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Our latest "Improving Performance in the Contact Centre" conference in Leeds was a resounding success with the highest amount of registrations we have ever received. Thanks to the high level industry speakers we attracted many of you from industry sectors such as automotive, banking, utilities, government, legal, retail and travel. The event was fully subscribed resulting in a packed auditorium which demonstrates the continuing importance that call centres place in raising their customer service levels.
Highlights of the conference included a keynote session by Paul Cooper from the Institute of Customer Service. Paul focussed on practicalities, reminding us that 80% of the UK workforce is in a service economy and that customer complaints should be treated as free market research which helps drive improvement. One of the most sobering thoughts was a reality check for CRM, Paul highlighted that younger consumers tend not to complain about poor service, instead, they vote with their feet and simply walk away.
Other speakers included Judy Smyth, Director of Global Standards from the Customer Contact Association (CCA). The CCA's influence in call centres continues to grow with corporate membership representing 25% of the Call Centre workforce in the UK. Judy's message was clear and directed at management; "to improve performance in the contact centre you must get greater involvement from senior management at board level, it's this simple: - improvement comes from investment and investment comes from the board." As the call centre is both shop-window and main customer touch-point for many companies today, her point is valid.
The technology exhibition section featured a raft of practical solutions including the latest blend of Business Analytics software from NICE systems which can be used in conjunction with traditional Quality programs. Hosted telephony applications continue to grow in popularity due to their flexibility and low entry cost. OPEX Hosting demonstrated how network versions of Call Recording, Dialling and Self Service applications can be set up and brought online with less than 48 hours notice. OFCOM compliance for Intelligent Predictive Diallers is a big issue at the moment and Gareth Owen marketing director of BeVoice explained ways around what can be a minefield of regulation.
Case histories underpinned the key points of the conference; Barbara Blieler Contact Centre Director from Wisconsin based WPS travelled from the USA to explain how speech analytics on day-to-day calls were transforming her business with demonstrable benefits. Closer to home Paul Miller, Call Centre Director at Prolog highlighted that across the industry as a whole, 91% of consumers have had a bad contact centre experience. One cause of this problem was due to contact centres producing statistics but failing to measure what the customer truly wants. However Paul stated that you can recognise and manage these problems more efficiently by using smarter technology such as customer satisfaction platforms.
Business Systems have been hosting annual events for the past 8 years and this conference is the 4th in the current series. Other conferences are expected for later this year and 2008, you will have the chance to priority register for these soon, please regularly check the website for event updates. If you would like to see a copy of the presentations from this conference please click here.
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