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Stuart O'Brien

Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit – Final delegate places released

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You can still secure a place at the upcoming Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit – delegate attendance is free to qualified contact centre industry professionals.

Unlike large expo’s, this intimate, hassle-free event allows you to build beneficial business relationships with suppliers that match your current project/business requirements. No hard sell, just a chance to meet 1-2-1 and explore your options.

Our confirmed attendees already include peers from companies including; British Airways, Decathalon, Slater & Gordon, LV=, Poundland, Urban Outfitters, Virgin Atlantic, Starbucks, Berkley Homes, Govia Thameslink Railway, Hurtigruten and Motorpoint – to name a few.

Your invitation is inclusive of full hospitality including overnight accommodation, a drinks reception and evening dinner, a seat at our 4 industry seminar sessions, and lunch/refreshments throughout (all free of charge) – view current speaker line-up here

Monday 25th – Tuesday 26th April

Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre

Click here to confirm your place – it would be great to have you there!

REPORT DOWNLOAD: The FCA’s new Consumer Duty

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The number of customers turning to social media platforms to express their grievances reportedly tripled between 2017 and 2020

It is vital that organisations expand their use of social media channels to deliver a more effective customer experience. However, with the FCA’s new Consumer Duty regulation replacing Treating Customers Fairly, there is now an even more pressing need for UK insurers to review and improve their customer service processes and delivery.

In Davies’ latest report, The FCA’s new Consumer Duty: Unpacking the role of unstructured consumer feedback in next-gen supervisory data, Davies partnered with DataEQ to explore the implications this new regulation will have on insurers. To test the relevance of social media data in the context of market conduct reporting, Davies and DataEQ categorised social media conversation and complaints about 20 UK insurers according to the four identified outcomes in the Consumer Duty.

Download the report to find out what these businesses should be doing to avoid hefty fines from the regulator and put customer needs at the heart of their products and services.

Click Here To Download

Contact Centre Masterclass: How to Turn AI into ROI and loyal customers

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Advances in AI Automation through Conversational Artificial Intelligence are enabling companies to provide high quality customer service at scale while also helping call centres achieve significant cost savings.

But the AI topic has been around for years so how do you actually achieve the promise of Conversational AI in your contact centre today?

Join this session to learn about:

  • The top use cases for AI and how they will help you re-imagine your agent roles and customer experience
  • How to build your business case for AI to demonstrate the cost savings and growth that could be gained from investments
  • See a live demonstration of the leading tools for Self Service, Insights and real-time Agent Assist to serve your customers better than ever before.

To provide a more personalised experience during the session, spaces are limited.

Click Here To Register Today

Decoding the metaverse for digital transformation leaders

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The metaverse, a virtual world where users share experiences and interact in real-time within simulated scenarios, can reshape how companies and customers engage with products and services. However, concerns exist as new technologies necessitate hi-tech strategies and ways to establish confidence, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Kiran Raj, Principal Disruptive Tech Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Digital behemoths like Meta and startups are tapping into the metaverse with technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), digital twins, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, IT services vendors like Accenture and Infosys are developing tools to help enterprises enter the metaverse.”

Abhishek Paul Choudhury, Disruptive Tech Analyst at GlobalData, added: “As the metaverse is maturing quickly, this is a crucial time for digital transformation leaders to act. It can be adopted for several use cases to make business operations more personalized, improve customer engagement and increase revenues.”

GlobalData’s Innovation Explorer database highlights tech-driven innovations that are shaping the metaverse to become a reality.

Customer experience

The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) unveiled MetaHealth, the world’s first metaverse customer satisfaction service center to address customer requirements in a three-dimensional (3D) space. The VR-powered service displays customers’ real faces instead of avatars and allows them to communicate with a real employee, who can handle associated questions, services, and duties.

Engineering and design

Boeing collaborated with Microsoft to leverage the metaverse to strengthen its engineering and prevent manufacturing flaws in the design and development of aircraft. It aims to unite the design, production, and operations of airline services under a single, digital manufacturing system. Boeing will equip its mechanics with Microsoft HoloLens smart wearables for better visualization of aircraft designs and parts.

Event management

US-based live event sports company B2Digital partnered with Colombia-based digital content creator Metaskins Studios to distribute its multiple B2 Fighting Series (B2FS) in browser-based platform Decentraland. Capitalizing on Metaskins’ capability to develop web 3.0 content, B2Digital aims to make B2FS one of the first combat sports brands to offer live virtual events in the metaverse.

Sales and marketing

Gucci sold a limited-edition Dionysus bag for 350,000 Robux, online game platform Roblox’s virtual currency ($4,115).  The bag was offered as part of the ‘Gucci Garden Experience,’ a partnership between Roblox and Gucci. The event was organized in the Roblox platform to catch the attention of the targeted Gen-Z demographic.

Training and development

US-based Talespin created a spatial technology platform for workplace training to improve talent development and skill mobility. It uses immersive technologies such as AR and VR to transform training environments and assist individuals in learning new skills and measuring skill capabilities. The startup’s end-users include learning content creators, learning platforms, AR & VR hardware partners, and enterprises.

Workforce Collaboration

Meta has launched the Horizon Workrooms app to offer employees virtual office space for team collaboration. The virtual meetings are accessible via laptop through video call or by using Quest 2 headsets. It gives a personalized feeling as the user can interact with employee avatars and perform office activities such as taking down notes, file sharing, and chatting in a virtual space, intended for effective team collaboration.

Choudhury concluded: “As the metaverse continues to evolve, several enterprise use cases will emerge. Digital transformation leaders, who can assess the impact of the metaverse beyond gaming trends, will be able to tap into the opportunities generated by this virtual world. However, challenges such as potential cybercrimes, safety, and data privacy concerns, slow development of underlying technologies remain in the metaverse particularly due to lack of standardization.”

Remote working has affected employers support the health and wellbeing of staff

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Fifty-nine per cent of employers say that the change in working patterns to a more remote or hybrid approach has affected the way they support the health and wellbeing of staff, according to research from GRiD, the industry body for the group risk protection sector.

Of those employers who stated that working patterns had affected the way they support the health and wellbeing of staff:

  • 49% said they have made it easier for staff to access support and benefits remotely e.g. via apps and online
  • 43% said they have introduced benefits to support employees in this new way of working e.g. for their mental and physical health
  • 38% said that they have increased support that can be accessed remotely e.g. virtual GPs and virtual physio

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD said: “Employee benefits providers and, in particular, those that offer health and wellbeing support, were really swift to respond to the challenges presented by the pandemic. The pace of change has been breath-taking.

“We are now in a situation where many employee benefits, including embedded support within employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness, have improved in two distinct ways. The method of delivery has been expanded to include additional digital channels to meet the support requirements of employees, no matter where or when they need it. Secondly, the type of support has also broadened: for instance through the likes of online physiotherapy, nutrition and fitness advice; meditation and mindfulness apps; computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); and access to virtual GPs and nurse practitioners. Some had been available previously, but have now become much more mainstream.”

Given that so much has changed, GRiD believes that employers would be prudent to benchmark their wellbeing provision against current support available and make sure they keep pace with developments, especially in supporting a hybrid workforce.

Moxham continued: “Employers may be under the illusion that they offer really innovative wellbeing support but they may be surprised just how much things have moved on if it hasn’t been reviewed for a number of years. The repercussions of the pandemic are very much still in evidence and employers have a duty to ensure they are providing the very best wellbeing support available.”

Last call for April’s Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit – Register today!

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Time’s running out for you to secure a place at the upcoming Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit – delegate attendance is free to qualified contact centre industry professionals.

Unlike large expo’s, this intimate, hassle-free event allows you to build beneficial business relationships with suppliers that match your current project/business requirements. No hard sell, just a chance to meet 1-2-1 and explore your options.

Our confirmed attendees already include peers from companies including; British Airways, Decathalon, Slater & Gordon, LV=, Poundland, Urban Outfitters, Virgin Atlantic, Starbucks, Berkley Homes, Govia Thameslink Railway, Hurtigruten and Motorpoint – to name a few.

Your invitation is inclusive of full hospitality including overnight accommodation, a drinks reception and evening dinner, a seat at our 4 industry seminar sessions, and lunch/refreshments throughout (all free of charge) – view current speaker line-up here

Monday 25th – Tuesday 26th April

Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre

Click here to confirm your place – it would be great to have you there!

Do you specialise in Automated Customer Satisfaction? We want to hear from you!

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Each month on Contact Centres Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on a different part of the customer care market – and in April we’re focusing on Automated Customer Satisfaction.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help customer care industry buyers find the best products and services available today.

So, if you’re a supplier of Automated Customer Satisfaction solutions and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Carly Walker on c.walker@forumevents.co.uk.

Here are the areas we’ll be covering, month by month:

Apr – Automated Customer Satisfaction
May – Social Media
Jun – Artificial Intelligence
Jul – Virtual Call/Contact Centres
Aug – Training & Development
Sep – Knowledge Management
Oct – Web Self Service/Chat
Nov – Display Boards
Dec – CRM

For more information on any of the above, contact Carly Walker on c.walker@forumevents.co.uk.

WEBINAR REWIND: Financial services organisations struggle to create a CX culture built to last – but why?

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Don’t worry if you missed the recent webinar from Davies Group exploring the secrets of great CX – You can now re-watch the entire session online!

84% of financial services leaders rank business process alignment as more important than putting the customer first when designing customer experiences. How can they then create a CX culture that really puts the customer first?

Davies has discovered that culture seems to be taking a backseat for most CX leaders, although we all know that the absence of customer-first thinking often brings longer contact-centre wait times & more effort, resulting in enhanced frustration & unhappy customers.

In the webinar session, you’ll discover why, and the expert panel will share top tips on how to create a CX culture that will help you achieve those all-important business objectives, including:-

  • How organisational culture is holding your fellow financial services peers back from achieving their CX goals
  • What CX leaders across financial services see as the most important factors in CX design
  • Common misconceptions on building and sustaining a strong internal CX focussed culture
  • Get actionable insight on how to develop a sustainable CX culture in your business

If you have any questions about the webinar content, please contact Boyden Manns at Boyden.manns@davies-group.com.

You can watch the full webinar below:-

Webinar: Financial services organisations struggle to create a CX culture built to last – but why? from Davies Group on Vimeo.

 

Are you registered for next month’s Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit?

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:
0

As a leading professional in the customer contact industry, we wanted to extend a personal invitation for you to join us at the upcoming Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit.

Unlike large expo’s, this intimate, hassle-free event allows you to build beneficial business relationships with suppliers that match your current project/business requirements. No hard sell, just a chance to meet 1-2-1 and explore your options.

Our confirmed attendees already include peers from companies including; British Airways, Decathalon, Slater & Gordon, LV=, Poundland, Urban Outfitters, Virgin Atlantic, Starbucks, Berkley Homes, Govia Thameslink Railway, Hurtigruten and Motorpoint – to name a few.

Your invitation is inclusive of full hospitality including overnight accommodation, a drinks reception and evening dinner, a seat at our 4 industry seminar sessions, and lunch/refreshments throughout (all free of charge) – view current speaker line-up here

Monday 25th – Tuesday 26th April

Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre

Click here to confirm your place – it would be great to have you there!

Harnessing digital tech to enable personalised CX in 2022

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By Brian Atkinson, Vice President and General Manager EMEA, Five9

These five trends outline why we can expect more companies to harness digital technologies in 2022 to enable smarter, more personalised customer experiences…

1 – Replacing legacy infrastructure with digital tech

2022 must see the complete uprooting of the ‘press 1’ tree of frustration that is IVR. With accelerated investment across channels such as webchat, SMS and WhatsApp, investment in voice and call experiences is sorely lacking. Reliance on mazes of IVR routing continues to waste customers’ precious time and often fails to provide the solutions they need.

This needs to change, and we are already seeing forward-thinking organisations enhancing the voice experience through next-level IVA (intelligent virtual agents) technologies that shift away from poor, legacy IVR technology and into a natural language, conversational experience underpinned by AI (Artificial Intelligence). It’s time to embrace seamless customer experiences powered by modern technologies and consign frustrating IVR experiences, bogged down in obsolete technology, to the bin.

2 – Empowering human agents with intelligent automation

AI has been slow to realise its potential while organisations have been asking what it can actually deliver in the CX arena, and how. The confusion is now lifting as we are seeing how AI capabilities can holistically impact the entire customer journey. We’re now at a point where we can entrust a ’digital workforce’ of intelligent virtual agents, underpinned by AI to deliver experiences for us.

With practical AI beginning to crystallise, we’ll see customer service increasingly powered not only by humans who have rich data and insight at hand, but by digital agents that can also respond to many requests intelligently. With more AI deployments coming to life in the next 12 months, this interest will turn from curiosity to action. We will see more organisations seeking to harness AI to enable a digital workforce of intelligent automation while empowering ‘real-life’ customer experience agents to deliver that ever-vital human touch.

3 – Shifting from siloed customer data to boundaryless data access 

We’ve been talking about silos for many years but are now truly starting to see those break down, especially in the large enterprise. In the next 12 months, organisations that want to exercise innovation must focus on ending data silos and embracing boundaryless and secure access to data across their systems. Opportunities for automation, AI, machine learning – and even some of the most basic insights are being lost due to continued siloing of data.

This can even go beyond stamping out internal silos, to embracing a decentralised data link approach, leveraging technologies like blockchain, and using cloud-based AI services by vendors such as Google or IBM Watson. Here, third-party services can anonymously analyse millions of customer interactions to help train natural language processing systems, for example. This feeds back into application innovation for all. For example, the development of automated dashboards for agents, who can gain amazing insight into the customer, immediately, at the right time and the right place. Without boundaryless data, this type of innovation cannot be realised.

4 – Enabling empathy-driven customer experiences 

With supply chain issues looking to roll forward into the next year, there must be a continued focus on empathy as part of the customer experience. While organisations may not be able to exert control over many of the variables affecting the supply chain – chip shortages and port blockages, for example – they can return to the six pillars of customer experience, in particular empathy, personalisation, and effort.

This means clear and regular communication, flexibility and understanding. At its most basic, sticking to rigid returns policies at a time like this won’t serve anyone. Levelling up, this can mean offering customers personalised options when disruption does hit. For example, if a customer has ordered a new car and we know that chip delays will delay delivery, can they be contacted in advance to choose whether the cruise control option they selected is essential, or just a nice to have? If not, perhaps they would be happy to accept a different model sooner?

Resolving frustrations and ensuring that customers feel heard and valued will have higher stakes than ever. For example, our research shows that nearly half (47%) of consumers said they are likely to share negative experiences from online shopping on social media platforms. This proves that retailers are just one bad interaction away from a social storm, threatening brand loyalty across the board.

It’s not about delivering the impossible, but about having the data and tools we need to be able to communicate empathically and provide options and flexibility. Technology can help identify these opportunities and then deliver feedback on how that flexibility was received by the customer, helping to power the next experience, for the next customer. As such, technology will open more doors for companies to deliver empathy-driven, personalised experiences that engender loyalty even in the face of disruption.

5 – Cloud ubiquity to underpin personalised CX 

Without widespread cloud adoption, none of the previous innovations will be realised. Innovative organisations know that, and 2022 will see the continuing march towards cloud ubiquity enabling smarter, more powerfully personalised customer experiences. The benefits of cloud adoption are myriad: flexibility, reliability, agility. Testament to that, around 75% of organisations are now taking a cloud-based approach to customer experience.

Both smaller organisations and large enterprises are moving to cloud models to take advantage of the latest technologies powering application development, such as Kubernetes and Docket Containers. When it comes to novel adoption of AI, of NLP and IVAs, cloud is the enabler. It allows organisations to take advantage of third-party innovation, layering of APIs, and access to capabilities way beyond the capabilities of on-premises. In the next 12 months there is no question that the cloud will dominate customer experience conversations, and those that are still wavering are set to get left behind.