Jessica Barceló, CEO of MST Holding: “BPO Providers Have a Competitive Advantage Under Spain’s New Customer Service Law”

Our CEO participated in Expo Relación Cliente 2026, where she shared her insights into the challenges facing the BPO industry in light of new regulations, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. During her intervention, she highlighted the expertise of specialized service providers and emphasized how technological innovation can help improve service quality without necessarily increasing operating costs.

The transformation of the BPO industry and the impact of new regulations were among the key topics discussed at Expo Relación Cliente 2026, held in Madrid on October 7–8.

As part of the event, Jessica Barceló, CEO of MST Holding, participated in the roundtable discussion “BPO 2026: Reinventing the Industry in the Age of AI and New Regulations,” alongside representatives from Emergia, ILUNION Contact Center BPO, and Konecta.

During the discussion, Jessica shared her perspective on the role outsourcing companies must play in responding to new regulatory requirements, highlighting the professionalization of the industry, strategic collaboration with clients, and the opportunities presented by digital transformation.

BPO Professionalization: A Competitive Advantage in the Face of New Regulations

One of Jessica Barceló’s key messages was that companies specializing in customer service are well positioned to address regulatory changes.

“Within our industry, we already have a significant competitive advantage because, even before the Customer Service Law existed, we had already professionalized the sector.”

As she explained, BPO companies have been operating under demanding quality standards for years, driven by their clients’ own requirements.

Spain’s new Customer Service Law (Ley de Servicios de Atención a la Clientela, or Ley SAC) aims to extend these levels of professionalization to areas that have traditionally not been subject to the same requirements.

This development may represent an opportunity for specialized providers, whose experience in service management, performance monitoring, and continuous improvement constitutes a significant competitive advantage.

According to our CEO, the new requirements may also create barriers to entry for less-prepared players, further strengthening the value of companies with established structures and processes.

From Operational Service Providers to Strategic Partners

Beyond regulatory compliance, Jessica Barceló emphasized that the new landscape is transforming the relationship between BPO providers and the organizations that engage their services.

Traditionally, many companies approached outsourcing providers with predefined operating models, limiting their involvement to executing specific processes.

However, emerging needs are driving relationships based on greater cooperation and consultancy.

“There is now a genuine spirit of cooperation aimed at overcoming the challenges that the Customer Service Law may create, whether in terms of increased costs or the need to achieve specific quality SLAs.”

This shift represents an evolution in the role of BPO providers, moving from managing operations to actively participating in service design and optimization.

Their industry expertise enables them to help organizations establish quality indicators, identify improvement opportunities, and develop solutions tailored to evolving market needs.

BPO is therefore moving beyond its traditional role as a service provider to become a strategic partner capable of supporting organizations throughout their transformation journeys.

The Customer Service Law Does Not Necessarily Mean Higher Costs

One of the most interesting points raised by Jessica Barceló was her reflection on the financial impact of the new regulations.

Stricter requirements regarding service quality, personalization, and human interaction may raise concerns among companies about potential increases in operating costs.

However, our CEO argued that this scenario does not necessarily have to result in higher expenditure.

“Companies should not be concerned about increased costs as a result of the Customer Service Law.”

The key lies in combining compliance with the new requirements and an effective digital transformation strategy.

Automating certain customer interactions, optimizing processes, and introducing new technological tools can help offset additional operational demands.

This involves identifying which interactions can be handled through automated solutions and which require the involvement of specialized professionals, while consistently maintaining the level of service quality customers expect.

From this perspective, regulation can become a catalyst for service modernization and the development of more efficient customer service models.

Customer-Centric Artificial Intelligence and Automation

During her intervention, Jessica also highlighted the role of digital transformation in addressing the industry’s challenges.

Artificial intelligence and automation solutions can simplify certain tasks, streamline processes, and optimize available resources.

However, the adoption of these technologies must always respond to users’ needs and expectations.

“We should automate those parts of the contact center that can be automated, while ensuring customers receive the experience they expect across every channel.”

This statement captures one of the industry’s greatest challenges: finding the right balance between technology, operational efficiency, and personalized service.

The objective is not to automate indiscriminately, but to identify where technology can deliver value and where human interaction remains essential.

Combining artificial intelligence, automation, and human expertise enables organizations to develop more efficient customer service models without losing sight of the customer experience.

Sharing Experiences to Drive Industry Transformation

Towards the end of her intervention, Jessica Barceló also emphasized the value of the knowledge BPO companies have accumulated through digital transformation projects.

Specialized providers have spent years supporting their clients in modernizing processes, implementing new technologies, and optimizing customer service operations.

This experience represents a valuable asset that can help other organizations address today’s challenges.

Our CEO highlighted the extensive range of use cases and best practices developed by companies across the industry and stressed the importance of sharing this knowledge.

“I believe we need to bring these experiences together and become advocates for the industry so that these best practices can be replicated.”

This perspective reinforces the importance of collaboration among different market players to foster innovation and contribute to the continued evolution of the BPO industry.

MST Holding: Committed to the Future of BPO

Jessica Barceló’s participation in Expo Relación Cliente 2026 reflects MST Holding’s commitment to industry transformation and the development of increasingly efficient, innovative, and customer-centric service solutions.

Her intervention delivered a clear message: new regulatory requirements and technological advances represent an opportunity to strengthen the strategic role of BPO providers.

The future of the industry lies in leveraging accumulated expertise, fostering closer collaboration with clients, and adopting technologies that improve service quality while optimizing resources.

At MST Holding, we remain committed to combining operational expertise, consultancy, technological innovation, and human talent to support organizations throughout their transformation journeys and deliver higher-quality customer experiences.

www.mstholding.com

The Customer Service Law (Ley SAC): the end of customer service as an obstacle course

We have all been there at some point: a simple issue turns into an endless journey. An automated menu that doesn’t fit, recorded messages that repeat options without offering solutions, channel changes that force you to start again from scratch, agents with no context, or promised call-backs that never come. And, in the end, the most frustrating feeling of all: nobody takes responsibility.

Many companies have understood customer service as a function designed to contain demand, filter contacts and route them efficiently. But organising a service is not the same as turning it into an obstacle course. This is where Spain’s Customer Service Law (Ley de Servicios de Atención a la Clientela, or Ley SAC) brings about a fundamental change: having channels is no longer enough; companies must prove that they work, that they solve problems and that they are accessible.

That is one of its great strengths. It frames customer service as a measurable business responsibility, aligned with consumer rights. It requires personalised attention when requested, real accessibility, traceability and follow-up capability. It also requires companies to document and assess the quality of their service.

The Law is not against technology. It is against bad automation. Against the kind of design that passes the cost of internal inefficiency on to the customer: repeating details, explaining the problem several times or moving between disconnected channels. Technology remains essential, but it stops being acceptable when it replaces resolution with deflection, or accessibility with friction. The rule is clear: it cannot be used as the only means of customer service, and there must be a real option to speak to a person.

This ties in directly with the reality of the contact centre. When a company must guarantee human attention, follow-up, documentation and objective quality measurement, it is acknowledging that this function cannot be sustained with weak or defensive models. Serving customers well requires operational design, judgement, training, supervision and responsibility. In short, it requires professionals.

The value of the human touch

This point is particularly relevant. At a time when the future of customer service is often framed in terms of replacement, the Ley SAC introduces an important correction: there is a part of the service that can only be sustained through high-value employment. Not because technology adds nothing, but because some situations require understanding, context and the ability to take ownership. A bot can classify or speed things up, but it cannot manage emotional complexity, detect misunderstandings or piece together complex incidents.

That is why the Law can also be seen as protecting professional work that adds real value.

This becomes even clearer in the case of vulnerable groups. The quality of a service is not measured when everything works, but when difficulties arise: an older person who doesn’t understand an automated menu, someone with a hearing impairment who needs alternatives, or a user with low digital skills who cannot resolve an issue online. The Law focuses on these situations and requires adaptation, accessibility and appropriate attention.

This approach means rethinking many aspects: channel design, agent training, language, prioritisation criteria and internal coordination. It means moving from process-centred service to people-centred service. And that change is key, because for years we have measured how much was handled, but not always how it was handled or what impact it had on the customer experience.

In this context, the development of the forthcoming UNE 338 standard becomes especially relevant. It represents a step towards putting the Law into practice: translating legal obligations into auditable indicators, metrics and evidence. The Law defines the ‘what’, but the sector needs to make progress on the ‘how’.

And that is good news. Professionalising customer service is not about declaring it strategic, but about defining what good service means, how it is measured and which practices are unacceptable. Customer service is no longer valued simply for existing, and starts to be assessed on its real ability to solve problems without creating unnecessary friction.

The Ley SAC therefore opens up an opportunity that goes beyond compliance. It sets a limit on a model that has shifted onto the customer the effort of making up for internal shortcomings, and it pushes towards a more mature standard, where efficiency is not confused with barriers and automation does not replace responsibility.

The best customer service is not the one that gets customers out of the system fastest, but the one that helps them get out of their problem. If the Ley SAC helps us recover this idea, we will be witnessing the beginning of the end of customer service as an obstacle course.

Jessica Barceló, CEO MEST HOLDING

AI and its impact on the contact center industry: what more than 30 years of experience have taught us to see differently

At MST, we have spent three decades in this industry. We have seen fax, CRM, live chat, WhatsApp Business… and with every wave, someone said, “This time, it really will change everything.” With artificial intelligence, for the first time, we have to agree. But not for the reasons most people think.

AI is not replacing the contact center. It is forcing it to rethink itself from the ground up. And for those of us working in customer service, that is far more interesting news than “robots are going to take our jobs.”

What the numbers tell us (and what they don’t)

Let’s start with the data, because there is plenty of talk about AI in this industry, but far less scrutiny.

In Spain, the contact center industry generated €2.025 billion in revenue, up 0.94% on the previous year, according to the CEX Association’s 2025 Market Study. That figure is interesting in itself, but another catches our attention even more: technology investment as a share of company costs rose by seven percentage points to 68%. Companies are not talking about AI simply because it is fashionable; they are committing real budgets to it.

And where is that investment going? According to the same study, robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence have already been implemented in 89% of CEX member companies. That is a remarkably high figure, and it confirms something we repeat in every meeting with our clients at MST: AI is no longer a pilot project tucked away in an innovation department. It is core infrastructure for the modern contact center.

At the national level, a 2026 AWS study indicates that 61% of Spanish companies have already implemented an AI solution, eleven percentage points more than the previous year. According to the report, Spain is seven percentage points above the European average for adoption.

So far, it all sounds very promising. And this is where, with 30 years of experience behind us, we need to hit the brakes for a moment.

The figure hardly anyone mentions: investing is not the same as getting results

A recent study reported by MuyCanal, examining more than $250 billion in global AI investment in 2025, reveals that only a quarter of companies say they have achieved a significant business impact from that investment. It bears repeating: three out of four companies invested in AI without seeing a meaningful impact.

Why does this happen? Because many companies treat AI as a patch added to existing processes, rather than redesigning those processes from scratch around how AI and people will work together. In a contact center, that distinction makes all the difference. There is no point putting a chatbot in front of a poorly designed process: all you achieve is automating customer frustration, not eliminating it.

This is exactly what we keep saying at MST: technology does not fix a bad process; it amplifies it. Before automating, you need to truly understand the customer journey.

From trend to strategic decision

What is genuinely changing in 2026 is the role of conversational AI within organizations. It is no longer solely the responsibility of the innovation department: it has become a leadership decision, with a direct impact on customer experience, operations and business results, according to PwC’s 2025 Contact Center Trends Study, published by FUNDAE.

The difference between companies that benefit from AI and those that do not is no longer whether they have a bot. It is whether that technology is part of a coherent conversational architecture: one where voice, WhatsApp, web chat and social media stop operating in silos and start sharing customer history and context in real time.

For us, that is the real revolution. It is not that a machine can speak like a person. It is that customers finally no longer have to repeat their problem three times across three different channels.

Will AI replace human agents?

This is the question we are asked most often, and the short answer is: not in the way most people fear.

What is happening is a real redesign of the agent’s role. AI is increasingly handling repetitive, low-value tasks first: balance inquiries, appointment changes and frequently asked questions. This frees human agents to focus on what truly requires judgment, empathy and decision-making: complex interactions, sensitive complaints and customers who need to feel truly heard.

Gartner predicts that by 2029, agentic AI could autonomously resolve up to 80% of routine customer service inquiries. This deserves to be stated clearly: it is a forecast, not an established fact, and as with any prediction looking several years ahead, we treat it with some caution.

What is already clear today is that the model delivering results is a hybrid one: AI for volume and repetition, people for judgment and emotional connection. Neither entirely human nor fully automated.

How to avoid becoming part of the 75% that sees no results

With all of this in mind, at MST we sum up our recommendations in four principles:

  • Start with the process, not the tool. Map the actual customer journey before deciding what to automate.
  • Measure from day one. Track first-contact resolution, waiting times and customer satisfaction, not just cost savings.
  • Train your people for their new role. Agents handling complex complaints today need different tools and training from those they needed five years ago.
  • Do not buy technology out of fear of falling behind. According to several recent studies, technology FOMO is one of the main reasons AI investment fails to generate a return.

A final thought

Thirty years in this industry have taught us one thing: technology trends come and go, but what endures is the quality of the conversation between a company and its customers. AI does not change that fundamental truth. What it does is force us to decide, far more clearly than before, which parts of that conversation are worth automating and which unquestionably need to remain human.

*Note: All figures are verifiable as of this article’s publication date (September 2026).

www.mstholding.com

AI That Serves Customers Without Telling Them: 3 Myths About Article 50 of the AI Act That Are Confusing Contact Centers

A customer calls to check their account balance. Another sends a WhatsApp message to change a hotel booking. Someone else wants to schedule an appointment at a car repair shop. In all three cases, it is increasingly likely that the response will come not from a person, but from a virtual assistant.

And since 2 August 2026, there is a legal obligation that many companies have yet to fully address: customers need to know when they are interacting with AI.

This requirement comes from Article 50 of the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). In our conversations with clients across different industries, we repeatedly come across the same misconceptions. Let’s debunk them one by one.

Myth 1: “I use AI to assist people, not replace them, so this doesn’t apply to me”

This is often the first assumption, and it is a mistake.

The regulation does not distinguish between “AI that replaces people” and “AI that helps provide better customer service”. What matters is one thing: if an AI system interacts directly with a customer, the customer must be informed that they are interacting with a machine, unless this is obvious from the context.

It does not matter if the chatbot only identifies the reason for the enquiry before transferring the customer to a human agent. If it interacts with the customer, it counts.

Myth 2: “The legal department can solve this by adding a clause”

Not quite.

Article 50 is not something that can be addressed simply by signing a document once and considering the matter closed. It is a requirement that needs to be embedded in the customer experience itself: in the welcome message of a voicebot, in the first message of a chat conversation, and in the way a WhatsApp assistant introduces itself.

In practice, this means reviewing scripts, conversational flows and automatically generated content, such as call summaries or semi-automated email responses, that reaches customers without making it clear that AI has been involved in producing it.

Myth 3: “If my BPO provider manages the channel, the responsibility is theirs”

It depends, and this is where many operations are caught by surprise.

The responsibility for informing customers lies with the party deploying the technology in front of the end customer. If you outsource customer service operations, this responsibility should already be clearly reflected in your contracts and SLAs with your BPO provider, rather than simply being assumed.

What Does This Look Like Across Different Industries?

Managing this requirement in banking is not the same as managing it in tourism. Here are some examples of where problems commonly arise:

  • Banking: virtual assistants handling balance or transaction enquiries, where the initial AI disclosure may be buried within an options menu.
  • Travel and tourism: chatbots managing bookings and travel changes, particularly during peak periods when the bot may handle the entire conversation without clearly identifying itself as AI.
  • Automotive: workshop appointment assistants that often rely on legacy scripts created before this obligation existed.
  • Healthcare and pharmaceuticals: bots used to schedule appointments or answer basic queries, a particularly sensitive area given the nature of the information involved.

The same pattern appears across all these industries: the technology was originally deployed to reduce waiting times, while the “I’m a virtual assistant” disclosure was treated as a minor design detail.

The Real Issue Is Not the Fine

Penalties exist, but what we see in many operational audits is a more fundamental problem: many companies do not have a clear inventory of every customer touchpoint where AI is interacting with customers.

Without that map, there is no way to guarantee compliance with the regulation, no matter how good the company’s intentions may be.

Before December Arrives

Generative AI systems that were already in operation before August 2026 have until December to adjust their technical labelling. However, this deadline should not be confused with the obligation to inform users, which is already enforceable.

There are two questions we usually ask when we begin working with an operation:

Have you mapped every touchpoint where AI interacts with your customers?

Do your contracts with BPO providers clearly define who is responsible for meeting this obligation?

If you do not have a clear answer, this is often the starting point for our CX Consulting and AI Technology projects at MST Holding: identifying where AI is being used across your operation, how this is communicated to customers, and how it is documented.

Do You Know Whether Your Operation Falls Within the Scope of Article 50?

Talk to our CX Consulting and AI Technology team and find out how to assess your customer service operation against the requirements of the EU AI Act.

www.mstholding.com

MST HOLDING returns to Expo Relación Cliente 2026: once again at one of the industry’s key events

The date is already marked on the calendar, and this year we are looking forward to it more than ever. MST HOLDING will once again be taking part in Expo Relación Cliente 2026, Spain’s leading customer experience event, taking place on 7 and 8 October at Kinépolis Ciudad de la Imagen in Madrid. And, as always, we will be bringing plenty of new developments with us.

If you have been following our journey, you already know that standing still is not really our thing. So get ready, because this article will tell you everything you need to know about our participation: where to find us, what you will discover at our stand, and why this year’s edition promises to be different from all the previous ones.

An event that sets the pace for the industry

For years, Expo Relación Cliente has been one of Spain’s leading events for everything related to customer experience and the contact center industry. Each edition brings together leading companies, brands and professionals to share trends, technology and real success stories.

This year’s edition comes with a highly relevant theme focused on how artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of the relationship between brands and people. Artificial intelligence in customer service is no longer a promise for the future: it is already transforming, here and now, the way companies communicate with their customers.

For us, this is nothing new. We have been working for some time to ensure that technology serves people, not the other way around. And at Expo Relación Cliente 2026, we will be showing exactly what that means.

What everyone will be talking about this year: AI, data and people

If there is one topic set to define this year’s event, it is the conversation around artificial intelligence applied to customer experience. Not as a passing trend, but as a real tool that is already changing very specific aspects of customer service: how issues are resolved, how quickly customers receive a response, and how companies can anticipate their needs before they even express them.

But there is something we firmly believe, and something you will also be able to see at our stand: technology alone does not solve anything. AI works when it is supported by well-designed processes, well-trained teams and a clear strategy for continuous improvement. This is precisely where our consulting pillar comes into play, ensuring that every technological advance translates into better service, rather than simply more automation.

Find us at Stand 48

Our participation in Expo Relación Cliente 2026 will also be an opportunity to share our vision of where the industry is heading.

Throughout the two-day event, the MST HOLDING team will be at Stand 48, a space designed to meet with clients, partners and professionals interested in discovering how we are addressing the new challenges facing customer experience.

In addition, Jessica Barceló, CEO of MST HOLDING, will be attending this year’s event, joining the team and sharing our vision of how an industry undergoing one of the most significant transformations in recent years is evolving.

As co-sponsors of Expo Relación Cliente 2026, we want to once again play an active role in this space for conversation, knowledge sharing and innovation.

Because events such as ExpoRC are not just about discovering new technologies. They are also an opportunity to share real experiences, listen to different perspectives and, above all, talk about the challenges that organisations need to solve today.

More than three decades listening to customers

We have been working in this industry for more than 33 years, and if there is one thing that has remained unchanged throughout that time, it is the way we understand our business: the customer always comes first. What has changed — and significantly — is the technology we use to make that possible.

This consistency and our commitment to doing things well have earned us recognition that makes us extremely proud, including being recently recognised as one of the leading contact centers in the industry. But what truly motivates us is not the awards themselves; it is continuing to improve the experience we deliver every single day.

Would you like to join us at Expo Relación Cliente 2026?

If you want to discover first-hand the trends transforming customer experience, learn about the latest developments in the industry and meet the MST HOLDING team, you can register for Expo Relación Cliente 2026 through this link: https://ifaes.credoffice.net/vCongress/landingForm?eid=7&atid=22&puid=de6aa444-8495-488f-b678-0a11243c7d5f&pid=147&lg=es

Book your place and come and visit us.

7–8 October 2026 | Kinépolis Ciudad de la Imagen, Madrid | Stand 48

See you at ExpoRC26.

www.mstholding.com

AI That Serves Customers Without Telling Them: 3 Myths About Article 50 of the AI Act That Are Confusing Contact Centers

A customer calls to check their account balance. Another sends a WhatsApp message to change a hotel booking. Someone else wants to schedule an appointment at a car repair shop. In all three cases, it is increasingly likely that the response will come not from a person, but from a virtual assistant.

And since 2 August 2026, there is a legal obligation that many companies have yet to fully address: customers need to know when they are interacting with AI.

This requirement comes from Article 50 of the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). In our conversations with clients across different industries, we repeatedly come across the same misconceptions. Let’s debunk them one by one.

Myth 1: “I use AI to assist people, not replace them, so this doesn’t apply to me”

This is often the first assumption, and it is a mistake.

The regulation does not distinguish between “AI that replaces people” and “AI that helps provide better customer service”. What matters is one thing: if an AI system interacts directly with a customer, the customer must be informed that they are interacting with a machine, unless this is obvious from the context.

It does not matter if the chatbot only identifies the reason for the enquiry before transferring the customer to a human agent. If it interacts with the customer, it counts.

Myth 2: “The legal department can solve this by adding a clause”

Not quite.

Article 50 is not something that can be addressed simply by signing a document once and considering the matter closed. It is a requirement that needs to be embedded in the customer experience itself: in the welcome message of a voicebot, in the first message of a chat conversation, and in the way a WhatsApp assistant introduces itself.

In practice, this means reviewing scripts, conversational flows and automatically generated content, such as call summaries or semi-automated email responses, that reaches customers without making it clear that AI has been involved in producing it.

Myth 3: “If my BPO provider manages the channel, the responsibility is theirs”

It depends, and this is where many operations are caught by surprise.

The responsibility for informing customers lies with the party deploying the technology in front of the end customer. If you outsource customer service operations, this responsibility should already be clearly reflected in your contracts and SLAs with your BPO provider, rather than simply being assumed.

What Does This Look Like Across Different Industries?

Managing this requirement in banking is not the same as managing it in tourism. Here are some examples of where problems commonly arise:

  • Banking: virtual assistants handling balance or transaction enquiries, where the initial AI disclosure may be buried within an options menu.
  • Travel and tourism: chatbots managing bookings and travel changes, particularly during peak periods when the bot may handle the entire conversation without clearly identifying itself as AI.
  • Automotive: workshop appointment assistants that often rely on legacy scripts created before this obligation existed.
  • Healthcare and pharmaceuticals: bots used to schedule appointments or answer basic queries, a particularly sensitive area given the nature of the information involved.

The same pattern appears across all these industries: the technology was originally deployed to reduce waiting times, while the “I’m a virtual assistant” disclosure was treated as a minor design detail.

The Real Issue Is Not the Fine

Penalties exist, but what we see in many operational audits is a more fundamental problem: many companies do not have a clear inventory of every customer touchpoint where AI is interacting with customers.

Without that map, there is no way to guarantee compliance with the regulation, no matter how good the company’s intentions may be.

Before December Arrives

Generative AI systems that were already in operation before August 2026 have until December to adjust their technical labelling. However, this deadline should not be confused with the obligation to inform users, which is already enforceable.

There are two questions we usually ask when we begin working with an operation:

Have you mapped every touchpoint where AI interacts with your customers?

Do your contracts with BPO providers clearly define who is responsible for meeting this obligation?

If you do not have a clear answer, this is often the starting point for our CX Consulting and AI Technology projects at MST Holding: identifying where AI is being used across your operation, how this is communicated to customers, and how it is documented.

Do You Know Whether Your Operation Falls Within the Scope of Article 50?

Talk to our CX Consulting and AI Technology team and find out how to assess your customer service operation against the requirements of the EU AI Act.

400 Prefix: How It Will Change the Way Businesses Call Their Customers Forever

It has probably happened to you before: your phone rings, you see a number you don’t recognize, you think it might be a family member or something urgent… and it turns out to be a sales call. Sometimes it’s even worse: a scam attempt. That moment of uncertainty will soon disappear in Spain, as the Government has approved a new measure that completely changes the rules for commercial calls.

What the New Regulation Actually Says

Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service has published a resolution establishing that, from October, all commercial calls must be made from a nine-digit number beginning with the 400 prefix.

The idea is straightforward: as soon as you see a number starting with 400 on your screen, you’ll immediately know that a business is calling you for commercial purposes.

There is one important detail to understand: these numbers will be one-way only. In other words, customers will be able to receive calls from these numbers but will not be able to call them back. This is no coincidence—it is designed to reduce the risk of fraud that occurs when people return calls to unknown numbers, a common tactic used in telephone scams.

One point worth noting is that an earlier draft of the regulation, published in February, proposed making these numbers two-way. However, the final version approved in April changed this approach and established them as one-way numbers. If you’ve read otherwise elsewhere, it was most likely referring to the earlier draft.

When Will It Become Mandatory?

The new numbering range will become operational within six months of the publication of the resolution. From October 2026, telecommunications operators will begin blocking commercial calls that do not use the 400 range.

From that point onward, any commercial call made from a number other than one beginning with 400 may be blocked directly by the telecom operator, without the user having to take any action.

This measure does not come out of nowhere. It implements the Customer Service Act (Ley SAC), approved in December 2025, which already required commercial calls to use a dedicated numbering code so they could be clearly identified.

What About Customer Service Calls?

This is where some confusion often arises, so it’s worth clarifying.

The 400 prefix is exclusively for commercial calls—those made by a company to sell products or services or acquire new customers.

Customer service calls—those related to an existing contract, support request or incident—follow different rules. These may only be made from specifically assigned short numbers, the free 800 and 900 ranges, or standard geographic numbers.

This requirement was already established by the ministerial order aimed at preventing caller ID spoofing, which came into force in March 2025 and also prohibited the use of mobile numbers for this type of customer service call.

In short:

  • Sales calls will come from a 400 number.
  • Customer service calls will come from an 800, 900, or geographic number.
  • They should never come from a standard mobile number.

Why Has the Government Introduced This Measure?

The objective is clear: to combat telephone fraud.

Digital Transformation Minister Óscar López summed it up well by saying that everyone has answered a call believing it was someone they knew, only to discover it was a commercial call.

The new numbering system forms part of a broader national strategy against telephone fraud. According to the latest official figures, since the plan was introduced in March 2025 it has enabled operators to block 192 million fraudulent calls and 17 million fraudulent SMS messages. These numbers illustrate the scale of the problem the Government is seeking to address.

What Does This Mean for Companies That Make Commercial Calls?

This is where the new regulation directly impacts contact centers, telesales teams and any organization running outbound telemarketing campaigns.

The change involves far more than simply replacing a phone number. Businesses will need to review their outbound calling infrastructure, adapt their dialing platforms and ensure that every commercial campaign is carried out exclusively using numbers within the new 400 range.

The industry has already expressed concerns. The Spanish Contact Center Association (AEERC), which represents a large part of the sector, has warned that the implementation period is shorter than originally anticipated under the Customer Service Act.

For companies operating outbound campaigns, this means a genuine technical transition: coordinating with telecommunications operators, updating automatic dialing systems and verifying that every commercial line has been correctly assigned to the new numbering range before October. The sooner this migration begins, the lower the risk of campaigns being blocked once the regulation takes effect.

What Can You Do If You Receive a Non-Compliant Commercial Call?

If, from October onward, a company calls you from a number that does not begin with 400, you may report the call to the Telecommunications User Assistance Office (OAUT) or to Spain’s National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC).

This provides an additional layer of consumer protection by placing responsibility on the organization making the call rather than on the person receiving it.

Conclusion

The introduction of the 400 prefix is much more than a simple numbering change. It represents another step toward a more transparent relationship between businesses and consumers while strengthening the fight against telephone fraud.

For consumers, it means being able to decide at a glance whether to answer a call.

For businesses, it means that technological and operational adaptation can no longer be postponed. October is closer than it seems.

www.mstholding.com

Customer Service in Catalan, Valencian, Basque, and Galician: What the Customer Service Law Requires from the Financial Sector

If a customer calls their bank in Basque and the agent does not understand the language, what happens? Until now, financial sector regulation required institutions to respond to written complaints in the same language in which they had been submitted. It was a limited right and relatively easy to manage. Law 10/2025 significantly expands this right, with much broader practical implications for customer service teams.

This is currently one of the areas with the highest level of interpretative ambiguity, but precisely for that reason it deserves detailed analysis: financial institutions need guidance in order to start taking action.

What Already Existed: The Right to Receive a Response in the Language of the Complaint

Sector-specific regulation already established that customers have the right to submit complaints in Spanish or in any co-official language of the territory where they reside (Catalan, Basque, Galician, or Valencian) and to receive the response in that same language. This right applied to formal written complaints managed under the regulatory framework supervised by the Bank of Spain, the CNMV, and the DGSFP.

To manage this requirement, many institutions relied on specialized teams or translation services. The volume was manageable because it was limited to a specific type of communication.

What the Customer Service Law Adds: Language Throughout the Entire Interaction

Law 10/2025 goes much further. Its approach is that linguistic criteria should not be limited to formal complaints: they must apply to the entire interaction with the Customer Service department, including phone calls, live chats, emails, messaging services, and any other communication channel.

If an institution operates in a territory with a co-official language, it must be able to assist and respond in that language whenever requested by the customer, both orally and in writing. Customer service teams must also be trained accordingly.

Articles 29 ter.2 and 29 septies.4 of the amended Law 44/2002 establish this linguistic framework. The regulation does not state that every call must be handled in a co-official language. It states that when a customer requests it, the institution must be able to respond. But that “must be able to” carries very specific organizational implications.

The Operational Challenge: People, Training, and Availability

Having agents capable of providing fluent support in Catalan, Basque, Galician, and Valencian across all shifts and all channels is not easy, especially for medium-sized institutions or national organizations whose customer service centers are located in a single site.

The market for professionals fluent in some of these languages (particularly Basque) is limited. Geographic dispersion of customers adds further complexity: an institution may simultaneously serve customers in the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia, each with different language needs during the same working shift.

The law does not establish specific availability thresholds, but this does not exempt institutions from compliance. What it does require is a structural customer service model, not merely occasional solutions.

Can Technology Be the Solution?

The answer is nuanced but encouraging. The law does not rule out the use of language assistance technology or AI-powered real-time translation systems, provided that service quality is guaranteed. This opens the door to real-time support tools for agents who do not fully master the language: systems capable of transcribing and translating conversations, allowing agents to understand customers and respond coherently.

However, technology does not eliminate responsibility for service quality. If the system makes translation errors that affect the proper resolution of the request, responsibility still lies with the institution. In addition, the system must be auditable.

Callback as a Temporary Solution, Not a Structural One

If, at a specific moment, no agent is available in the requested language, offering a callback from a qualified agent may be a valid solution. But with the same limitations applicable to waiting-time KPIs: it cannot become the standard approach. The institution must be able to demonstrate that it has a structural model for providing support in co-official languages, and that callbacks are only used exceptionally.

The Risk of Inaction

Co-official languages are considered a high-priority issue by Consumer Protection Authorities, especially in Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia. The likelihood of receiving a complaint or undergoing an inspection in this area is higher than for many other regulatory requirements, partly because it is a right that citizens know and value, and partly because it is relatively easy for inspectors to verify whether an institution can provide service in a co-official language.

Institutions operating in these territories should include this issue in their compliance risk map and develop an action plan supported by documented evidence: who provides support in each language, what training agents have received, how demand is managed when immediate availability is not possible, and what technology is used as support.

Consulting C3 and MST Holding actively participate in the UNE Committee responsible for defining the audit standard for the Customer Service Law and maintain ongoing contact with the AERC to communicate the sector’s concerns to the organizations responsible for clarifying them.

MST and Costa Cruises Awarded for Their Employee Experience Strategy

Recognition for Our Approach to Employee Experience

At MST, we are celebrating. Together with our client Costa Cruises, we have won the award for Best Employee Experience Strategy in Contact Center at the 17th edition of the Platinum Customer Experience Awards.

This recognition fills us with pride because it validates a principle we strongly believe in: to deliver an outstanding customer experience, we must first take care of the people who make it possible every day.

In an environment as demanding as the Contact Center industry, people are the true driving force behind service excellence. That is why, together with Costa Cruises, we have developed an Employee Experience strategy focused on employee well-being, motivation, professional development, communication, and recognition.

People at the Heart of Our Strategy

This award recognizes a way of working built on listening, continuous improvement, and shared commitment. We have implemented initiatives designed to create a more positive, collaborative, and goal-oriented work environment.

Behind this project lies a comprehensive approach that includes training, coaching, close leadership, management tools, engagement initiatives, and a strong team culture that supports continuous growth.

We firmly believe that when professionals feel supported, valued, and empowered, they are able to deliver their very best in every customer interaction. This directly translates into an enhanced Customer Experience.

Employee Experience and Customer Experience: Two Paths Moving Forward Together

For us, Employee Experience and Customer Experience are deeply interconnected. One cannot exist without the other.

A motivated, well-trained, and engaged team is better equipped to create more meaningful conversations, effectively address customer needs, and build stronger relationships based on trust.

This recognition, achieved together with Costa Cruises, confirms that investing in people not only improves the workplace environment but also drives service quality, operational efficiency, and business results.

An Award Shared with the Entire Team

This Platinum Customer Experience Award is, above all, a recognition of the people who make this project possible every day.

To all the teams involved in delivering the Costa Cruises service, thank you for your dedication, positive attitude, and ability to turn every challenge into an opportunity for improvement.

As our CEO states:

“This award recognizes much more than a strategy. It recognizes the hard work, passion, and commitment of the people who make our project possible every day. At MST, we are convinced that taking care of our teams is the best way to take care of our customers. We proudly share this recognition with Costa Cruises and with all the professionals who have contributed to making it possible.”

Moving Forward

Winning this award motivates us to continue working with the same enthusiasm and sense of responsibility. We understand that Employee Experience is constantly evolving, just as customer expectations continue to change.

For this reason, we will continue to invest in innovation, active listening, training, employee well-being, and continuous improvement as the foundations for building workplaces where people can grow, create value, and feel part of something meaningful.

At MST, we would like to thank Costa Cruises for their trust and for sharing our vision of a people-centered customer experience.

This recognition reinforces our commitment to a way of working where Employee Experience, Customer Experience, and Operational Excellence advance together.

www.mstholding.com

Resolution Deadlines for Complaints: The Financial Sector Moves from Two Months to One

If there is one aspect of Law 10/2025 that will directly impact the day-to-day operations of customer service teams in the financial sector, it is the new framework for complaint resolution deadlines. The maximum response time is reduced from two months to one. Half the time to resolve complaints, while maintaining the same quality standards in responses and with the obligation to document everything. For many institutions, this is not a minor adjustment: it is a complete process redesign.

However, there are important nuances. The Customer Service Law (Ley SAC) does not establish a single deadline for all complaints in the financial sector. Instead, it introduces a distinction by type of service, requiring each complaint to be classified from the very moment it is registered.

The New Deadline Framework

Once the law comes into force, financial institutions must manage complaints according to the following differentiated structure:

• General complaints: maximum of 1 month from the formal submission of the complaint until the reasoned response is communicated to the customer. This specific deadline applies to the financial sector under sector-specific regulations, which take precedence over the general Customer Service Law. For all other sectors, the general deadline remains 15 business days.

• Payment services (payments, transfers, cards): maximum of 15 days. The shorter deadline already established under PSD2 remains in place. In this case, sector-specific regulation is stricter, not more flexible.

Previous regulation treated complaints in a generic manner, with a single two-month deadline for all cases. The Customer Service Law breaks this uniformity and introduces the need to classify and categorize each complaint according to the nature of the service involved. This has a direct impact on management systems, workflows, and agent training.

Why Accurate Classification from the First Contact Is Essential

If the deadline for a complaint related to a bank transfer is 15 days, while a complaint regarding a life insurance product allows one month, the system must identify the type of complaint from the very first registration and activate the correct deadline counter. Without this automatic or guided classification, the risk of non-compliance increases significantly, especially during periods of high volume.

This requires reviewing intake forms, categorization systems, escalation workflows, and automatic alerts for the teams responsible for each type of complaint. An issue related to an unauthorized card charge cannot be managed under the same deadline structure as a complaint concerning mortgage conditions.

Correct classification from the start provides another key advantage: prioritization. In high-volume environments, understanding that some complaints must be resolved within 15 days while others allow one month enables a far more efficient distribution of workload.

The Real Impact on Internal Processes

Cutting resolution times in half without reducing response quality requires identifying the real operational bottlenecks. Based on Consulting C3’s experience working with financial institutions, the most common issues are:

• The number of internal escalations required to resolve a complaint, as each escalation adds delays.

• Dependence on other departments (product, risk, legal) to obtain the necessary information. If these departments do not operate under internal SLAs aligned with the new regulatory deadline, the Customer Service department will not be able to comply.

• Agents’ ability to draft high-quality reasoned responses without always depending on higher-level validation.

• Internal approval times for responses, especially in complex or high-value complaints.

Evidence and Documentation: What Regulators Will Require

Compliance alone is not enough: institutions must also be able to prove it. Companies must maintain clear records of the exact time each complaint was received, its classification, the applicable deadline, and the date on which the response was communicated. This documentary traceability is what protects institutions during inspections or in the event of direct customer claims.

One particularly sensitive point is the starting moment of the deadline. The law establishes that the countdown begins from the formal submission of the complaint. Does the customer receive an automatic acknowledgment with date and time? Does that acknowledgment specify the applicable maximum response time? These are questions that must already be answered before the regulation comes into force.

What Financial Institutions Should Be Doing Now

• Review the current complaint management process and identify where the greatest delays occur.

• Implement an automatic or guided complaint classification system by service type, activating the corresponding deadline from the first registration.

• Align the internal SLAs of support departments (product, risk, legal) with the new one-month regulatory deadline.

• Ensure customers receive an automatic acknowledgment including the start date and maximum response deadline.

• Review alert systems so teams are notified when a complaint is approaching its deadline.

The shift from two months to one is not impossible to manage, but it requires a deliberate redesign of processes. It is not enough to do the same work in less time: it must be done differently.

www.mstholding.com