UK contact centres are being reshaped by numerous forces, from artificial intelligence and automation to shifting customer expectations – at a pace few other industries are experiencing. In this talk, Leigh will explore what’s really driving this change and why adapting to it is pivotal.
BIO
As CEO of the CCMA since 2020, Leigh draws on her 25 years’ business experience to champion the contact centre industry, holding leadership positions in a number of membership organisations and as a professional marketer. Her mission is to elevate the importance of the contact centre industry, give it a voice in society and to support those that work within it.
Leigh has been an awards judge since 2006, is a renowned industry speaker and host of the popular podcast, CareerTalk. She represents the contact centre industry to the Department of Business and Trade (DBT), is Chair of the European Customer Contact Alliance, is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered Marketer.
How leaders can make a practical start with AI in customer service: where to begin, what to prioritise, and how to build sustainable capability without disrupting teams or customers.
BIO
Jack is an entrepreneur focused on building practical, scalable technology that improves how businesses serve their customers. For over a decade he has worked at the intersection of customer experience, automation, and growth, driven by a belief that great service should be both human-centred and operationally efficient. He is the founder and CEO of Gnatta, an AI-powered customer experience platform that helps B2C businesses connect channels, data, and AI agents into a single, coherent service operation. Jack leads product vision and strategy, with a particular focus on responsible AI adoption in customer service.
Working with Premier CX, Cadent is using video to improve customer understanding, increase engagement, support self-service and communicate safety-critical information more effectively than traditional letters, FAQs and text-based communications.
Kirsty Ferguson – BIO
Kirsty Ferguson is an Account Director at Premier CX, working with contact centres and customer experience teams across the UK to improve customer engagement and reduce avoidable demand. Having worked closely with organisations across utilities, retail, healthcare, financial services and the public sector, she has seen first-hand why customers contact organisations and what prevents them from successfully self-serving. Her work focuses on helping organisations create customer journeys that are clear, accessible and engaging, increasing adoption of self-service channels while improving customer satisfaction. Kirsty brings a practical perspective on customer behaviour, digital engagement and creating experiences that genuinely work for customers.
Dan Edwards – BIO
People who stammer make at least 43 million calls to UK businesses each year. Yet over 65% of those calls are mishandled. We’ll highlight barriers and discuss real life solutions.
BIO
Contact centre leaders have seen a lot of technology promises over the years. As someone who also runs a 2,000+ person contact centre operation, Ali will moderate the discussion from an operator’s perspective, focusing on how to choose partners you can trust in production, not just in a demo.
Anubhav Mohanty – BIO
Anubhav Mohanty is the SVP of Product and Operations at CallBotics, where he leads product strategy, enterprise deployments, and operational scale for the company’s conversational AI platform. With over 15 years of experience in contact centre operations, he has spent the last several years focused on leveraging AI to automate complex, high-volume customer service workflows. His work is centered on transforming traditional contact centre models into outcome-driven, AI-powered operations. At CallBotics, Anubhav is responsible for taking the platform from concept to production, partnering with enterprise organizations to deploy voice AI agents that go beyond conversations to execute end-to-end workflows. He brings a strong blend of operational depth and product leadership, working closely with enterprise leaders across healthcare, telecom, and customer experience to drive large-scale automation and measurable business impact
Rachael Abitogun – BIO
I am an Award winning, versatile, customer obsessed, enthusiastic and proactive leader of people possessing a wealth of commercial skills and knowledge acquired across a range of demanding roles. I have delivered many customer experience and business process improvements over the last 30 years covering many sectors and 5-star brands, including Fintech, eCommerce, Telecoms, Health & Lifestyle, Cargo and Logistics and the Travel industry (Airlines, Trains and Online Travel). Having led teams to success at Qatar Airways, Expedia, Careem, Mumzworld, Virgin Trains are more, I am delighted to be here at the Contact Centre Summit to share ideas and best practices with fellow industry experts
Rajab Khalid – BIO
A background in Operations and Technical project management, Rajab is continually ensuring customers across Regal Cineworld’s cinemas are the focus of the company. Allowing customer feedback and data to tailor experiences and utilising creative innovations and AI-driven automations, Regal Cineworld is ensuring that the guest experience provides an exceptional one, whilst simultaneously meeting various KPIs.
Chris Brown – BIO
Chris joined the utilities sector in 2024 as Head of Customer & Communications, bringing a wealth of experience managing contact centres in BT. After 10 years running his own business in the USA, Chris joined Southern Water to help reduce complaints and improve the customer experience. He is currently driving a customer centric culture at Cappagh Browne Utilities Ltd, transforming traditional customer service into community engagement.
Join Edward as he gives some context to the challenges facing organisations giving context and design principles to delivering outstanding CX as well as some of the pitfalls to avoid. He will also be sharing multiple customer user stories of where huge value is being generated by organisations who have really harnessed the power of technological advances in AI.
BIO
Edward Winfield manages the development of key partner relationships and driving growth into international markets, focusing on building a global partner eco-system. He has worked with the company since 2007 when he worked for Cable and Wireless and then Vodafone Global Enterprise, where he had extensive experience selling storm to a variety of customers. Since joining Content Guru in 2017, he has built and managed a variety of new routes to market. He manages a range of key partners to deliver value within their consult, build and run practices – by driving opportunities globally and helping them with their market strategy and proposition development.
Many businesses are interested in WhatsApp but don’t know how or where to begin, and what it can do for them. In this session, we aim to give an overview of simple starting points and how to grow that into something that transforms service through automation, multimedia, and AI.
BIO
Gareth Bray is a recognised industry leader in conversational commerce and enterprise messaging strategy. As Meta’s third employee in Europe focused on the WhatsApp Business Platform, he was instrumental in architecting the platform’s strategy, building the partner ecosystem, and launching its go-to-market approach across EMEA – growing the business from inception to a multi-million-dollar operation. Over the years, Gareth has advised C-level stakeholders on some of the most complex and high-impact WhatsApp implementations worldwide. His deep expertise spans both the technology stack and the operational realities of deploying messaging at scale. At Premier CX, Gareth acts as a strategic advisor to global communication centres, helping them leverage best-in-class technologies and proven frameworks to transform customer engagement through the WhatsApp platform.
The FCA defines a vulnerable customer as “someone whose personal circumstances make them especially susceptible to harm, particularly when a firm is not acting with appropriate care”. Emma Campbell is a long term cancer survivor and shares her story and her experiences of the do’s and don’ts for talking to Vulnerable Customers.
BIO
Emma Campbell is an author and podcast host known on Instagram as Limitless Em and a speaker on resilience, overcoming adversity and the menopause.
Emma has over 66,000 followers on Instagram where she shares aspects of the incredible journey she’s been on as a long term cancer survivor, single mum of teenage triplets and so much more.
Andrew will discuss how to address that Customer expectations are rising while service volumes surge
BIO
Andrew has over 30 years of experience in cloud computing, contact centre, telephony and security industries. His broad technical experience and strong commercial, sales, strategy and leadership skills have equipped him with the skills and passion to identify communication solutions that will prepare businesses for the challenges ahead.
Globally, employees spend an average of 2.1 hours per week trying to resolve conflicts in the workplace. Just imagine if we could go some way to eliminate that. Better for business. Better for life.
BIO
Gerry, known in speaking circles as ‘The Dispute Dissolver’, brings to the stage a treasure trove of insights from 40 years of experience in the delicate art of conflict resolution. With his Scottish charm and an arsenal of humour, he tackles the serious business of workplace disagreements, turning potential discord into opportunities for team cohesion and growth. He has worked with companies of all sizes from start-ups and family businesses to multinationals. He has also served on the Mediation Panel for Sheriff Courts in Scotland for over 12 years. He has received many accolades for public speaking including the Distinguished Toastmaster award.
Learn how ESPO use video to not only help their customer experience but also enable new hires and long-term staff to understand the mission and celebrate success. With help from Premier CX, ESPO are using video to:
Kirsty Ferguson – BIO
Kirsty Ferguson is a trusted CX advisor and Key Account Director at Premier CX. With decades of experience, she has significantly improved customer journeys for major clients on a global scale. Kirsty has been awarded the Customer Service Excellence Award and is recognised as a Top 50 Women in CX. She is also a contributing author on the Good CX Guide and the Good Video Guide.
Rachael Stone-Browning – BIO
Rachael has over 30 years’ experience of working in the Customer Service sector and is currently the Head of Customer Experience at ESPO, one of the largest public sector buying organisations in the UK. In this role, Rachael leads a dedicated team focused on enhancing customer experience and interactions across all touchpoints. With a strong commitment to excellence. With extended experience, she implements innovative strategies that significantly improve customer engagement and loyalty.
Rachael brings extensive experience in setting up and leading contact centres with a background spanning local government, outsourcing, and utilities industries.
Technology has dramatically changed the customer journey but are we losing our way? Is automation annoying customers and sending them elsewhere?
BIO
Martin is one of the founders at FM Outsource and his main passion is around the changing face of customer service. With over 20 years in the industry, he is a true veteran. A self-confessed nerd with a strong background in digital, tech and finance, he is passionate about helping clients prepare their businesses for future change. Martin has seen how technology can impact different industries and sees the customer service sector as largely unprepared. Customer service requirements as radically changing in the here and now. He has worked with impressive household names such as Superdrug and Asos to help transform their customer service through tech, outsourcing and consultancy. Martin is also one of the founders of the customer service communications tool, Gnatta.
