With economic forecasters predicting the largest growth period since the post-war boom, the importance of converting sales has never been higher, with consumers using a variety of communication platforms to engage with businesses, it can be very easy to miss out on a sale if your channels aren’t set up properly.  

As businesses prepare for growth and look to optimise their contact centre operations, selecting the right customer engagement technology solution has become crucial. Cost effective customer acquisition and a reduction in ‘cost to serve’ are both desirable goals but achieving them can be a challenge if you don’t have a true understanding of available technologies and their alignment to your existing environment.  

In the first of our series of expert panel discussions chaired by John Greenwood, Head of Technology, Contact Centre Panel, we look at the Bot and the differences in the technology underpinning operational performance. We will explore the difference in programmable products vs those that have minimal learning input before effectively replacing their human equivalents. The webinar will include an audience Q & A, where you will get the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.

Meet the panel

Louis Halpern: Chairman, Conversations with Ami

Louis is an ad tech veteran and is the driving force, along with fellow founder Lawrence Turner, behind Ami. He has in-depth insight and knowledge of the world of Ai and Bots. Meet Ami is Conversational Ai and contributes to clients’ competitive advantage by increasing customer service capacity, immediately freeing up resources and creating better outcomes. Louis is a big advocate of mentoring and also runs ‘Realise your potential Mentoring’, which support micro-business owners and corporate staff of all levels.

Natalie Calvert: Founder, CX High Performance

Natalie helps businesses to put their customers at the heart of their organisation through superb CX employee engagement programmes. Natalie has worked with, empowered and equipped more than 200,000 service & sales professionals and leaders across 100+ global organisations to deliver world class customer service during her 25 year career. Over the past 10 years Natalie has judged the UK Lloyds Bank National Business Awards for The Virgin Atlantic Customer Experience & Loyalty award. Natalie is also a Board Advisor to the National Business Awards.

John Greenwood: Head of Technology & Payments, Contact Centre Panel

John is a payments specialist and leading authority in PCI DSS compliance and how this applies to customer contact centres and 3rd party service providers. He was the driver and lead content contributor to the official PCI SSC Information Supplement, published in late 2018. John is a technology subject matter expert with over 30 years’ experience working with and within the industry, he has a deep understanding of the technology vendor landscape as well as BPO and contact centre environments.

Nathan Smith: Founder & MD, Gabba

Nathan is the founder and managing director of Gabba, an award-winning pioneer in digital and chatbot marketing. He has worked with some of the best-known names in the corporate world, including Microsoft and Siemens. Author of the book Social Media for the Legal Sector (Law Society Publications), he is passionate about sharing his knowledge to empower other organisations.

Topics for discussion

In this joint webinar with The UK Contact Centre Forum, we will be asking leading contact centre experts how can businesses create a secure, productive, flexible, low risk working environment for their teams to flourish and achieve wherever they work. Jonathan Billing, Marketing Director, Contact Centre Panel, will chair an ‘around the coffee table’ style debate to hear the views of our expert panelists.

The panel will include Thomas Doran, Head of Remote Working at Bupa, Alexandra Farmer, Head of Team & Solicitor at Ellis Whittam, John Greenwood, Head of Technology & Payments at Contact Centre Panel, Eileen Donnelly,  Director at Ripple & Co and former Head of Values & Ethics at The Co-operative Bank Plc and Julie Goddard, Expert Resilience and Business Continuity Specialist at Humanex Resilience.

At the end of the webinar, we’ll hold an in-depth Q&A to help you with any questions or queries you may have on the content and guide you on specific outsourcing challenge.

Topic overview

With Covid restrictions relaxing and employees pushing for greater working flexibility – businesses are under increased pressure to run a hybrid working model. Although there are benefits to operating a hybrid operation, it opens organisations up to new risks and employee management challenges. These include:

Expert panel

Thomas Doran: Head of Remote Working, Bupa

As the head of remote working at Bupa, Thomas has extensive knowledge of homeworking having been involved in managing homeworking teams since 2014. He has led the implementation of a hybrid working model for Bupa’s frontline customer contact centre operation before homeworking became the new normal. Currently leads and a number of customer contact teams and manages partnership with 100% homebased outsourcer Sensee.

Alexandra Farmer: Head of Team & Solicitor, Ellis Whittam

Qualified solicitor and employment law expert. Prior to joining Ellis Whittam in 2013, Alexandra worked as head of employment law for a legal practice – gaining a wealth of experience supporting clients over a range of sectors including retail, beauty, pharmaceutical and charities. She heads up the Partnerships team at Ellis Whittam and her team support over 30,000 employers across 14 partnerships with employment law and HR issues.

John Greenwood: Head of Technology & Payments, Contact Centre Panel

A payments specialist and leading authority in PCI DSS compliance and how this applies to customer contact centres and 3rd party service providers. John was the driver and lead content contributor to the official PCI SSC Information Supplement, published in late 2018. John is a technology subject matter expert with over 30 years’ experience working with and within the industry, he has a deep understanding of the technology vendor landscape.

Eileen Donnelly: Director, Ripple & Co and former Head of Values & Ethics, The Co-operative Bank Plc

Senior leader with experience at Director level within FTSE 250 businesses. Eileen’s career has focused on supporting companies to build purpose-driven business strategies and workplace cultures. She is a Mental Health First Aid England Licensed Trainer and set up Ripple & Co to help organisations to recognise their responsibility to maintain and improve wellbeing in the workplace.

Julie Goddard: Expert Resilience and Business Continuity Specialist,
Humanex Resilience

A business continuity expert with over 15 years experience. Julie is a professional member of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI). She has operated within a multi-agency response environment, including arranging counter-terrorism training and trauma training for hundreds of staff and management. She is currently an ‘industry Sector Leader’ on the ‘Cross-Sector Safety and Security Communications’ (CSSC) hub, which is a NaCTSO initiative.

Topics for discussion

In the second of our joint ‘coffee table style’ panel discussions with Contact Centre Panel, we will be asking leading experts in contact centre outsourcing, including outsourcer representatives covering the various geographics, the key questions concerning businesses looking to outsource.

The panel will include Dino Forte, CEO, Ventrica, William Carson, Director of Market Engagement, Ascensos, Robin Hoekstra, CEO, Outworx Contact Centre, as well as our joint host and outsourcing expert Phil Kitchen, Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel.

At the end of the webinar, we’ll hold an in-depth Q&A to help you with any questions or queries you may have on the content and guide you on specific outsourcing challenge

Topic overview

Whether you’re thinking of outsourcing your contact centre or are looking for a new outsource contact centre partner, location is often a consideration. Understanding the advantages and limitations of partnering with an offshore, nearshore or onshore operation can be difficult, particularly if you don’t have the right level of knowledge and understanding. There are many factors that need to be taken into account including regulatory compliance, governance, performance, brand reputation and customer experience.

Expert panel

Dino Forte: CEO, Ventrica

Dino is Founder & CEO of fast-growth customer management outsourcer Ventrica, the partner of choice for numerous ‘blue chip’ brands. With 25 years of experience in building and operating highly successful BPO businesses, he is a customer service fanatic and lover of people and life. Dino is also a builder of teams and a contact centre technology enthusiast who is passionately and genuinely committed to his clients’ success.

Robin Hoekstra: CEO, Outworx Contact Centre

Robin is Co-Founder and CEO of South African based Outworx Contact Centre. He is both an entrepreneur and aninnovative thinker, with a wide range of business experience across GBS, ICT/Telecommunications, Online Marketing, Web Design and Software Development. Robin is also Chairman of BPeSA KwaZulu Natal.

William Carson: Director of Market Engagement at Ascensos

William is Director of Market Engagement at Ascensos, an independent customer management services provider operating in the UK and Europe. Over the past 25 years, he has worked with the world’s leading BPO outsourcers including Concentrix, Teleperformance and SITEL, as consultant and board member. William sits on the Global Sourcing Association Council and is an active member of the UKCCF and the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing.

Phil Kitchen: Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel

Phil has a deep understanding of the contact centre industry, having worked within it for over 25 years. In 2006, he jointly set up VOICE Marketing Ltd, a successful outbound contact centre, which he sold to Capita Plc in April 2015. Phil set up Contact Centre Panel the same year, to help match businesses with the right telemarketing, call or contact centre partners and then support with the onboarding process. Phil’s working mantra is to provide a ‘safe pair of hands’ – he uses his vast experience, market knowledge and deep operational understanding to consistently deliver against clients’ requirements.

Topics for discussion

Watch our previous webinar…

Our ‘coffee table discussion’ panel shared their insights…

A panel of industry experts, including Contact Centre Panel’s Phil Kitchen, was hosted by the UK Contact Centre Forum (UKCCF). They were tasked with giving UKCCF members the information they needed to make informed decisions on outsourcing.

The expert panel

Lynda Campbell – Former Director of British Gas (Wales) and Head of Transformation, BA Global Contact Centres, British Airways

Dave Cleaver – Former Head of Operations at Centrica

Phil Kitchen – Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel

Neville Doughty – Partnership Director, Contact Centre Panel

When to outsource…and when not to outsource

The panel all agreed that the best outsourcing partnerships result from understanding the alignment of business strategies. Phil Kitchen also highlighted that good outsourcers enable businesses to give a rapid reaction to changing circumstances, an issue which has been highlighted throughout 2020 and 2021 so far.

Lynda Campbell offered a simple strategy to outsourcing: “Outsource when it’s part of your strategy, don’t outsource when it’s a knee-jerk reaction.” Dave Cleaver advised that if you can find a partner that has similar values, that will help both parties deal with challenges. For outsourcers, trying to stay clear of clients who are driven only by financial considerations.

Neville Doughty underlined that clients are outsourcing their brand, their most precious thing. They are not outsourcing the risk though, so be aware that your customers will perceive your brand based on our service, whether that’s delivered by your staff or your outsourcer’s team.

What are the main benefits of outsourcing?

Phil Kitchen: “Technology is one of the key benefits that can offer lots of additional value. We’ve seen some amazing demonstrations of technology from our panel of outsourcers that offer huge benefits in terms of flexibility, data handling, security and measurement. On top of this, the ability of good outsourcers to react to shorter term fluctuations in demand and therefore help deal with peak times is important, and there are clear cost benefits with many outsourcers who are set up to offer excellent quality of service from locations near and offshore, where costs are much lower than in-house options.”

Lynda Campbell: “Business continuity is another real benefit of outsourcing. Setting up a champion-challenger operation also enable both parties to improve results. Where outsourcers take similar calls to your in-house team, you can compare and contrast performance and listen in on the best calls to improve results across the board. Set up a partnership where you can learn from each other, where competitiveness does not harm the relationship. Champion-challenger needs to be used to drive performance but avoid using it to drive headcount, where it can be very counterproductive.”

Dave Cleaver: ”Outsourcers can deliver a step change in performance and relationships by introducing technological changes which, once proven, can be implemented by the inhouse teams too.”

What is the importance of cultural fit and managing culture across in-house and outsourced teams?

Lynda Campbell: “The cultural alignment is key to the longevity of the relationship between a client and an outsourced partner.  A cultural and strategic fit is a strong foundation to be able to give control away and to trust a partner to treat your customers how you want them to be treated. I believe it’s the answer to a successful long-term relationship.”

Neville Doughty: “When do you know you’ve achieved that cultural alignment? To me, it’s when you hear agents saying that they’re working for the client brand, not for their own company! A good cultural fit makes good governance happen. One of  the best meetings I’ve had with a client involved the Managing Director setting out his strategy on a flipchart in the meeting room, and everyone was able to get the alignment there from top to bottom, of what the client was trying to achieve.”

Dave Cleaver: “We created what we called an operational excellence framework, where multiple outsourcers could understand what we were trying to deliver. Not one partner challenged the idea and it made things clear for everybody, setting out the high standards we were aiming to achieve.”

Phil Kitchen: “One of the challenges is that procurement teams tend to apply a fairly hands-off approach to outsourcer selection. Taking procurement on the journey is very important, building that cultural fit and alignment that results in longevity.”

Lynda Cambell: “Cost does play a huge part in the outsourcing decision, but it’s important to help procurement understand the strategy.”

Challenges of direct procurement

Phil Kitchen: “Some businesses have had genuine contact centre experts in their procurement departments, but these skills have now largely been lost. We come across procurement departments that are prepared to understand the importance of business alignment, but we also experience more cost-focused procurement departments and it’s important to try to have the conversation to help the department understand the overall benefits of choosing the right outsourcing partners.”

Dave Cleaver: “As an outsourcer, it can be a red flag if the selection exercise is being led by finance using a scorecard approach. That’s not to say that the relationship can’t then be a good one, but it’s important to look at the strategic fit and to look at the long term goals.”

Neville Doughty: “Be clear and have a very well-written brief or RFP (Request For Proposal) from the outset. Have flexibility to allow creativity because if the commercials aren’t working, there needs to be a way to find out how to make the relationship better for both parties. The best conversations look for ways to make things better rather than finding fault or imposing commercial sanctions, and a difficult conversation never gets any easier by letting it fester too long.”

Dave Cleaver: “It’s not a parent-child relationship these days, it’s much more collaborative and with that comes trust. More things can be achieved with good communication and the best partners can find win-win solutions to challenges that they face. When an outsourced partner asks for help, it’s an opportunity to improve things across the entire business and this starts with open conversation.”

Are existing models of procurement fit for purpose in 21st century customer management outsourcing?

When one of our audience asked this question, unsurprisingly the panel agreed that traditional procurement models led by costs are less likely to result in good client-outsourcer relationships and results. Lynda Cambell summed this part of the session up very well:

“Not in my experience. Some of the large corporates seriously need to think about their procurement process in this area because we’re trying to build partnerships and not screw people down for a cost model that is inflexible in the end. The answer is we take them (procurement) on a journey for what we’re trying to achieve.”

Who should be responsible for measuring customer experience, the client or the contact centre provider?

Lynda Cambell: “Both. It’s a partnership and the same measure should work across the partnership, to build consistency and trust across the in-house and outsourcer teams.”

Neville Doughty: “You really can’t afford to have a difference in customer experience based on how a call was routed on a particular day. Customer experience had to be a thread that runs through the whole relationship and that both parties are responsible for.”

What is the role of technology and blended services including part outsourced solutions?

At one-time outsourcing decisions were driven by the phrase ‘let’s outsource some of this volume activity’ but with the advent of technology the landscape has changed. Neville Doughty explored this issue in the context of recent developments across the industry which not everyone has caught up with yet:

“Automation enables the outsourcing of more complex and emotional items, meaning that softer skills and more technical skills are needed to help people who have not been able to get their issues solved using automated systems. At one point there was a six-figure entry price to get this sort of technology into your building, but that’s no longer the case.”

Neville continued: “The Covid situation has meant that technology has been called upon to make homeworking possible, and the industry has learned that it can do a lot more than it realised it was capable of by utilising the right technologies. In some cases, contact centres were forced to enable people to work from home within seven days. Technology made that possible.”

Phil Kitchen agrees: “In addition, the proper use of technology actually frees resources to pay for people, to upskill those people and we’re definitely seeing the importance of upskilling agents being more recognised.”

Lynda Cambell has also noticed how the industry is taking advantage of the benefits offered by a new way of working. “I’ve noticed how much the move towards flexible remote working has made possible. Moving towards a more smart working model… If you consider recent work patterns and the difficulty some employers have had asking people to work unusual hours in the office, a smart homeworking model allows that more flexible working philosophy to be a viable option. I would be looking for outsourcers now that can help with the data science, automation and the digitalisation piece so that central agents can be upskilled to become more complex handlers of issues. The future of the industry is going to be around better skilled, higher-paid agents and fewer of them.”

Dave Cleaver underlined the need to put the customer at the centre of decisions. “The need to eradicate waste from call handling has become about the customer. What do we do to deliver the best customer outcome? We can automate most of the inbound enquiries and leave our best people to deal with the most difficult queries were, to use the common phrase, ‘computer says no’.”

When do you think that GigCX will become a reality in our market?

Neville Doughty: “The pace of adoption of the gig space for me is going to depend on how quickly brands, clients and outsourcers want people to be back in the office, and also which team members actually prefer to be in the office space. There are also questions around the gig economy relating to the security of employment, holidays and sick pay and so on.”

Neville continues: “With the right conditions, the gig economy is certainly a growth area but I think there are a few factors, including how quickly people are moved back into the office and whether that’s what they really want. Moving forwards beyond the current health crisis, making gig work a viable possibility might enable people to work much more flexibly than they do even now, logging on to work from anywhere in the world for example.”

Lynda Cambell: “In my consultancy work over recent years I’ve noticed how flexible remote working has made it possible to do much more. Moving towards a smarter working model, if you consider recent work patterns and the difficulty some employers have had asking people to work unusual hours in the office, a homeworking model allows that more flexible working philosophy to be a viable option.”

Neville Doughty: “That hybrid model of allowing remote workers to log on at peak times not only manages costs and capacity in the main office, it means that customer service performance can be maintained through peak demand periods without having too much unused capacity or struggling to handle volumes.”

What are the key messages for anyone looking to build a new outsourced relationship?

Dave Cleaver: “For me, there is a silver bullet. As a Head of Partnerships, contracts would be in place with the structure around that, but building a sustainable relationship needs much more. When a client sits in the heart of a call centre, engagement and communication become a strong part of the relationship. Finding a way to do that in the more flexible, more remote team structure that’s becoming the norm will be a key to building excellent relationships.”

Lynda Cambell: “Get it right from the start. If things are set up in the right way with cultural alignment and a win-win situation regarding the in-house and outsourced teams, then there should be no need for any blame game when things become challenging. Taking the time to build that alignment from the beginning of the relationship will result in more beneficial, more longstanding successful relationships.”

Key thoughts for outsourcers

When asked for some final thoughts for outsourcers in today’s market, our panel summarised with a few insightful brief pieces of advice.

Lynda Carter: “Only bid for work to which you think you are aligned with the partner and what they’re trying to achieve.”

Phil Kitchen: “I totally agree, strategically the goals of the two partners have got to be aligned. It’s important that the key stakeholders are helping to drive the decisions that are made. If you can get that right and find the right partner then hopefully proactive partnership management will minimise any problems going forward.”

Dave Cleaver: “Look beyond the contract and the price!”

Neville Doughty: “When building KPIs, focus on the K. You can build too many performance indicators but think seriously about what’s ‘Key’ – what’s really important. If you’ve chosen the right partner then hopefully you can leave the contract in a drawer and concentrate on getting the best result for your customers. Work together and you’ll achieve great things.”

Poll results

During the webinar, we asked a series of questions to gauge the state of the industry from our audience. The results are summarised here

Do you currently use an outsourced contact centre partner?

87% said no

In order of importance, which of the following is currently most important to your business?

41% Digital transformation
29% Cultural alignment/management
23% Strategic alignment
5% Cost reduction
0% Risk reduction

Are you looking to outsource or review your outsourced partner?

14% considering outsourcing
14% reviewing current outsourced partner
0% happy with incumbent
0% happy with in house operation
70% none of the above

Watch the play back…

Last year’s Covid driven mass move to homeworking has been well publicised, with many contact centre workers and their employers having experienced both the benefits and pitfalls of working from home. This urgent and necessary rapid drive to homeworking has meant that many organisations were forced into cutting corners, especially in relation to payment security, data compliance and working standards. Although the crisis is still very much upon us, many businesses are now starting to evaluate the long-term benefits of homeworking and the impact it may have on their staff, service delivery and bottom line.

Coffee Table Conversations – Webinar 3 Wellbeing – keeping positive and productive teams Client and other companies: 12:00-12:45, 29 March 2021 Outsourcers: 13:00-13:45, 29 March 2021

Wellbeing has become a hot topic in recent times, as businesses have started to understand and appreciate the importance of maintaining a happy and productive workforce. The move to homeworking has thrown up a new set of issues and has made the management of staff wellbeing particularly challenging.

In the third of our Contact Centre Homeworking ‘coffee table conversation’ style webinars, we will discuss the challenges faced by many contact centre businesses with leading mental health and worker productivity specialists. Who will provide guidance on how to achieve and maintain positive and productive teams.

The webinar will include an audience Q & A, where you will get the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.

Expert panel

Andy Barker: Co-founder, Mind Fitness Learning Ltd and former European Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Andy is a certified coach, trainer and author with a wide experience in senior corporate management. He is a Mental Health First Aid England Instructor Member and is co-founder of Mind Fitness Learning, who specialise in mental health, wellbeing and personal effectiveness training. Andy is co-author of Unlock You, published by Pearson, which was shortlisted for Business Book of the Year in 2020.

Eileen Donnelly: Director, Ripple & Co and former Head of Values & Ethics, The Co-operative Bank Plc

Eileen is a senior leader with experience at Director level within FTSE 250 businesses. Her career has focused on supporting companies to build purpose-driven business strategies and workplace cultures, by responding to, and investing in, the most relevant issues, from climate change to mental health. Eileen is now a Mental Health First Aid England Licensed Trainer and set up Ripple & Co to help organisations to recognise their responsibility to maintain and improve wellbeing in the workplace.

Nick Bishop: Founder, Nick Bishop Solutions and former HBOS Contact Centre Manager

Nick has a strong business background gained in FTSE 100 organisations, managing high performing teams of up to 250 heads. He is trained in a number of coaching methodologies and uses his skills to generate best performance from both teams and individuals. Nick speaks at events on topics covering customer service, performance management, staff motivation and peak performance in both business and in sport.

Lynda Campbell: Director, Service Culture Club Ltd and former Director of British Gas (Wales), BA Global Contact Centres, British Airways

Lynda was a Director for British Gas in Wales and Head of Smart Metering Customer Services and more recently the Head of Transformation for BA Global Contact Centres. The latter role involved many aspects of transforming BA Global Centres. She set up Service Culture Club in 2016, to work with organisations on their service ambition, culture and leadership skills. Lynda has an MBA in Business & Organisational Psychology.

Topics for discussion

  1. Creating and maintaining productive teams
    Tips on how to motive remote workers
    Spotting the warning signs of a distressed worker
    ​How to avoid isolation and creative collaborative working
  2. Creating a successful working culture
    Steps required for success
    Tips for onboarding new starters
  3. Remote management
    The do’s and don’ts of managing from afar
Clients and other companies:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/1316165803446/WN_W7WKawhpTxmamuyuWMp0ZQ

Outsourcers:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6016165803799/WN_-szhg9ZjTfuZnMU6BWQkZw

Our ‘coffee table discussion’ panel explored the possibilities…

The rapid drive towards homeworking throughout 2020 has forced many contact centres to enable agents working from home, but some operations have felt forced into cutting corners, especially in relation to payment security, data compliance and working standards.

Contact Centre Panel’s series of webinars was launched to discuss these issues and to offer practical solutions for contact centres to provide an excellent level of service whilst safeguarding clients, callers and agents as well as their own business.

On 17 February 2021, Contact Centre Panel hosted a webinar focused on contact centre homeworking, asking our panel of experts the question ‘how can businesses create a genuinely safe, secure and flexible working environment for their teams so they can flourish and achieve wherever they work?’.  John Greenwood, Head of Technology & Payments, Contact Centre Panel, hosted the webinar and was joined by:

Simon Turner, PCI DSS Advisory Cloud Services & Contact Centres (QSA), BT Plc, providing input from a security and payments compliance prospective

Steve Sullivan, Head of Regulatory Compliance, Contact Centre Panel, a contact centre operations and Data Protection specialist and vice-chair of the UK Data & Marketing Association’s Contact Centre Council

Brent Agar, Director, SentryBay, an endpoint security expert with over 20 years’ experience

Felix Clarke, Cloudbased Partners, an experienced risk assessment specialist

What’s the situation in early 2021?

In our audience survey:

Along with the growth of home working, there has been a rise in telephone related fraud. Feedback from the Payment Card Schemes points to an overall increase in the MOTO (Mail Order Telephone Order) payments acceptance channel of up to 400% since March 2020. A clear indication that the criminal community is taking advantage of the changes that home working is forcing upon us.

Minimising these risks is not only good business, when it comes to keeping data secure, it’s a legal obligation covered by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Looking at the big picture, Steve Sullivan began by highlighting that homeworking has brought some big positives to the sector:

Based on recent research most businesses have seen overall increased performance metrics including CSAT customer satisfaction results, plus performance and productivity improvements up the end of 2020.

Talking about the most important technical implications of the forced move to working from home, Brent Agar and Simon Turner outlined the challenges presented by the move from a physical security world, where offices and contact centres were built and managed to be secure places for people and data to be put to work, to a remote working situation where endpoint security has become the focus for compliance and protection.

What’s the risk exposure of teams moving into the home environment?

Felix Clarke described the situation now “We’re in this blitz spirit situation where people have been prepared to put up with it and wait and see… The Government has said that they will bring out new health & safety rules but they’re not ready yet… and the unions and lawyers who know they can’t get involved yet but are waiting.” However, this spirit of all being in this situation together cannot last forever. For now, employees working from home and their employers are finding ways to get the job done, but the honeymoon period is bound to end and organisations who are cutting corners will start to be exposed. This will have knock-on effects not only for team members but for end consumers, brands and contact centre business owners alike.

Were payments are concerned, there are risks associated with employees using their own computers or where company-owned computers are not fully protected. Traditional anti-virus software may not protect your business from some technical weaknesses. Options include buying and maintaining expensive computers for your full team or installing additional software to protect your business from attacks.

It’s critical to remember that your people are in scope too when it comes to compliance with standards. Technology is important of course, but your agents, whether internal or outsourced, are a critical part of the process. Iteratively developing our processes to take account of the behaviour of agents working away from the usual office environment is crucial.

What technological solutions are out there?

The risks inherent with homeworking can be partially mitigated by good endpoint security systems. The PCI Standards Council says that ‘by limiting exposure of payment data and your systems, you simplify scope and validation, reducing the chance of being a target for criminals.’

The reality is that in any situation where an agent is taking personal or payment data over the phone, there is a risk that data can be recorded manually or digitally, either in good faith or more worryingly criminally, using techniques such as keylogging or screen capture systems which can be installed without the user’s knowledge through spyware or similar attacks.

Brent introduced a piece of software by SentryBay which scrambles the information taken by keyloggers and disables screen capture. So regardless of whether the agent is acting dishonestly or has been the unwitting victim of a spyware attack, the software prevents sensitive data being captured and passed on. With millions of installations worldwide, this tried and tested solution is used by some of the largest banks and insurance companies to help them minimise their risks.

Software like this is not restricted to large financial institutions, however with most businesses who use contact centres processing personal data and payment data in some form, there is arguably a greater risk to smaller businesses. Implementing solutions such as technical endpoint protection is scalable and suitable for all sizes of business. It’s important to remember that the liability for compliance rests with the merchant, even if they use outsourced resources to process data or payments.

Have industry bodies changed their approach?

In the UK, the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) has published a lot of advice on working from home but has said little about the security of payment card data, pointing only to the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the body responsible for the security standards supporting the card payments ecosystem, where guidance on homeworking has been published and promoted.

The Data and Marketing Association (DMA) has not fundamentally changed its guidance for distributed workforces at this stage but encourages a systemic approach to data security and data protection. Being aware of your duty of care to front line staff to minimise their exposure is important.

Regulators will not maintain their recent light touch indefinitely and some large brands will doubtless fall foul of decisions they have made which do not mitigate risks sufficiently. By building systems that protect your staff from sensitive data, they will have to worry less about the lure of fraudulent activity and can focus more on the positive aspects of their jobs.

What about the claims industry?

As an employer, if you put your teams into a situation where they are at risk, the claims industry is likely to be preparing to catch up with you soon. Felix Clarke: “We’ve already seen articles with titles like ’17 ways you can hurt yourself working from home’ so if you inadvertently put employees into a situation where they could be hurt or discriminated against while working from home…claims will probably follow before too long.”

How can we help our teams to safely provide an excellent service to our customers?

To summarise the findings of our panel, there are a few key considerations that will help enormously to protect customers, agents and businesses:

To summarise the discussion perfectly, Steve Sullivan said “There are a lot of angry frustrated customers out there… so anything we can do to make our agents lives easier and let them focus on what they’re best at is for everybody’s benefit.”

You can hear all the insights given by our expert panel in full by watching the webinar:

Our next webinar is focused on ‘homeworking health & safety considerations and legal risks’, if you’d like to attend click here.

If you’re unsure how to assess your businesses risk exposure and how to equip it to handle any new risks posed by changeable working conditions, we can help by advising you on the risks you need to consider and the best way to mitigate them. We can also help you to learn how to work with your employees to maximise their health, happiness, and productivity. Get in touch.

Last year’s Covid driven mass move to homeworking has been well publicised, with many contact centre workers and their employers having experienced both the benefits and pitfalls of working from home. This urgent and necessary rapid drive to homeworking has meant that many organisations were forced into cutting corners, especially in relation to payment security, data compliance and working standards. Although the crisis is still very much upon us, many businesses are now starting to evaluate the long-term benefits of homeworking and the impact it may have on their staff, service delivery and bottom line.

Coffee Table Conversations – Webinar 2 Homeworking health & safety considerations and legal risks Outsourcers: 12:00-12:45, 12 March 2021Clients and other companies: 13:00-13:45, 12 March 2021

Traditionally, when we have considered health and safety in the workplace and working conditions it has been in relation to the office environment. The mass move to homeworking has turned this on its head, with employers opening their businesses to new legislative risk and health & safety regulations.

In this webinar, leading legal and health & safety experts will give an overview of what is required and have an open discussion into the pitfalls and how to them avoid them to reduce risk. It will include an audience Q & A, where you will get the opportunity to ask the panellists questions.

Expert panel

Samuel Ellerton: Regional Claims Leader, Senior Vice President, Lockton Companies LLP

Sam is a highly experienced complex and major loss personal injury and property damage lawyer with extensive cross-class experience. He is a qualified solicitor and non-practicing barrister and has experience of working in a broking capacity, in private practice and in-house within risk and claims management functions.

Alexandra Farmer: Head of Team & Solicitor, Ellis Whittam

Alexandra is a qualified solicitor and employment law expert. Prior to joining Ellis Whittam in 2013, she worked as head of employment law for a legal practice – gaining a wealth of experience supporting clients over a range of sectors including retail, beauty, pharmaceutical and charities. She heads up the Partnerships team at Ellis Whittam and her team support over 30,000 employers across 14 partnerships with employment law and HR issues.

Steve Sullivan: Head of Regulatory Compliance, Contact Centre Panel

Steve is an expert in regulatory compliance and has delivered operational change projects for many well know global brands. He has an in-depth understanding of the regulatory requirements on sales, marketing and customer service. Steve is Vice-Chair for the UK Data & Marketing Association’s Contact Centre Council and lectures on data privacy for the Institute of Data & Marketing.

Julie Goddard: Business Continuity Specialist, Humanex Resilience

Julie is a business continuity expert with over 15 years experience. She is a professional member of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI). Julie has also operated within a multi-agency response environment, including arranging counter-terrorism training and trauma training for hundreds of staff and management. She is currently an ‘industry Sector Leader’ on the ‘Cross-Sector Safety and Security Communications’ (CSSC) hub, which is a NaCTSO initiative with the objective of facilitating partnership working between private sector and public sector and security bodies.

Charles Spencer: Principal Health & Safety Consultant, Ellis Whittam

Charles is a health & safety specialist with over 12 years experience working across multiple sectors and covering all aspects of health & safety. Although he has expertise in all spaces, he specialises in food safety, leisure, hospitality and retail providing best in class advice and recommendations to some of the UK’s largest organisations. Charles is also a Chartered Institute of Environmental Health representative for the BSI committee for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (HS1).

Topics for discussion

  1. Key legislative risks
    • Overview of health & safety regulations and associated legislative risk
    • Contractual obligations and considerations of changing to homeworking or hybrid working
    • ​Identifying areas your business may be at risk
  2. Reducing your risk exposure
    • ​Protecting your workforce within the homeworking environment
    • The do’s and don’ts
  3. HR implications
    • Options for dealing with employees refusing to return to work for health & safety reasons
    • Contractual amendments required for long-term homeworking or hybrid working
    • Best process to bring about changes to terms and conditions of employment
Outsourcers:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4616147142616/WN_edYbU0xsT6CohzNjxjnLUw

Clients and other companies:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9816122649314/WN_nofta9YuSP-xv4sK8xAh9Q

We are running a series of joint webinars with UKCCF on outsourcing. In the first webinar, titled ‘an introduction to outsourcing’ we hear the thoughts and experiences of seasoned industry professionals – Dave Cleaver, former Head of Operations at Centrica and Lynda Campbell, Head of Transformation BA Global Contact Centres, British Airways, and Debbie Glenister, former Head of Customer Care, Etihad Airlines, as well as our joint host and outsourcing expert Phil Kitchen, Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel.

The session will include a Q&A to help answer any questions or queries you may have and allow the panelists to provide expert advice on specific outsourcing challenges.

Topic overview

For most businesses running an in-house contact centre, without outsourced support, is not straight forward. Forecasting customer demand and flexing resources, particularly in the current climate, is an art and can be difficult for organisations that have changing needs.

Outsourcing part or all of your customer contact requirements could be the answer. It can give your business the flexibility it requires to deliver a consistently professional and efficient service. Having access to additional agents, when required, means you can easily ramp services up or down without exposing your business to additional overheads. Outsourcing is also a great way to introduce new communication channels, Automation and AI into your business, without taking on considerable capital expenditure and risk. However, identifying and onboarding the right outsourced contact centre or technology provider can be tricky though. Particularly, if you don’t have experience of outsourcing and full visibility of the market.

In this webinar, our panelists will discuss this topic sharing their in depth experiences and highlighting the do’s and don’ts of outsourcing. They will provide tips on how to get the most out of a partnership with an outsourcer.

Expert panel

Dave Cleaver: Former Head of Operations at Centrica

Dave has over 23 years experience of working as a senior operations leader for a FTSE 100 Company. He was involved with key outsourcing projects whilst Head of Operations at Centrica. Over that time, he was responsible for building customer-centric business models, developing winning leadership cultures, optimising customer service operations, implementing cost efficiencies and turning around business performance.

Lynda Campbell:Former Director of British Gas (Wales) and Head of Transformation, BA Global Contact Centres, British Airways

Lynda is the former Director for British Gas in Wales and Head of Smart Metering Customer Services and more recently the Head of Transformation for BA Global Contact Centres. The latter role involved many aspects of transforming BA Global Centres including their outsourcing strategy. She has in-depth knowledge and experience of Contact Centres and Customer Services, including working with outsourced contact centre partners.

Debbie Glenister: CX Specialist, Contact Centre Panel and former Head of Customer Care, Eithad Airlines

Debbie is an expert in contact centre operations, with extensive outsourced and insourced multi-channel customer service experience across various sectors. She has worked in senior operational leadership roles for global industry leaders and had responsibility for up to 1500 employees. Across her career she has worked for many leading brands including American Express, BMI International, Bosch, BT, Department for Work & Pensions, Disneyland Paris, EE, Etihad Airways, Microsoft, Nectar, Sky, The Daily Telegraph and Trainline.

Phil Kitchen: Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel

Phil has a deep understanding of the contact centre industry, having worked within it for over 25 years. In 2006, he jointly set up VOICE Marketing Ltd, a successful outbound contact centre, which he sold to Capita Plc in April 2015. Phil set up Contact Centre Panel the same year, to help match businesses with the right telemarketing, call or contact centre partners and then support with the onboarding process. Phil’s working mantra is to provide a ‘safe pair of hands’ – he uses his vast experience, market knowledge and deep operational understanding to consistently deliver against clients’ requirements.

Topics for discussion

  1. When and when not to outsource
  2. The key benefits of outsourcing
    Cost reduction
    Risk reduction
    Post Covid business model adjustment
    Post BREXIT business model adjustment
    Digital transformation
    How to gain alignment to existing business goals
  3. The role of technology Blended services/part outsource options
  4. Do’s and don’ts
    Challenges faced
    ​Lessons Learnt
Watch the play back…

Contact Centre Homeworking – Webinars Series

Last year’s Covid driven mass move to homeworking has been well publicised, with many contact centre workers and their employers having experienced both the benefits and pitfalls of working from home. This urgent and necessary rapid drive to homeworking has meant that many organisations were forced into cutting corners, especially in relation to payment security, data compliance and working standards. Although the crisis is still very much upon us, many businesses are now starting to evaluate the long-term benefits of homeworking and the impact it may have on their staff, service delivery and bottom line.

In this webinar series, we are asking leading contact centre experts in the fields of payment security, data compliance, productivity, wellbeing and technology…the question…how do businesses create a sustainable, secure and productive home based contact centre service?

Coffee Table Conversations – Webinar 1

Ensuring a secure and productive homeworking environment

Clients and other companies: 12:00-12:45, 17 February 2021
Outsourcers: 13:00-13:45, 17 February 2021

In our first webinar, we will ask leading contact centre experts how can businesses create a genuinely safe, secure and flexible working environment for their teams so they can flourish and achieve wherever they work. John Greenwood, Head of Technology & Payments, Contact Centre Panel, will chair an ‘around the coffee table’ style debate to hear the views of our expert panelists. The webinar will include a short demo from SentryBay, cyber security specialists, to illustrate how using the right technology can create secure remote working environments and an audience Q & A, where you will get the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.

Expert panel

Simon Turner

PCI DSS Advisory Cloud Services & Contact Centres (QSA), BT Plc

Simon is a Qualified Security Assessor and leading expert in PCI DSS compliance and responsible for the setup of payment processes and governance within BT’s global contact centre estate. He provides specialist advice and guidance to both BT Global Services and BT Enterprise businesses to identify, reduce and validate compliance requirements to enable the Win-New-Business team.

John Greenwood

Head of Technology & Payments,
Contact Centre Panel

John is a payments specialist and leading authority in PCI DSS compliance and how this applies to customer contact centres and 3rd party service providers. He was the driver and lead content contributor to the official PCI SSC Information Supplement, published in late 2018, which gives guidance on how to protect telephone-based card payment data.

Brent Agar

Director – North America, SentryBay

Brent is a veteran of the technology industry with twenty-year’s experience dealing with fortune 500 companies in the USA and globally. He has deep understanding of secure payment technologies and their capabilities. He is a Director at SentryBay who are a Cyber Security Company specialising in Endpoint security for remote workforces.

Steve Sullivan

Head of Regulatory Compliance, Contact Centre Panel

Steve is an expert in regulatory compliance and has delivered operational change projects for many well know global brands. He has an in-depth understanding of the regulatory requirements on sales, marketing and customer service. Steve is Vice-Chair for the UK Data & Marketing Association’s Contact Centre Council and lectures on data privacy for the Institute of Data & Marketing.

Topics for discussion

  • Data security
      • ​Identifying the risks in a non-structured environment
      • Taking secure payment from a home environment
  • Data protection
      • ​Regulatory considerations and contractual obligations
  • Connecting workers securely to core data systems
      • BYOD – creating safe access from personal devices
      • Securing endpoints
Clients and other companies:
Outsourcers:

Interview with John Greenwood, Head of Technology & PCI Compliance.

As many businesses are forced into homeworking, the need for remote access to internal systems to enable home-based agents to provide a full service has never been higher.Companies who can adapt quickly will improve their chances of long-term survival, emerging from this crisis with higher customer satisfaction and lower attrition rates.

We spoke to our very own John Greenwood, lead contributor to the PCI SSC Information Supplement (Protecting telephone-based payment card data) and authority on payments compliance in the contact centre and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) sector. We asked John what advice he would give to organisations with customer service teams on coping with these pressures and his tips on how to rapidly build an improved operation for the future.

What new challenges are businesses facing?

John explained some of the major factors affecting business decisions in the sector today, “Quick alterations in the way customer service departments and contact centres work are placing new challenges in front of organisations. To maintain business as usual, major changes are having to be made to how people work. Amongst the issues that need to be dealt with are:

These operational challenges are daunting enough, but now there is a requirement for rapid deployment of home working solutions, which many existing technological solutions struggle to cope with.”

What are the biggest risks of a rapid move to homeworking?

John stated that, “Moving system access and agents away from a central site carries some significant risks. The introduction of chip & PIN payment technology moved payment fraud away from face-to-face and towards the ecommerce payments acceptance channel. As the minimum international data security standard for taking card payments (PCI DSS) has evolved to reduce ecomm’ fraud, so crime groups are adapting and the payment card industry is playing a continual game of catch up. Payment card details are valuable and easily monetised to fund organised crime, criminals are increasingly targeting businesses who use the MOTO (Mail Order, Telephone Order) payment acceptance channels. Contact centres have been an obvious target and now mass homeworking offers the unscrupulous a new opportunity.”

He continues, “It is not easy for organisations to fully replicate all the people, process and technology security measures that are in place in their contact centres, particularly as the transition to homeworking is happening so quickly. Many organisations have simply not had time to run a full risk assessment or discuss their significant changes in risk profile with their acquiring banks. Whatever your circumstances, working from home and handling payment card data puts your homeworkers at risk of being approached by organised crime.”

John added, “Data breaches and compromises of personal data can be hugely damaging both financially and reputationally, with prosecutions making headline news. A breach of the Data Protection Act will also attract action from the acquiring bank on behalf of the payment brands (Visa, Mastercard etc). This means ‘penalties’ of up to €18 per card exposed and potential notice to withdraw payment facilities until evidence is provided that minimum data security standards were being met, which means PCI DSS compliance being certified. If a breach is found, it is likely that your operation will be suspended, at least temporarily but potentially permanently. This will have obvious effects on the business and your teams. The reputational consequences on top of the obvious financial implications could seriously damage your organisation in the long term. Put simply, you may lose the ability to take money through your agents in the short term, risk reputational damage and risk an ICO fine. Then there would be the added costs of forensic investigation, increased transaction charges and for either achieving or maintaining PCI compliance.”

He continues, “From a liability point of view, your customers are protected. The financial burden is on the merchant. Certainly, from a data protection standpoint if the merchant had failed to create a defendable position, by documenting a risk assessment to support the security of personal data in the home working environment.”

What does your business need to do to safely move into the ‘new world’ of homeworking?

Enabling homeworking on a large scale is an opportunity for brands to improve operations, manage costs and increase flexibility in the workforce. It’s vital that your business approaches this opportunity in the right way.

John says “Take the chance to reduce and remove risks from your operations. You can do this by carefully choosing your technological and communications platforms, finding solutions which are easy to implement and enable compliance with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards). There are compliant and rapidly-deployable options available including Ciptex RACE, built on the Twilio platform – which it shares with some of the world’s most successful, reliable and secure apps including WhatsApp, Airbnb, and Uber.”

By implementing effective systems rapidly, you can protect not only customers, but your homeworkers and ultimately the business. The rethink, which has been forced upon us all by a global pandemic, might be responsible for organisational improvements and increased protection.

Do you need to safeguard your remote payments?

If you’d like to talk about a technology independent way to quickly implement safe payment processing for your business, the team at Contact Centre Panel can help. We’ve built a technology network by helping contact centres to safely and securely meet business and customer needs.