Atento, Sanas, Thrivin forge unified BTO model for AI-augmented CX
MADRID, SPAIN, and CALIFORNIA and MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES — Atento, a global leader in customer experience (CX) and business transformation outsourcing (BTO), announced a strategic collaboration with Sanas and Thrivin to advance a differentiated model for impact sourcing and AI-augmented customer experience.
“This collaboration brings together complementary strengths, Atento’s global transformation solutions and BTO delivery model, Sanas’ real-time speech understanding technology, and Thrivin’s exceptional talent network in Africa,” said Brent Bush, EVP Sales & Business Development at Atento, enabling global expansion without compromising operational resilience or brand integrity.
A unified BTO operating model
This establishes a unified BTO operating model built on the integration of governance, AI technology, and quality talent.
Atento contributes its global BTO governance framework, transformation expertise, and enterprise-grade delivery infrastructure, positioning itself as the orchestrator of the end-to-end model to ensure security, compliance, and performance management meet global enterprise client standards.
This structure allows Atento to maintain oversight while incorporating specialized capabilities from its partners.
Sanas provides a real-time speech understanding technology layer designed specifically for non-U.S. and non-Puerto Rico voice operations, addressing a critical friction point in international voice services.
Thrivin, a quality-first impact sourcing platform based in Kenya, provides a pipeline of highly educated, English-proficient talent that integrates with Atento’s existing operating standards.
Together, the three entities form a delivery framework that moves beyond traditional geography-based outsourcing models toward a unified system where AI, workforce development, and governance operate in concert.
Bush notes, “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.”
“It also creates a strong platform for all three organizations to grow together as we support the next generation of delivering innovative global solutions for our customers.”
Operationalizing impact sourcing at enterprise scale
Through this move, Atento operationalizes impact sourcing at scale by leveraging Thrivin’s quality-first talent model within its enterprise governance framework, creating a structured pathway for global clients to access Africa’s growing workforce.
Africa represents a developing frontier for CX and business services, characterized by a young, digitally fluent, and English-speaking population, and this collaboration offers enterprises a disciplined entry point into the region without sacrificing quality or brand integrity.
The model is further enhanced by Sanas’ AI technology, which reduces communication friction and enhances both agent confidence and customer clarity, a critical component for maintaining CX consistency during geographic expansion.
The organizing principle of the collaboration is total experience (TX), which aligns CX, employee experience, and operational efficiency into a delivery model described as intentionally human at its core and augmented by AI.
Chris Condon, President & GM US Nearshore at Atento, notes, “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.”
Atento ranked #26 in the OA500 2025, an objective index of world’s top 500 outsourcing companies. The 2026 edition of the OA500 is expected to be released soon. (Read the OA500 2026 methodology paper here.)
