AI, Expectations and Efficiency: The New Contact Centre Balancing Act
Artificial intelligence may be dominating the customer service agenda, but for many contact centres the real challenge lies elsewhere. As organisations race to adopt AI-powered tools, success increasingly depends on having the right foundations in place. Khaled Miah, Customer Experience Specialist at Zoho UK, explains why connected systems, operational simplicity and practical outcomes matter far […]
Zoho Desk: Service that actually holds up at scale
Most customer service platforms work… until they don’t. They handle tickets. They manage channels. But as volume grows and complexity increases, things start to break down. Agents switch between systems. Context gets lost. Reporting becomes a manual exercise. And service quality becomes inconsistent. That’s where Zoho Desk is different. Zoho Desk isn’t just a ticketing […]
ECCCSAs: The greatest awards programme in the European customer contact industry
For 26 years, the award-winning European Contact Centre & Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs) have recognised organisations across Europe that are leading the way in delivering exceptional service to customers. These organisations continually innovate to improve the customer experience, value their people and optimise performance and outcomes. As the longest running and largest awards programme in […]
It’s time to secure your place at the September 2026 Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit!
Registration for the September 2026 Contact Centre & Customer Services Summit is now open! Date: Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th September 2026Venue: The Manchester Deansgate Hotel Explore what’s new in the industry at this ever-popular event that offers you the unrivalled opportunity to meet 1-2-1 with suppliers and their latest competitive solutions to this evolving industry. This […]
Retailers warned AI shopping tools could damage customer trust without stronger safeguards
Contact centre and customer experience leaders are being urged to prioritise transparency and human oversight as AI shopping assistants become increasingly embedded in the retail journey. New research from Exploding Topics by Semrush found that while 78% of consumers have used AI to support shopping decisions in the past six months, only one in three […]
The hidden tax of AI in contact centres
AI is increasingly being positioned as a way to reduce cost-to-serve in the contact centre, but in reality, many businesses are adding an extra layer of cost long before they see any return. As organisations race to implement AI-first voice automation, a new cost layer is quietly emerging alongside that human spend: LLM compute, orchestration […]
SOCIAL MEDIA MONTH: The new metrics contact centres should be tracking in 2026
Historically, social customer service has often been evaluated using traditional contact centre metrics such as response times and ticket closure rates. While these measures still matter, they no longer provide a complete picture of customer satisfaction or reputational impact in highly visible digital environments… Unlike private customer interactions, social media engagement takes place in public. […]
June 2026 is Artificial Intelligence Month on Contact Centre Briefing – Make sure your solutions are part of the story!
Each month on Contact Centres Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on a different part of the customer care market – and in June we’re focusing on Artificial Intelligence solutions. 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 […]
SOCIAL MEDIA MONTH: How contact centres are rethinking social escalation strategies
A customer complaint no longer needs to reach a national newspaper to become a reputational crisis. In the social media era, a single post on X, TikTok or LinkedIn can escalate rapidly within hours, placing significant pressure on contact centres and customer experience teams to respond quickly, consistently and transparently. For many organisations at the […]
New research highlights the UK is a nation of experience sharers and email enthusiasts
The UK is a nation of experience sharers and email is its predominant channel of choice, both for routine customer contact and for proactively telling organisations what they think. These are just some of the key findings from new research published by the CCMA (Contact Centre Management Association), supported by the customer engagement solution provider, […]