When we think about outsourcing in Eastern Europe, thoughts may immediately turn to the likes of Albania, Poland and Romania for your outsourcing needs. However, as pointed out in my previous article on Kosovo, there are many more hidden gems within Eastern Europe, like Serbia for instance.

Serbia, over recent years, has worked extremely hard in developing its outsourcing capabilities so that it can go head to head with its local neighbours who have dominated this space for the past 10 years plus.

Fun fact – did you know that Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, is one of the oldest cities in Europe – with human settlements existing in Belgrade for over 7000 years. This history and culture have enabled the likes of Belgrade and other cities in Serbia to grow and maintain a talented workforce, with access to many Western European languages – making it another prime destination for multi-lingual contact centres.

This includes (but is not limited to):

Serbia is located in the UTC +1 Central European Timezone, 1 hour ahead of UK time. Whilst this is perfect alignment to UK/European business operating hours, it also means you can access the country in less than 3 hours flight-time from London, and less than 2 hours from Berlin. Serbia has also seen lots of interest from businesses based in the US, due to its availability of languages and competitive rates. Most of all, Serbia aligns well with the business culture of countries like the UK and the US.

As part of this insight into Serbia, I caught up with Serbia’s own Tijana Dmitrovic of Contact Service, to get her thoughts on why Serbia has become one of the go-to destinations in Eastern Europe:

“More and more organisations domestically and internationally are deciding to outsource their operations and open their offices, here in Serbia. The main reason why companies outsource is to reduce costs and outsourcing to Serbia is no exception. Serbia is a modern European country and its culture is similar to other continental cultures. Being geographically located between the West and the East of Europe has resulted in creating a diverse culture, which enables employees to easily adjust. Besides the location and language potential, I’d like to emphasise other important factors such as a high focus on education, skilled employees and a significant talent pool in three university cities allowing quick expansion of operations. The people of Serbia are passionate and highly motivated, mainly as a result of their good education and high work ethic. We understand that outsourcing in a new location is not an easy process, but once businesses outsource in Serbia, they never want to leave!”

Looking to outsource in Eastern Europe or set up a contact centre in this area? Get in touch, we’ll be able to help.

No, I’m not talking about My Little Pony, I’ve never really fancied myself as a Brony. However, I am referring to businesses that are given the unicorn title due to them achieving a valuation of $1 billion or more. The term, first coined in 2013, initially was used to emphasize the rarity of such startups. The definition of a unicorn startup has remained unchanged since then. However, the number of unicorns has gone up.

To be a unicorn is no easy feat and each unicorn today has its own story with a list of features that worked in its favour. We have listed down a few factors that are commonly seen across all unicorns:

However, there’s a darker truth about becoming a unicorn. Even with a lofty valuation of $1 billion-plus, this does not guarantee success. According to Ali Tamaseb’s research at venture capital firm DCVC, up to 17% of businesses labelled as unicorns within the last 15 years have failed. And we have seen some big unicorns become extinct during that time, including the likes of Evernote, Zynga and one of the most famous being Theranos – with the latter being a little more complicated, I know. This has resulted in the loss of billions of dollars of investors’ money, and unfortunately the livelihoods of many hard-working employees.

There are real lessons here for businesses of every shape and size to learn from, and hopefully, avoid. We’ve listed a few here:

  1. Don’t overpromise – it’s great to have lofty ambitions, but a business can’t be based on something you’re not ready to deliver. Theranos is a great example of this.
  2. Value your workforce – whether a start-up with a handful of employees, or a huge corporation employing thousands, the people on the payroll are the ones who keep the engine moving, and to abuse them only hurts the business.
  3. Be realistic – the temptation to spend like you’re already one of the big players can take you down if you’re not quite at that level yet. Growing realistically and incrementally gives you and your organisation the strong foundation necessary to avoid toppling over as you grow. Patience is a virtue, and a lack of it can bring you to a premature end.

So if you are a unicorn, or any business of any shape or size, and are looking for the right support to enable sustainable growth – then look no further than Contact Centre Panel. We are here and ready to support you with your next contact centre related project.

Walking in the streets of Pristina, you may be greeted by one of the locals saying “Më vjen mirë që u takuam” – which is “pleased to meet you” in Albanian. If you didn’t know, Albanian is the national language of Kosovo, this is due to 1.8 million Albanians speakers living in Kosovo currently (92.93% of the entire population). However, since the war ended in June 1999, Kosovo has seen the return of many citizens who had fled the country. In turn this has seen the introduction of many Western European languages now spoken in the country, making Kosovo a prime destination for multi-lingual contact centres.

This includes (but is not limited to):

What also makes Kosovo an attractive outsourcing destination is the age of the population, with more than 50% of the population below the age of 25. The improved education system within Kosovo produces thousands of graduates each year, thus providing an adequate resource to power the outsourcing industry. Furthermore, the young population are hungry for employment, with contact centres seen as a stable and prosperous career path.
As we look at our watches, Kosovo is located in the UTC +1 Central European Time Zone, 1 hour ahead of UK time. Whilst this is perfect alignment to UK/European business operating hours, it also means you can access the country in less than 3 hours flight time from London, and less than 2 hours from Berlin. It’s not only the time zone that complements UK/European businesses, but the cultural alignment is clear to see which helps businesses reduce some of the problems from working with companies with different cultural backgrounds.

Final point, attractive pricing. Eastern Europe has become popular not only for its ability to deliver the same quality of service but for half the price in most cases – and this is the same (sometimes better) with Kosovo. As mentioned earlier, this is not cost over quality, due to the availability of a highly educated workforce.

We think you will be hearing more about Kosovo over the next couple of years, with the country looking to rival its neighbours such as Albania and Romania in providing high quality but cost-effective multi-lingual outsourcing solutions – Kosovo might be the next destination for you.

Looking to outsource in Eastern Europe? Get in touch with Contact Centre Panel, we can help you source your next partner free of charge!

It’s a conversation I’ve had more than once over the past few months, so let’s explore further:

What is ISO certification?

In layman’s terms, this is the official approval to show that you comply with one of the many international ISO standards that are in place currently.

What does ISO cover?

There are many (and I mean many) different ISO standards available. Covering things from IT Security to Environmental Management.

Do I need to be ISO certified?

The simple answer is no, however, it does truly depend on your current circumstances and future objectives.

When should I be considering ISO certification?

Again, this really does depend on your current circumstances. Many organisations go for a specific ISO certification because their clients demand it or it is required for a particular tender. Some organisations use it as a barometer of how well they are doing, and whether there are certain improvements they need to make.

If you are considering embarking on the ISO certification journey, we would suggest considering three key areas before setting off:

1) Cost: Be prepared to make a commercial commitment as part of the certification process and beyond. Whilst there will be an initial cost for the audit and award of the certificate, most businesses forget to track the cost of the internal resource they will need to engage with for the preparation and delivery of the ISO accreditation.

2) Time: Ensure that you book plenty of time in ahead of the audit date. Use this time to conduct a gap analysis against the standard, ensuring you cover all of the points ahead of the audit. You don’t want to go through this process more than once – it will cost you precious time and money.

3) Internal buy–in: There’s nothing more important than to ensure you have all key business stakeholders on board before you set off. Some certifications, such as ISO9001 – Quality Management Systems, will touch upon all areas of the business. Delivering one, strong, united message across your business is pivotal.

Achieving certification may provide increased sales opportunities or identify risk/opportunities you were never aware of. All in all, the benefits that you gain will vary greatly depending on the ISO standard that you implement and the amount of effort you put into it.

Need a safe pair of hands as part of your ISO journey? Drop us a line.

However, since the lifting of restrictions we have seen employees return to the office on a full-time or flexible basis, which has seen CO2 global emissions rebound by 6% in 2021 – an increase of over 2 billion tonnes of CO2 versus the previous year.

Not all of these emissions are due to the return to work, of course. However, every industry, including the contact centre industry, should be thinking about how they can reduce their impact on the environment.

Here are a few thoughts on how you can make your centre greener:

  1. Use technology to enable successful homeworking – we all now know the art of the possible when it comes to working from home and the benefits that come with this. One being employees no longer having to travel into the office, which in turn means fewer vehicles on the road and less carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.
  1. Think about your corporate social responsibility objectives – bring a cross-section of your employees together across the business and write down what your green and social objectives are over the next 12 months. Transfer these objectives into a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy to ensure all staff are following these objectives, including providing relevant training to educate your employees.
  1. Move to greener energy and lower energy consumption – look at how you purchase energy and whether this is the opportunity to invest in green energy, for example through the use of solar panels etc. Also focus on how you use your energy across the centre, reducing energy consumption and switching off during your non-operational hours.
  1. Reduce paper wastage using digital communication tools – try to reduce the amount of paper you use, by cutting the number of print jobs across your centre. Think about how you can use digital communication tools rather than printing a notice/flyer.
  1. Work with your local councils – councils often provide grants and other forms of support to help you kick off your green revolution. Even if it is just asking for advice, speak to your local authority to see what support is on offer.

Think global and act locally to help support efforts in making the world a safer and greener place for future generations.

The impact of not getting important information through to your customers?

Just imagine that a problem is found with one of your most popular products or services, meaning you have to contact all your customers to offer a solution or replacement. How would your service team, or your outsource customer service partner, cope?

Now, stop imagining and start planning. The last 12 months has seen some major brands fall foul of poorly handled product recalls or poorly communicated service failures. Nat West’s Black Friday experience was a prime example, where a lack of regular updates about the bank’s online banking failure, on the busiest online shopping day of the year, created further frustration for thousands of customers, who shared their discontent across social media. By not updating customers, the bank gave the impression they didn’t care, while no doubt they were working very hard to resolve the problem. Worse still, there was no apology once the issue was resolved leaving many customers feeling let down.

Product recalls, if not handled well, can have a very detrimental effect on a brand. Recalls are relatively common in sectors such as automotive, electrical appliances and pharmaceuticals. They must be handled well as the corporate consequences of failure can be serious. The reputational damage can be difficult to recover from, but more importantly, in some cases, there can be a genuine threat to personal safety.

How would you get critical messaging to all your customers?

If you had to get essential information to every single customer, how would you do it? If your customer service planning doesn’t include this as a possibility, there’s a risk that a product problem will result in a huge influx of inbound enquiries, flooding your team and leaving many customers unhappy with your performance. By getting ahead of the problem and proactively communicating with your customers, dissatisfaction can be minimised. A well-handled problem can result in genuine brand advocates, but a badly handled one can irreparably damage your brand reputation.
Critical messaging solutions can vary – using different channels according to the needs of the clients. However, they tend to be built on an initial SMS (text message) transmission. SMS messages, on average, achieve delivery and open rates of well over 90%, so with a suitably clear message, a huge number of customers can be reached and engaged extremely quickly and inexpensively.

The initial SMS will usually contain a call to action, a link, or rich media for an app like experience, that enables customers to self-serve and take control of their own problem resolution. This could be to make an engineer appointment or to arrange collection of a defective product. This is much more resource efficient than waiting for inbound enquiries following a news story or even a proactive email campaign.

Customers are also given the option to engage via SMS or social media to ask questions: this is also far more cost-effective than prompting calls, as agents can typically handle four text conversations at one time, and customers are more accepting of slower response rates via SMS or social chat (via your brand’s Facebook page, for example) than on the phone.

When you compare the self-serve option to staffing up your customer service department, or securing outsourced seats to handle a massive spike in demand, it is both cheaper and quicker, reaching customers more effectively and delivering the required results with minimum human involvement. This is more likely to result in more satisfied customers, despite the obvious initial bad news about their purchase.

How do you turn a negative situation to your advantage?

So, by adopting a proactive, planned approach to dealing with critical messaging, your brand can:
• Reach your customers quickly
• Get resolutions acted on efficiently
• Allow your customer service team to focus on just the complex cases
• Maximise cost-effectiveness
• Convert potential brand damage into happy customers

At CCP we work with specialist partners who are able to deliver the latest crisis management and critical messaging solutions, so if you have any customer service issues, or are concerned that your business is not setup to handle a crisis, get in touch. We’d love to help.

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_custom_heading text=”The impact on customer service provision” google_fonts=”font_family:Roboto%3A100%2C100italic%2C300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic%2C500%2C500italic%2C700%2C700italic%2C900%2C900italic|font_style:300%20light%20regular%3A300%3Anormal”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1590133080457{padding-top: 40px !important;}”]In the Queen’s Speech this week, Boris Johnson’s government made a commitment for the UK to leave the European Union by 31st October 2019. Whether a deal is struck or (as seems more likely) not, there’s little doubt that business throughout the UK will be affected.
Back in 2016 this article predicted that up to 32,000 jobs in the contact centre would disappear partly because of the effects of Brexit, but thankfully that seems to have been a very pessimistic view. However, with the planned leaving day only a couple of weeks away, there will definitely be some impact.

Brexit’s effect on customer service

How will UK based contact centres be affected by our potential departure of the EU? An internet search for ‘Brexit customer service’ probably presents different results every week, but as we write this article the results are dominated by big brands’ holding statements, reassuring customers that the effects of Brexit will be kept to a minimum for them. It’s interesting to see that the top results are almost all from financial services organisations – a leading source of work for the contact centre industry.
These web pages are published to reduce the volume of questions on Brexit that would otherwise be handled by customer service agents. Customers need reassurance and with so much uncertainty still surrounding the Brexit process and how it will practically affect businesses operating in the UK, it’s still very difficult to prepare agents to answer specific questions.
As the 31st October passes, we can expect an increased volume of inbound enquiries to customer service agents for Brexit-related enquiries. Some will be seeking reassurance but others will be needing factual and practical guidance on issues, ranging from travelling out of the UK (or back in), to sending goods internationally, to checking whether licenses and permits are valid.

Deal or no deal?

There’s a strong argument that UK business would be better prepared to leave the EU if a deal had already been struck. With daily news dominated by the progress, or lack of it, being achieved at a high level, there has been very little detail about how operations will need to change from 1st November onwards.
It’s this uncertainty which has been affecting international currency fluctuations and suppressing the share values of UK registered companies, but whether this uncertainty will result in a long-lasting slowdown of the UK’s growth is yet to be seen. However, the ability of UK contact centres and customer service operations to handle Brexit-related enquiries is currently compromised until the facts become clear. A deal would at least have allowed businesses to prepare FAQs and communicate with their customers to explain how their interests will be looked after. Without this, we can expect a spike in activity once the way we will leave the EU is finalised.
The EU has prepared a checklist for companies doing business in the EU which, surprisingly is only on Version 3 as we write – Read the official checklist here – This document is a useful list of signposts about what to check.
Customer service operations will need to be ready for this spike in inbound enquiries, with fast deployment of FAQ information to agents and efficient and proactive communications to customers.

International customer service moving out of the UK?

For offshore and nearshore customer service businesses, the introduction of GDPR last year has created an environment of reassurance for the best operators and has removed some less scrupulous businesses from the industry. EU law provides for the transmission of personal data across EU Member States without additional requirements, but after 31st October the UK will be a ‘third country’ so businesses which operate in more than one country including the UK will need to ensure that they comply with EU rules. Some more details from the EU can be seen in this document. This will affect not only businesses based in the UK with overseas operations, but (and possibly more importantly) UK contact centres which work for EU clients. There may be a withdrawal of business from UK call centres back into Europe, simply to avoid additional data transfer regulations.
It’s important to note, though, that some leading offshore customer service operations use data that’s handled exclusively in the UK and therefore will not be affected by data transfer regulations after Brexit, just as they aren’t today. Businesses like these, with their established models and uncomplicated international service might emerge stronger once the UK leaves the EU.

So what does all this mean for customer service?

Uncertainty creates questions. With Brexit presenting a major source of uncertainty in customers’ minds it’s inevitable that customer service providers and contact centres will see an increase in enquiries as the 31st October approaches and passes. The UK outside the EU will need to adapt to changes in regulation and to new ways to move goods, services and people.
There will, therefore, need to be customer service agents ready to respond to these questions. A spike in activity will no doubt occur, but how high the spike is and how long it will last is very difficult to predict. Some businesses may need to seek additional resources to cope with the demand and if that’s the case, Contact Centre Panel would be happy to help.
Whatever the next few weeks holds for Brexit, the customer service industry will be affected as our clients finalise their last-minute preparations for the UK becoming a ‘third country’. We will be keeping a watchful eye on the results.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]