The summer break gives us time to reflect on the year to date. It’s always great to start with the successes and then the failures, or ‘opportunities’ as we are meant to label them. One such ‘opportunity’ that’s worth avoiding is that of ‘buyer’s remorse’, that sick feeling that starts in your stomach and rises through your chest, plants itself in your head and from that point on, haunts the conversation as soon as the subject matter is discussed.

Nothing presents itself better in this scenario than buying contact centre tech’. Why? Well, the answer is very simple and it’s all about context. That context is that buying anything, especially high value, and specifically, those that are complex and have multiple stakeholders, need a salesperson to sell them and contact centre tech’ is one of those things.

The scenarios witnessed all have one thing in common. The salesperson won. It’s like watching a gladiator against an unarmed soldier and in some cases, I’ve been reminded of that series of films that involved Predator and Alien, which perhaps reveals how long I’ve been around making these types of observations.

In all these procurement journeys, it was simply a case of one party going into play with more weapons, more skills and more technique than their combatant.

In that famous Monty Python sketch, ‘surprise’ is always an advantage. Although, as we know the element of surprise comes through knowledge and planning. Then comes the relationship development, even some personal social media interaction to cement the ‘advantage position’.

Tools? Well again, we all know what they are, but often fail to remember that salespeople these days are highly trained professionals who are targeted to win against people they have targeted to sell to.

Once the ‘trust position’ is established, out comes the ‘glitter and gold’ and of course, that’s all presented well to solve all the problems that the combatant has been sharing as the ‘relationship’ has been developing. Not that anything needs to have been mentioned. Typically, the professional sales team’s ‘intelligence unit’ have weaponry that gathers everything on the internet that your organisation has been putting out there, or even just checking something obvious like your company’s Trust Pilot scores and social media sites. These all are designed to reduce the risk of the sale not completing and the glitter and gold are deposited in the buyer’s jewellery box.

So, maybe take some armour and weapons of your own, make the tech’ purchasing journey an even contest and make sure what you end up buying is the gold you wanted.

It’s perhaps an understatement to say that we live in changing times. Adjusting to a post-Covid work and consumer environment, as well as being mindful of increased costs and the changes that brings to how we prioritise our decision making. Whether at work or home, the decisions we make over these summer months are going to significantly influence how we cope as nights draw in and the cold sets in.

One of the most significant benefits of my role in Contact Centre Panel is lifting the bonnet on so many contact centre tech’ organisations, allowing me to engage with both gifted engineers and committed business leaders. That insight gives me hope and a huge amount of reassurance that whatever efficiency or cost challenges we face, there is a team of people out there with a technology solution that we can build a business case around. As a result, I think that the problem we should be trying to solve is one of faith and belief that in the context of work, there is a technology solution out there that will make our lives easier, more efficient, more rewarding and more profitable.

The limiting factor of course is always time and reshuffling our priorities to find that time. That’s hard when our roles require us to support people, tasks and stakeholders. It’s often the case that when we are most stressed, we find it hard to reach out for help, to take the time to take a breath and consider the alternative. When I think of my own experiences as a full-time sportsman (many, many years ago) I was exposed to specialists, scientists mostly, that helped my decision making, especially under stress. Whilst my stresses today may not be entirely sports related (although I do my best to try), the lessons learnt from those times were always about narrowing the focus and trusting our own decision making.

That said, there was always one caveat. Be strong enough to know that help was there and trust that no one would think badly of us if we ask for help.

In February and March 2022 two more of the top 5 global tech’ giants joined Amazon and Microsoft by announcing their entry into the customer management and contact centre technology space. One of those giants was Meta, the other Google.

So, with the exception of Apple who remain firmly focused on the provision of stylish and functional computing and communication hardware as well as consumer payments services, four of the Big 5 global tech’ companies are now in a position to help organisations (irrespective of purpose, size or location) to directly support their customers.

For those of us who still remember copper wires and tin boxes with flashing lights, stored in purpose-built rooms with locked doors (usually propped open to keep the places cool), this year may well be remembered as the year that heralded the beginning of ‘the big change’. The moment when the planet’s largest and most influential infrastructure, software and communication companies began the battle to manage and add value to the entire customer data journey.

Why Big Tech is moving into contact centre technology

Well, simply consider the global positioning of any of those big 5 tech’ giants in the customer management and contact centre space. The super mature Microsoft with its ever-evolving desktop applications, cloud infrastructure, messaging and communication platforms. Amazon providing global data services and from March 2017 has been offering its own successful CCaaS application. Then the new entrants. Google with their global cloud offering now with its own global comms and contact centre AI platform. We also have Meta, who, according to phone.com have provided the world’s top 4 downloaded apps of the last decade (Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram), arguably making them the world’s largest human interaction business, finally acquiring Kustomer, the successful contact centre desktop unification application.

Behind these giants there is also activity. The continued success of Twilio as a seamless global comms platform and customer engagement application builder. As well as the ambitious Zoom, having failed to acquire global UCaaS and CCaaS provider Five9 back on October last year, they launched their own contact centre application as soon as February, with a European launch planned for some time soon.

What this means for established technology providers

Whilst the beginning of ‘the big change’ may be super exciting for any organisation on the planet who has customers to manage, the business environment for the old tin box manufacturers and the world’s established, historically copper based telco’s, the competitive environment looks just a little bit harder. In the context of ‘the big change’, what I read into that is innovation and change, certainly the prospect of collaboration and consolidation to deliver that.

Expect more collaboration, consolidation and innovation

The collaboration plans of Genesys as a long-time global leader will be interesting to see play out, particularly with Zoom and Salesforce as investors in the Dec 2021 funding round.

Having lifted the bonnet of nearly 100 contact centre technology solutions and specialist applications since October 2019, when we began building the Contact Centre Panel Technology Network, we have seen some fantastic technologies and some great innovations. I am absolutely convinced we will continue to see more. We live in exciting times. Let’s see where ‘the big change’ takes us.

For the inside track on ‘the big change’ and what this means for your organisation, get in touch.

When Robert Leiderman first published ‘The Telephone Book’ in 1990, the pages led the reader through a journey of structure, process and measurement and supported that narrative with sound marketing principles such as Millington’s 4 Leverage Points.  

‘The Telephone Book’ defined and scoped the effective use of the telephone as a business tool and set the framework for the development of call centres in the 90s.

The operating models so eloquently described by Leiderman, based on evidence accumulated through his work in the US with Simon Roncorroni, positioned the telephone as part of the customer communication process and was quick to highlight its weaknesses as a stand-alone communication tool. Working alongside data specialists driving voice contact, direct mail responses and brand development across print, TV, outdoor and radio, voice responses could begin to put more measurement around the brand orientated ads through the addition of phone numbers. This methodology, pioneered and developed by David Kyffin of Adlink, and later of Greys, focused on aligning response volumes with the ability of the call centre to answer the call, effectively putting CX above the volume of leads.

Fast forward thirty years and we now have a bigger response media toolbox, which provides greater transparency and measurement of data flows. That toolbox includes new solutions capable of augmenting the human component of customer interaction, making customer engagement design much more complex and dependent (as Robert Leiderman so clearly stated) on robust measurement and understanding.

With so much technological innovation out there it’s easy to be distracted by the variety of available options. Now is the time to get back to basics and spend more time acquiring a deeper understanding of existing data flows and less time being amazed by the sexiness of ‘modern tech’.

If you would like further information contact us.

On the 31 March 2022, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council officially announced the publication of v4.0 of the PCI DSS. In this article, we look at the declared goals of v4.0 and the key changes from the current version of the standard.

Three points to make upfront. Firstly, the PCI SSC has made this a big document. At 356 pages there are an additional 217 pages of guidance including the PCI SSC glossary, which makes the document much easier to use. Secondly, it has taken time for the document to be globally released, since first being announced in late 2017. Yes, Covid has been a factor, but so has the SSC’s objective to make this document inclusive. By reaching out to the secure payments community not once, but three times, receiving over six thousand items of feedback from 200 plus organisations the document adds flexibility whilst focusing entities on what is required to keep card data secure. Finally, the current version of the DSS, v3.2.1 will not be retired until March 31 2024, so there is a long transition period.

Goal 1 – Ensure the standard continues to meet the security needs of the payment industry

Released at the same time as v4.0 is a Summary of Changes document. This lists 64 new requirements, 11 of which just apply to third-party service providers. Whilst the secure payments community will always be playing catch up, the DSS certainly makes the effort to align to the current threat landscape, even though 51 of the new Requirements are not ‘effective’ until 31 March 2025.

Goal 2 – Add flexibility and support for additional methodologies to achieve security

As well as continuing with the ‘Defined’ approach with ‘Compensating Controls’, v4.0 introduces the ‘Customised’ approach. This is a new method to implement and validate PCI DSS requirements where entities demonstrate that they meet the intent of the DSS and can ‘adopt’ their own testing procedures, signed off by their (Qualified Security Assessor) QSA and acquirer.

Goal 3 – Promote security as a continuous process

In v4.0 this has been made a priority to dispel the notion that PCI DSS compliance is a once-a-year tick box exercise, much like an MOT. Whilst ‘roles & responsibilities’ has only two mentions in the current version, each of the 12 core requirements now have headline text that states “Roles and responsibilities for performing activities in requirement x are documented, assigned and understood.”

Goal 4 – Enhance validation methods and procedures

Whilst much of this goal is achieved by the introduction of the ‘Customised’ approach, we can see through the new supporting documentation for external auditors (QSA’s) increased alignment between information reported in a Report on Compliance and information summarised in an Attestation of Compliance. We expect to see more when the new Self Assessments are released in Q2.

So, in summary, a really helpful document that we have time to consider. Certainly the ‘Customised’ approach should prompt ongoing conversations, especially around the additional time, costs and effort involved for all stakeholders in agreeing to testing procedures, especially when it comes to sign off and liability in the event of a future data compromise. Food for thought!

With homeworking becoming a daily reality for many workers who had traditionally been based from the office, the parameters by which businesses need to be managed and protected has changed.

From early on in the pandemic, most large organisations have made it possible for their staff to work from home, only visiting the office when necessary. Although this new flexible way of working has had many benefits, it has also led to a far wider variety of data security and personal health risks across the distributed workforce.

A recent BBC article highlighted the main cybersecurity issues, although none of which come as a big surprise. The most interesting facts and statistics were:

In addition to this, many organisations have successfully moved their workforces into the home, after adapting or redesigning their business processes and corporate systems to enable productive working, are up against a potential legislative ticking time bomb in relation to remote workplace safety.

Where there’s blame…

The UK claims industry has not had an easy time of it recently. With only a few exceptions, the door is now firmly shut for PPI claims and planned changes to the whiplash claims process will further curtail revenue opportunities.

What is next for the claims sector? Will it be class actions against companies by groups of employees who have been forced to work in unsuitable home environments?

While the home environment has, before 2020, been the homeowner’s domain, it is now the workplace. Any accidental damage caused by trailing cables, poorly placed computers, unsuitable seating might now fall on the employer to address. Then add to that the potential mental damage caused by having to balance work and family commitments within a confined space. The claims industry could have a field day!

What should your business be doing about it?

It is essential your business acts now and puts your company in a defendable position.

The failure of organisations to fully document a ‘risk assessment’ against not being able to meet your organisations obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, may not be an easy position to defend.

Both these pieces of legislation make very clear what an organisation’s responsibilities are for them to comply with the Act and keep both data and people safe.

Recording decision making actions, particularly at Board level, that are reasonable, proportionate and timely will help create the defendable position that insurers will look for when defending a potential claim.

Do not believe for one minute that the claims industry are not preparing themselves for this and do not think that your organisation is immune. Ensuring that your organisational risk documentation is complete and that words and actions are aligned to what could be considered a reasonable timeline, will be essential components of a defendable position.

Help your team to work with you

In short, homeworking is here to stay. Businesses have shifted and employees have become accustomed to the ‘new norm’. However, it’s not plain sailing yet as mistakes are being made and so far, most organisations are getting away with them. Don’t be the organisation in the first batch of ‘class actions’ because of lack of timely decision making and appropriate, proportionate and timely actions.

By working with your team to provide a safe and productive homeworking environment, with protected systems and structured support, your business can be a home-based success. Your team can grow and thrive, knowing what to do if problems occur and feeling supported in their work.

If you’re unsure how to assess the risks posed by homeworking and how to equip your business to deal with them, get in touch. We can advise you on what areas need to be considered and how to mitigate risk. We can also provide tips on how to work with your staff to maximise their health, happiness and productivity.