? Which publisher is really able to produce effective speech-to-text so that conversations can be automatically summarised and imported into the CRM? These are the questions that the editorial team of the Bottin du Service & l'Expérience client has been tackling, as it does every two years. For example, we're waiting to find out what Yampa.ai or Volubile.ai, founded by well-known entrepreneurs*, actually produce, so that we can classify and reference them properly. Or what tool BPCE is using for its speech analytics.

The 5th edition of the Bottin du Service et de l'Expérience Client, published by Malpaso-RCM and En-Contact, is due to come out in December. It lists 900 French specialists in CRM, BPO, customer experience, RCS and the rare specialists in AI applied to these activities. The Dean's List, an attempt to list the 24 personalities and game-changers in the sector, will also be featured.

A little fact-checking was in order. There are a lot of musicians and groups who want to get on stage, both young and old. Who's got it and who's got it, whatever their age or sex? We won't get fooled again’, sang the Who. Investing in unsuitable technology, choosing a telesales or RCS partner who talks a good game but is unreliable - some people have been there, paid to see.

The En-Contact editorial team.

*Stéphanie Delestre, Patrice Mazoyer.