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Industry Insight

15 May 2012
The key to outsourcing success
Successfully outsourcing call centres relies on 3 key areas for a partnership to flourish, research has found.
11 May 2012
Financial services face great expectations
Financial organisations deal with a vast and complex situation when it comes to customer engagement.
03 May 2012
Shop Direct puts customers first
A feedback programme which links every department back to customer service performance has succeeded in helping Shop Direct.
30 April 2012
Is the Big Brand experience predictable?
Can big brands learn a thing or two from independent retailers when it comes to customer experience?
25 April 2012
Is customer service designed to fail?
A customer service paradox exists in most companies, says Wally Brill .
23 April 2012
Market research: making the right choices
Modern brands are forced to offer an ever increasing range of options to consumers, but how do you know which choices to offer? Jules Berry reveals a new method of research that can help businesses decide which options will be most successful in giving customers what they want and driving commercial success.
20 April 2012
Customer service in 2015
As consumers become more demanding, tech savvy and less loyal, what will customer service look like in 2015? It is likely to demand a more innovative and proactive approach, say Moira Clark and Philip Michell , as well as better trained customer service staff who can deal with more complex issues.
17 April 2012
The 10 biggest barriers to customer-led cultures
Consistently offering a great customer experience can only be achieved through a company culture that has the customer right at its heart – which is a huge challenge for many businesses. So what is it that stops so many companies from realising that elusive customer-led culture? New regular contributor Tracey Finlay offers up the most common habits that hold organisations back.
03 April 2012
What does ‘Big Data’ mean for call centres?
The information an organisation already holds in its own systems could deliver massive returns, if it is harnessed correctly. That is the premise behind ‘big data’. To capitalise on the benefits of big data, it’s essential to have the right framework in place – but there are some quick wins to be found in the contact centre, explains David Parcell .
08 March 2012
Offshoring: what now?
When locations such as India first suggested that organisations could save up to 40% on call centre costs by shifting to the sub-continent, many companies gave it a try. In recent years however, consumer backlash and a poor perception of overseas centres have seen many come back onshore. So is offshoring off the table? Or is it due for a resurgence in 2012? Together with outsourcing specialist Mindpearl, Call Centre Focus gathered several senior customer service executives to investigate, as Claudia Hathway reports...
06 March 2012
Integrated customer experiences: one view
Channel integration is good for customers and for the businesses that serve them. So why aren’t more organisations offering a joined up customer experience? In the last of a series of three features that seek to answer that question, Paul Scott considers the pressing need to provide contact centre agents with a single view of customer data and their personal preferences.
29 February 2012
Turn call centres into profit centres
Just as call centres were introduced to answer the growing desire for customers to speak - rather than write - to the organisations they did business with, now companies must evolve their customer contact strategy to the next phase of interacting with customers. Consumers are no longer satisfied with simply calling a contact centre, says Mike England ; they want to communicate in the way that best suits them – whether that is via the phone, text, email, web portal, video calling or social media.
28 February 2012
Integrated customer experiences: making it happen
Channel integration is good for customers and for the businesses that serve them. So why aren’t more organisations offering a joined up customer experience? Paul Scott argues that process optimization is a vital first step towards integration. By adopting a holistic, inclusive approach to process development, he argues, organisations are more likely to build the foundations for integration at the customer coalface.
23 February 2012
Ringing in the changes
In a bid to combat negative stereotypes about the contact centre industry, significant investment has been made in technology, training and process developments. Despite the many challenges along the way, the public sector has proved to be a shining light to other industries as to how improvements can be made. Leon Barrett and Kevin Dix examine how Swindon Borough Council took the plunge and transformed Swindon Direct, its contact centre, into an award-winning business with improved customer and employee satisfaction.
14 February 2012
The century of the customer: challenges and insight
Even in this day and age, it seems many companies still regard their customers as a captive audience rather than a group of individuals, each with their own preferences and agendas. Despite the advent of pricing comparison websites and a myriad of retail and service options making it much easier for consumers to change suppliers, says Steve Deaville, the reality is that many companies still operate with a pre-privatisation mentality, where the customer is just a ‘dumb’ billing point.
06 January 2012
What does auto-enrolment mean for call centres?
From October this year all employers will start being legally required to enrol their employees automatically into a qualifying pension scheme. But what does this mean for call centres? Alan Foley investigates.
20 December 2011
Preparing for call centre management in 2012
Operations director at outsourcer LBM Tony Bailey examines the complexities of modern customer service management and asks: are you prepared for the changing contact centre environment?
09 December 2011
4 outsourcing market predictions for 2012
Liam Smith offers his opinions and predictions for the outsourcing market in 2012, highlighting compliance, multiple contact channels, the rise of the mid-tier outsourcer, and reverse offshoring as trends driving change in the sector over the coming 12 months.
29 November 2011
Create a complaints management strategy
Many arguments have been put forward for making the most of customer complaints and ensuring they inform business decisions. But how do you go about doing this? What do you need to look for? What should you measure? In the first in a series of three articles, Mike Havard explains the secrets to a successful complaints management strategy
21 November 2011
How to deal with customer complaints
With EDF Energy under the review of Ofgem and nPower and British Gas fined £2million for mishandling complaints, Mark Chambers and Matthew James call for a unified best practice framework to ensure customer complaints are handled to an acceptable standard across the board.