Atento Reimagines Global CX with AI and African Impact Sourcing

MIRAMAR, Fla. – March 11, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant evolution in the global outsourcing landscape, customer experience (CX) leader Atento today announced a strategic collaboration with AI technology provider Sanas and Kenyan impact sourcing platform Thrivin. The partnership aims to deliver a new, integrated model for business transformation outsourcing (BTO) that combines artificial intelligence, enterprise-grade governance, and a socially conscious approach to talent acquisition in Africa.

This three-way alliance is designed to operationalize what the companies call a “differentiated model for Impact Sourcing at scale and AI-augmented customer experience.” By uniting their respective strengths, the partners intend to offer enterprises a pathway for global expansion that doesn't sacrifice performance, security, or brand integrity, while simultaneously creating meaningful employment opportunities in emerging markets.

At the heart of the initiative is Atento’s core belief that the future of CX must be “Augmented by AI. Driven by People.” This collaboration serves as a tangible blueprint for that vision, moving beyond traditional outsourcing models that have historically prioritized cost savings above all else, often by simply shifting operations to the cheapest geographical location.

A New Blueprint for Business Transformation

This partnership introduces a unified BTO operating model that strategically integrates three critical components. Atento, a global leader in CX and BTO, provides the foundational layer of governance, transformation expertise, and an enterprise-grade delivery framework. It acts as the orchestrator, ensuring that stringent standards for security, compliance, and performance management are met, a crucial requirement for large corporate clients.

The second pillar is Sanas, which contributes its real-time speech understanding technology. Deployed as an AI enablement layer, this technology is designed to enhance clarity and reduce communication friction in voice operations, a persistent challenge in global service delivery. This AI is not about replacing human agents but augmenting their capabilities.

Completing the trifecta is Thrivin, a quality-focused impact sourcing platform based in Kenya. Thrivin provides access to a pipeline of highly educated, English-proficient, and performance-driven talent from across Africa. These individuals are then integrated into Atento’s global operating standards, ensuring they are equipped to deliver services that meet the high expectations of global brands.

This integrated approach reflects a key industry shift. Experts have noted that the future of outsourcing lies in creating holistic models that weave together technology, robust governance, and strategic workforce development, rather than treating them as separate silos. By combining these elements, Atento aims to prove that operational rigor and social impact are not mutually exclusive but can be mutually reinforcing.

Unlocking Africa's Digital Workforce Through Impact Sourcing

The collaboration places a significant spotlight on Africa as a rising frontier for business services and on impact sourcing as a powerful engine for both business success and social good. Impact sourcing is a business practice that intentionally hires and provides career development opportunities to people from disadvantaged or high-unemployment communities. Far from a purely charitable endeavor, it has proven business benefits, including access to a motivated and untapped talent pool and significantly lower employee attrition rates—often 15-40% lower than in traditional BPO centers.

Africa, with its young, digitally fluent, and largely English-speaking population, represents a vast reservoir of such talent. The continent's BPO sector is growing, with 39% of the world's impact sourcing workers already based there as of 2022. By partnering with Thrivin in Kenya, Atento is strategically tapping into this potential. This provides global enterprises with access to a new delivery geography without the risks often associated with venturing into emerging markets.

The model creates a virtuous cycle: enterprises gain access to a high-quality, loyal workforce, while individuals in Kenya gain stable, well-paying jobs and valuable skills that can uplift their families and communities. This aligns directly with corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, allowing companies to enhance their brand reputation while building a more resilient and diverse global workforce.

The Human-AI Partnership at the Core of CX

A pivotal element of this model is the concept of a “Total Experience (TX),” which seeks to simultaneously optimize the customer experience, the employee experience, and operational efficiency. The integration of Sanas’ AI technology is central to achieving this balance.

For the customer, the technology aims to create clearer, more effective conversations by reducing misunderstandings that can arise from diverse accents or background noise. This directly addresses a common pain point in global call centers and contributes to higher first-call resolution and overall satisfaction.

For the employee—the impact-sourced agent in Kenya—the benefits are equally profound. The AI acts as a real-time co-pilot, enhancing their confidence and reducing the cognitive load of navigating complex customer interactions. By smoothing communication, the technology empowers agents to focus on problem-solving and delivering empathetic service, which are uniquely human strengths. This focus on augmenting, rather than replacing, human agents is critical to maintaining the “human at its core” principle of the delivery model.

This human-AI partnership allows Atento to stand by the “quality-first” promise of its impact sourcing model. It provides a technological safety net that ensures performance consistency and helps new agents ramp up more quickly, ultimately enabling the entire system to scale responsibly.

Expanding with Discipline and Impact

Ultimately, this collaboration is a calculated move to offer global enterprises a smarter way to grow. As Brent Bush, EVP Sales & Business Development at Atento, stated, “Together, we’re creating new opportunities to deliver AI-augmented customer experience at scale while helping enterprises expand into new markets with the governance, performance, and quality they expect from Atento.”

From a practical standpoint, the model is designed for scalability and rigor. “By integrating AI-enabled voice technology with a disciplined, governed impact sourcing delivery model, we’re demonstrating that global expansion, operational rigor, and workforce development can coexist within a high-performance BTO framework,” said Chris Condon, President & GM US Nearshore at Atento.

This initiative serves as a compelling case study for the future of the BPO industry. It challenges outdated notions about outsourcing and presents a forward-looking vision where technology enhances human potential, business growth fuels community development, and global enterprises can expand their footprint not just profitably, but also responsibly.