To explore why, I spoke with three top-class BPO and Jamaica experts, each of whom brings their unique perspective, from testing multiple outsourcing destinations around the world to Jamaican nationals deeply engaged in the country’s thriving BPO ecosystem.

According to Brad Meiller of Spectrum Brands, who has over a decade of client-side global outsourcing experience from in both retail and telecommunications, and whose philosophy is closely aligned with CCP’s own, while cost and service quality matter, it’s cultural alignment that often makes the biggest difference. And in his view, Jamaica ticks all the right boxes.

1. English-Speaking Advantage

As a native English-speaking country with strong cultural ties to the UK and US, communication is seamless, nuanced, and naturally aligned with Western service expectations. This fluency translates to higher first-call resolution rates and empathetic customer service experiences. And it’s not just language. Jamaican agents bring tone, warmth and cultural familiarity to the table too.

Jamaica is the third-largest English-speaking nation in the Western Hemisphere, and its accent is well-received by British customers.

2. Infrastructure & BPO Ecosystem

Jamaica’s government has invested heavily in digital infrastructure and the BPO sector, recognising it as a key pillar of economic growth. The island now boasts multiple outsourcing hubs in cities like Kingston, Montego Bay, and Portmore, all supported by reliable high-speed internet, business parks, and international flight access.

Connectivity is robust and reliable, with redundant data centres in locations such as Miami ensuring business continuity. The country also hosts two incubators, 220 seats in Montego Bay and 140 in Kingston. This provides scalable options for both startups and growing teams.

Modern network infrastructure, including low-latency fibre and support from the Universal Service Fund, gives Jamaica the capacity to meet UK standards. Ongoing developments like Starlink’s entry to the market continue to strengthen Jamaica’s digital resilience.

Big names like Concentrix, Teleperformance, Sutherland and Alorica already operate successfully on the island, proof that Jamaica can handle high-scale, high-performance outsourcing operations. And with global success stories like Amazon, Netflix, and Target leveraging Jamaican talent, the island’s credentials are hard to ignore.

3. Strategic Time Zone Alignment

Many BPOs in Jamaica provide 24/7 coverage, with service hours tailored to key markets including the UK. For UK businesses, Jamaica’s location also supports efficient logistics. Direct flights from Kingston and Montego Bay to London, Manchester, and Birmingham make it one of the most accessible Caribbean destinations. And with such a solid telecoms infrastructure , remote work is also a viable staffing option, particularly useful for late-night or flexible coverage.

4. Talent Pool & Education

With a literacy rate above 88% and a large youth population, Jamaica is producing thousands of skilled graduates annually, many of whom are turning to the BPO industry for stable careers. Institutions like the University of the West Indies and local vocational programmes  are directly feeding the outsourcing workforce, with a strong focus on service, IT, and administrative support.

There is also strong industry-academia alignment. The Global Services Association of Jamaica works hand-in-hand with universities and training programmes to ensure the labour force is future-ready. And not just for entry-level roles, but for higher-value positions in areas like IT development, integrations, and knowledge-based work.

Jamaican education initiatives such as the HEART/NSTA Trust program provide training across a range of skills such as language communication, sales, data entry, CRM, and IT, ensuring a steady flow of qualified professionals.

5. Competitive Costs with Cultural Fit

While Jamaica may not always be the cheapest, it offers incredible value-for-money when you factor in native English fluency, low agent attrition, cultural compatibility, and a growing pool of trained talent.

At time of writing, the exchange rate between the British Pound (GBP) and Jamaican Dollar (JDM) remains competitive, as highlighted in recent research by Peter Ryan Strategic Advisory, a leading market research and consulting firm focused on CX and BPO.

Critically, the service offering goes beyond standard customer service. Jamaican providers cover front- and back-office functions, including sales, debt collection, IT support, and more.

Importantly, Jamaica is no longer viewed solely as a destination for transactional CX work. It’s now recognised for complex support roles, higher agent touchpoints, and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) – including finance and accounting services aligned with UK qualification standards.

6. Government Support & Incentives

With special economic zones (SEZs), tax incentives, and strong partnerships with international investors, the Jamaican government has rolled out the red carpet for global businesses. Whether you’re setting up from scratch or partnering with an existing provider, the regulatory environment is built for speed and scalability.

The country’s legal system is modelled closely on the UK’s, providing familiarity and confidence for British and Commonwealth investors. The same is true of its education system, which mirrors the UK structure and standards.

Jamaica’s 2023 Data Protection Act aligns the country’s data policies with international standards, making it suitable for regulated industries like banking, healthcare, insurance, and utilities.

During the April 2025 Outsource2Jamaica event we attended, the government’s commitment was front and centre – Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness personally welcomed international guests and industry speakers, underscoring the strategic importance of the sector.

As Gloria Henry of the Port Authority of Jamaica and Conrad Robinson of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO)  – both are helping position Jamaica not just as a viable outsourcing option, but as a strategic hub for global service delivery – explained, Jamaica isn’t just promoting itself, it’s backing up its vision with significant public investment. Over $15 million has already been invested into talent development through global training programmes.

JAMPRO also offers “concierge-style” support to businesses entering the Jamaican market, further streamlining the setup and integration process for UK firms.

Final Thoughts

Jamaica is a smart, scalable, and soulful choice for businesses looking to outsource. With its blend of cultural alignment, language fluency, government backing, and operational maturity, Jamaica stands out as a trusted and future-ready BPO partner for UK businesses, particularly for those seeking alternatives to traditional offshore delivery points.

And as Brad Meiller shared with me, BPO selection processes across global organisations often involve extensive RFPs and a lot of box-ticking. Thanks to the strengths outlined above, Jamaican BPOs make that box-ticking exercise remarkably straightforward.

Want to find out more or meet vetted providers in Jamaica? Drop us a line, we’re happy to help you explore your options.

With thanks for their insights to Brad, Peter, Gloria, Conrad and CCP’s Phil Kitchen, who all attended the Outsource2Jamaica event in April 2025.

Quality assurance (QA) is a staple of every contact centre, more so where compliance and regulation demand it. Traditionally, manual QA reviews are concerned with the customer interaction itself, are labour-intensive and typically cover only 1-2% of calls.

While manual QA will pick up some training points, through a lack of comprehensive coverage, it often misses systemic issues that haven’t become immediately obvious elsewhere in the organisation but that could be found buried in call analysis.

What is the AI doing in Auto QA?

Auto QA uses artificial intelligence to automate the evaluation of both customer interactions through transcription (remember use case 1 – autowrap) and sentiment analysis, and what the agent did on systems.

Let’s examine the benefits.

Key benefits: Comprehensive coverage

With AI, it is possible to cover 100% of interactions; to fully assess agent performance consistently and at scale across all interactions and all areas of the QA scorecard, and send alerts straight to a team leader’s desktop.

Resource optimisation

With manual QA, you typically see around a 1:30 or 1:50 ratio of manual QA people to agents. But with Auto QA, you can expect around a 75% reduction in that overhead. Which is significant when working on fine margins, either in headcount reduction, or redirecting those resources to transformation or speech analysis tasks as opposed to data gathering.

Consistent evaluations

As with any human task, while we may believe all QA people are using their scorecard and delivering in the same way, even with calibration sessions and financial incentives, the chances of that being the case are slim; you may already know this from those calibration sessions. Indeed, the interpretation of the calibration itself may be flawed – for example, two different people may have very different takes on what constitutes empathy.

So while an AI scorecard evaluation of a voice interaction may, for example, only be 80% accurate to begin with, it is consistently 80% accurate, as opposed to the potential for human analysis to vary significantly and most likely sit at a lower accuracy figure of around 65%. Meaning more calls are scored at greater accuracy overall.

Real-time feedback

Finally, the benefits of real-time feedback while softer, are easy to understand. And completely measurable via the scorecard.

First, immediately picking up training points allows the agent to implement improvements on the very next interaction.

And second, for an agent taking hundreds of calls a day, picking up a training point even a few hours after the call occurred – especially if the interaction reason or resolution is atypical – makes it harder for the improvement points to stick, even with the benefit of the call to hand.

Implementation considerations

Aside from systems integrations, data privacy and compliance – and instead focusing more on the vagaries, of AI – accuracy (or lack of it) immediately translates through to an impact on human resources, where a less accurate AI could result in wasting resources on issues that aren’t issues.

Which is why it is always desirable to ensure there are humans in the loop (HITL), both in training, developing and refining the AI models, or in the process of checking its conclusions before delivering feedback.

With a combination of human review and machine learning improvements, the 80% accuracy figure can be improved to 85-90% accuracy in around four weeks, at which point you can consider pointing the human resources to different tasks. For systems interactions, including chat, you would expect greater accuracy from the AI from the outset, as it immediately has controlled data to assess.

If you can achieve 95-100% accuracy, per Mojo CX’s claims, then you can be confident human resources are targeted to where they are needed most. It may even be that you are willing to accept a lower rate of accuracy if the QA benefits outweigh the wastage. This is a decision unique to your business. And so as with use case 1, it’s important to understand the true baseline that the AI is improving upon.

Elsewhere, you may choose not to assess 100% of calls for processing and ESG reasons. These are all tolerances and optimisations that you can test and set to deliver against competing KPIs.

Measuring Auto QA success

For any AI implementation, it’s important to measure its success as this will build the case for future implementations. Whether that’s headcount, resource allocation QA KPIs or any of the many other contact centre KPIs.

In summary, the benefits are:

· 75% reduction in QA processing time

· 50-100 x increase in evaluated interactions

· 15-25% increase in evaluation accuracy and consistency

· Greater and faster improvement in agent performance and CSAT

While undoubtedly a little more complex to implement than use case 1, implementing Auto QA builds on those foundations by making use of call transcription and taking it to the next level.

To find out more about how CCP can help you make the right technology choices, read more here or get in touch.

This series of articles is drawn from our webinar with Jimmy Hosang, CEO and co-founder at Mojo CX. We explored seven key use cases for AI in contact centres, starting from the easiest productivity gains to value generating applications. You can find a summary of all seven use cases here, or watch the webinar in full here.

Summarising calls takes time – anywhere from 10-30% of the call. And agents are almost always under pressure to get the task completed in as little time as is humanly possible to meet AHT and wait targets. This often translates to errors or even missing data. Which not only makes it hard for future agents to follow the story, it can be a regulatory challenge too.

AI-driven autowrap and summarisation tools are helping to alleviate this burden by automating the process, allowing businesses to cut handling times and improve CRM accuracy. According to Jimmy, it’s one of the easiest applications of AI a contact centre can implement.

What is the AI doing in autowrap?

Autowrap and summarisation technology uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to transcribe customer calls in real time. As calls progress, key details such as issues raised, resolutions, and next steps are captured automatically. This eliminates the need for agents to manually document call details, both reducing errors and freeing up time for more customer-centric tasks.

Key Benefits: Time and Cost Savings

By reducing the time spent on manual transcription, businesses can lower wrap times by 50%, which translates to reducing handling times by 5-15%. For a contact centre with 200 agents, taking the mid-point of 10%, this could result in a reduction of up to 20 FTEs, and delivering a 2-3X ROI from day one.

How you take this benefit is then your choice:

a) A productivity gain, even through natural attrition

b) A service improvement by reducing wait times or improving service, with longer call times to allow for better first contact resolution

c) Reinvest in more value driving AI use cases to build maturity

Call Summary Accuracy

With manual transcription, there is always the risk of errors or omissions. AI-driven solutions eliminate these risks by automatically capturing the most relevant data from each conversation, improving both the consistency and quality of CRM records.

Increased accuracy has a number of benefits, whether you run a regulated business or not. First is in future contacts, whether you met a first contact resolution goal or not. Any future calls where a customer refers to a previous call – and reasonably expects there to be some level of ‘corporate memory’ – can be shortened by avoid any lengthy re-explanations of what has gone before. Not only does this provide a future productivity gain, it makes for a far better customer experience too. So even at use case 1, we are already facilitating value generation through slick customer processes that avoid typical customer frustrations, as well as productivity.

What’s more, the data is clean, reliable and available for future analysis and QA. Look out for an article on use case 2, Auto QA, for more on that subject.

When building a business case, these are important considerations; it’s important to remember that your baseline probably isn’t perfection. And so your quality uplift may be greater than you have otherwise anticipated.

Easy Integration: No Overhaul Required

While it is undeniably desirable to integrate Autowrap technology into CRM or policy admin systems, it’s not a pre-requisite to start making these gains. An agent – dubbed the ultimate API in our recent whitepaper– can easily check through the summary, make any necessary amendments if you require it (your benchmark of what is good enough will depend on your business) and copy and paste it in. They’re already used to connecting disparate systems and will be working where you want to capture it anyway.

This means that businesses can buck the trend of AI project failure and quickly adopt the technology with minimal disruption to existing workflows. Once the ‘short, sharp’ solution is working, of course you can consider and implement the deep integrations to automate the task, but you will be most of the way there without it.

Enhancing Agent Experience and Customer Outcomes

As alluded to earlier, the benefits aren’t just about reducing operational costs—they also enhance both the agent and customer experience. By automating mundane, and often poorly executed tasks like call transcription, agents are free to focus on more valuable work, such as problem-solving and building customer relationships.

This not only boosts job satisfaction – which in itself may then also translate to tenure, sickness and recruitment gains – it also contributes to higher-quality customer interactions. Look out for use case 5, ‘Agent Assist’ for more on this topic.

Measuring Success

For any AI implementation, it’s important to measure its success as this will build the case for future implementations. Whether that’s headcount, resource allocation or the gamut of other contact centre KPIs.

In summary, the benefits are:

1. Immediate productivity gains of c. 10% of agent all handling time

2. Improved accuracy of note taking

3. Customer satisfaction gains from better corporate memory and more attentive agents

4. More time available for valuable conversations

5. Employee satisfaction gains – happier agents, longer tenures, less sickness, reduced recruitment

6. Regulatory compliance improvements

7. Easy and scalable implementation to shorten implementation timescales and increase AI success

8. Ability to re-invest gains in building AI maturity

Ultimately, accurate (enough) autowrap is an obvious win in any contact centre.

To find out more about how CCP can help you make the right technology choices, read more here or get in touch.

This series of articles is drawn from our webinar with Jimmy Hosang, CEO and co-founder at Mojo CX. We explored seven key use cases for AI in contact centres, starting from the easiest productivity gains to value generating applications. You can find a summary of all seven use cases here, or watch the webinar in full here.

1. Call Pickup Rate – Low pickup rates may indicate poor dialling strategies or incorrect customer data. Are managers addressing these issues to improve connection rates?
2. Average Call Duration – Longer calls may suggest engagement or inefficiencies. Do managers have the available insight to help distinguish between productive interactions and wasted time?
3. Average Handling Time (AHT) – Balancing efficiency with quality is crucial. Are managers optimising processes to reduce delays without compromising service?
4. Answering Machine Detection Rate – High voicemail rates waste agent time. Are contact centres adjusting their approach to minimise this?
5. Rejection Rate – A high volume of unanswered calls may point to poor targeting or dialling strategies. Are managers refining their approach based on this data?
6. Agent Wait Time Between Calls – Excessive downtime signals inefficiency. Are workflows optimised to keep agents engaged and productive?
7. Conversion Rate – Success is measured by call outcomes. Are managers analysing why some calls convert while others fail, and adjusting strategies accordingly?
8. Occupancy Rate – Are agents being overworked, leading to burnout, or underutilised, resulting in wasted resources? Do managers have the right data and leadership skills to balance their team members’ workloads effectively?
9. Data Accuracy – Poor data leads to inefficiencies and failed connections. Are managers ensuring databases remain up to date?
10. Right Party Contact Rate – If agents aren’t reaching the intended recipients, performance suffers. Are managers taking steps to improve contact accuracy?
11. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) – A positive customer experience is essential. Are managers prioritising training to enhance service quality?

• Lack of real-time performance insights.
• Insufficient training for managers to interpret and act on KPI trends.
• Inefficient processes that fail to align with data-driven improvements.
• Gaps in technology preventing optimal call routing and workflow automation.

In today’s outsourcing landscape, success depends on much more than cost savings and process efficiency.

On 25^th February 2025, Neville Doughty and Phil Kitchen from the Customer Contact Panel hosted a webinar with Joe Hill-Wilson, CEO and Co-Founder of Learn Amp and Martin Hill-Wilson, Owner of Brainfood Consulting, to discuss Sustainable Operating Models in Outsourcing. One of the most important takeaways from the discussion on sustainable operating models is that Learning and Development (L&D) must be embedded into the core of every outsourcing strategy. Without continuous learning, sustainability simply isn’t possible.

Why Learning and Development is a Sustainability Driver

In outsourcing environments, teams often face rapid change, evolving client expectations, and shifting technologies. This is reflected in the data – 92% of organisations are facing high or very high risk of top talent leaving in the next year (Brandon Hall Group, HCM Outlook, 2024). Without a structured and ongoing approach to skills development, outsourced teams can struggle to keep pace, leading to inconsistent quality, reduced productivity, and higher turnover . During the webinar, 82% of attendees reported that current procurement practice restricts the value they can bring to their clients.

The key takeaway? Organisations that embed L&D into their operating models create more resilient, adaptable, and future-ready outsourcing workforces.

Challenges in Sustainable Learning for Outsourced Teams

The panel discussed the various challenges companies face when it comes to embedding learning into outsourced operations:

• Geographical and Cultural Gaps: How can we create a unified learning experience for teams spread across different countries, cultures, and time zones?
• Engagement and Adoption: With high attrition rates common in outsourced environments, how do we motivate teams to actively engage in learning?
• Measuring Impact: How can we quantify the ROI of learning programs in outsourcing partnerships?

What Effective L&D Looks Like in Sustainable Outsourcing

When looking at solutions for the challenges discussed, the panel noted the importance of centralised learning platforms that deliver consistent, engaging content to all locations. Platforms like Learn Amp help organisations create:

• Standardised onboarding programs to accelerate time-to-competence.
• Bite-sized, mobile-friendly learning content to fit learning into busy shifts.
• Social learning spaces that encourage peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.
• Data dashboards to measure engagement, skills development, and business impact.

Embedding L&D into Operating Models: 3 Key Strategies

Treat L&D as a Business Process, not a Project
Learning shouldn’t be an afterthought or an annual event. It needs to be a continuous, embedded process that evolves with the business and its outsourcing needs. 

Make Learning a Shared Responsibility
Learning success shouldn’t fall solely on HR or L&D teams. Operations managers, team leaders, and employees themselves all need to co-own learning outcomes. 

Measure What Matters
Sustainable learning models measure not just completion rates, but real business impact: faster onboarding; fewer errors; higher customer satisfaction; and improved employee retention. The LinkedIn Workplace Report shared that 94% of employees would stay longer if companies invested in their development. 

Key Takeaway

If there’s one key takeaway from the webinar, it’s this: sustainable outsourcing depends on sustainable learning. When organisations invest in embedding learning into every stage of the outsourcing lifecycle, they create an employee experience where team members thrive.

If you would like to access a copy of the recording it is available here: Webinar Link

As part of our recent webinar with Zoom, we discussed how a brand is far more than just a name or a product; it’s the sum of what the public thinks, feels, and believes about a business. It’s built on both tangible elements like product features and packaging, and intangible ones like emotional connections, marketing, and even independent conversations beyond a brand’s control. Delivering on the brand promise—a commitment to customers about what they can expect—is therefore paramount to success. But when businesses fail to deliver, the consequences are costly and far-reaching.

Businesses increasingly turn to outsourcing partners to support customer service and contact centre operations. However, ensuring these partners can uphold the brand promise is critical. By exploring the importance of a brand promise, the risks of failure, and the value of the right outsourcing partner, organisations can better position themselves for success.

What is a Brand Promise, and why does it matter?

A brand promise communicates the essence of a company’s mission, values, and purpose. It represents what customers should expect when interacting with the business. For example, Red Bull’s brand promise encapsulates the idea of “freedom” and giving “wiiings” to people and ideas. They successfully integrate this into their sponsorships of extreme sports and events, translating their values into tangible experiences that reinforce their mission.

Delivering on this promise consistently builds trust, fosters advocacy, and encourages loyalty. Customers who feel a brand aligns with their expectations and values are more likely to:

• Pay a price premium for products and services.
• Recommend the brand to others, driving organic growth.
• Maintain long-term relationships, increasing customer lifetime value.

The cost of failing to deliver on the Brand Promise

When businesses fail to meet expectations, trust is eroded. Research reveals that 31% of customers are willing to pay more for excellent service, but failure to deliver service quality results in significant revenue loss. Poor service costs UK businesses an estimated £7.3 billion per month in employee time spent resolving issues. Additional consequences of falling short on service delivery include:

• Damaged Reputation: Dissatisfied customers share their negative experiences online, influencing potential buyers before they even engage with the brand.
• Increased Marketing Costs: Companies must invest heavily to rebuild trust and mitigate reputational damage.
• Lower Customer Lifetime Value: Customers experiencing poor service are unlikely to return, reducing their overall spending potential.

Service delivery directly underpins the price premium brands can command. Without great service, even the best product offerings lose their appeal—and profitability.

Managing customer experience at scale

The challenge for brands lies in scaling customer experiences while maintaining human, natural, and supportive interactions. Customers expect more than just advanced technology; they demand seamless, elegant, and intuitive service that delivers the right information at the right time. Poor customer satisfaction—as seen in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, which recently dropped to its lowest point since 2015—reflects the critical need for investment in experience.

To understand how service impacts decision-making, organisations should explore:

• Price Premium Expectations: How much more are customers willing to pay for exceptional service?
• Perceptions of Good Service: What defines great service from a customer’s perspective?
• Service’s Influence on Purchasing Decisions: How does a seamless experience drive loyalty and sales?

Leveraging outsourcing to deliver consistent experiences

Outsourcing has been a transformative tool for businesses over the past 40 years, enabling growth, transformation, and improved customer service outcomes. To realise these benefits, organisations must select their outsourcing partners carefully, considering solution fit, commercial alignment, and cultural compatibility.

1. Solution Alignment: The partner’s solution must match the company’s specific needs, including sector expertise, channel coverage, geography, and appetite for automation. Proven experience with similar challenges can offer peace of mind.
2. Commercial Mechanisms: The cost of service should account for the entire support structure—not just front-line agents—to ensure scalability and sustained quality. Contracts should incentivise mutual success and allow for evolving requirements over time.
3. Cultural Fit: Partners must embody the company’s values and approach, representing the brand authentically to customers. Building a genuine partnership requires mutual respect and clear processes for engagement.

Mitigating outsourcing risks

To minimise risk, businesses must define clear objectives, success measures, and realistic timelines before outsourcing. Processes should be fully documented, and knowledge transfer planned meticulously to ensure a smooth transition. Continuous communication with the outsourcing partner is essential for alignment.

Outsourcing also enables access to specialised skills, flexible scaling, and cost efficiencies, all of which support business growth without overextending internal resources. The key is selecting a partner who acts as an extension of the organisation’s team—not just a supplier.

Conclusion

Delivering on the brand promise is a strategic imperative that builds trust, drives loyalty, and sustains growth. Poor service is not just an operational issue but a risk to brand value and viability. Businesses that prioritise exceptional customer experiences can protect and enhance their reputations, achieving sustainable success.

Outsourcing, when approached thoughtfully, can be a powerful enabler of these outcomes. By choosing the right partner and fostering a collaborative relationship, organisations can mitigate risks, enhance service quality, and uphold their brand promises with confidence.

At Customer Contact Panel (CCP), we’ve witnessed first hand how these factors are influencing decision-makers, especially CX leaders and CFOs. If you’re in the midst of making an outsourcing choice, you’ve probably got one of the following on your mind. 

Growing Customer Demands: Meeting High Expectations 

It’s not just about answering calls anymore. Customers want fast, personalised, and empathetic interactions that feel seamless and aligned with your company values. This means businesses must be more careful than ever when choosing an outsourcing partner. A BPO’s cultural fit with your company is crucial—they need to speak your tone, align with your brand, and uphold the level of service your customers expect – all of which take time which you don’t have. So, companies are scrutinising potential partners more closely, ensuring they’re a perfect match. 

Technology: The New Wild Card 

Right now, you’re being asked to do more with less or deliver a better service with the same budget. With inflation, high interest rates, and currency fluctuations, offshoring doesn’t feel like a financial guarantee anymore. Add in automation—think AI tools and chatbots – and CFOs are starting to wonder if tech could be the silver bullet to that beast of a budget. Whilst AI and Automation can scale fast, they can come with hefty initial costs. Businesses are now weighing their options: 

1. Do they stick with outsourcing (onshore, nearshore, or offshore)? or
2. Do they double down on tech?

It’s a tough decision. Get it right, and they could boost customer loyalty; get it wrong, and it might lead to a backlash.  

ESG: Outsourcing in a Politically Charged World 

Outsourcing is no longer just about cutting costs; it’s also about navigating complex ethical and political waters. With Keir Starmer pushing for stricter ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) standards, businesses are questioning their outsourcing partners, especially if those countries are known for poor labour practices or environmental issues. Throw in political instability and outsourcing now feels like a risky gamble. Operations could grind to a halt at any time, and businesses can’t afford that. 

On top of that, data security is tighter than ever. With the UK government’s more stringent regulations, especially for industries like finance and healthcare, outsourcing is becoming bogged down in compliance red tape. A single data breach could ruin a brand’s reputation and customers’ trust—so finding a partner who understands data security is more important than ever. 

Lastly, with the UK’s £22 billion budget shortfall and a focus on reshoring jobs, companies are balancing cost savings against their political and ethical responsibilities. 

How CCP Makes Your Life Easier 

At CCP, we get it – outsourcing feels complex. But we’re here to simplify it for you. We help businesses make smart, informed and equitable choices through services such as: 

• Partner Matching: We connect businesses with a handpicked network of pre-vetted outsource partners (220+ partners infact), cutting down on the time and risk of finding the right partner.
• Cultural Fit Analysis: We ensure your outsourced team aligns with your brand’s values and service style, so there’s no misstep in tone or approach.
• Technology Sourcing: We know how difficult it is to cut through the sales patter and find the right tech for your customer contact needs. Well look no further, we have a network of 120+ pre-vetted and audit technology partners – who will get right to the point.

The Bottom Line 

Outsourcing decisions are taking longer now because the stakes are higher. Customers expect nothing less than excellent service, and businesses are being much more careful about who they partner with. But with the right approach, outsourcing remains a powerful tool. 

At CCP, we guide businesses through the process, ensuring they find the right fit, reduce risks, and build lasting partnerships. In fact, 93% of CCP’s clients maintain long-term relationships with their outsourcing providers – proof that our approach works. 

With CCP by your side, navigating the increasingly complex outsourcing landscape is much smoother, helping you make the right decisions for today’s customer demands and tomorrow’s success. 

Connectors 

I came across one of those at the weekend on Nick Clark of Boston Consulting Group’s Service Matters newsletter on Substack (which is always a good read and I’d recommend you subscribe to).

In this brief article, Nick highlights an often-forgotten factor in the (never ending?) quest to deliver seamless, omnichannel service. Whilst acknowledging that data and platforms are vital, he says we should focus on the ‘connectors’, that is the technologies or techniques that customers use to transition from one contact channel to another. We know they are vitally important. And unless they work well and with minimal friction for consumers they will be neglected, often undermining an organisation’s channel shift ambitions.  

However, mapping their function and availability in customers’ service and support journeys is something that’s often only done late on in an extended programme of work. Or maybe not at all. 

Nick describes the graphic we’ve re-used above as non-exhaustive, but it’s a great starting point and framework to use when seeking to understand how you currently support omnichannel service and how it could work better in the future.  

The matrix is a simple concept, but it allows you to rapidly summarise what needs to be in place to allow your customers to pivot between channels – in a way that works for them (easy and intuitive) and you (transitioning data and context across channels, along with the customer).  

Building that dynamic, customer-led view of how you can help customers shift channels will also help you better serve them within a single channel. As you develop scenarios and journeys, overlaid with an awareness of consumers’ real-world behaviours, you can better design quicker resolution and outcomes. 

So, that’s connectors. A new term and concept to me, that I think I’ll be re-using a lot in the future, thanks to Nick Clark. 

Connections 

And connections? Creating valuable, effective connections is what Customer Contact Panel’s all about:  

• Connections between you and your customers and prospective customers   

• Connections between you and service and technology providers who can elevate your customers’ experience  

• Connections between any of us who are interested in the world of the customer    

Nick Clark has generously shared his insights and when we at CCP have what we think are useful connections, ideas and examples of CX success we’ll do the same. A lot of our challenges are shared and we’re at our best working together to meet them. 

Want to explore how best to help your customers get the most effective service, through the channel and at the time of their choice? 

Then get in touch, we’d love to chat. 

Running a contact centre can be tough and a real challenge, so it is always good to know you are not alone.

However, tapping into our teams experience in running and managing a contact centre operations over the past 25+ years, we thought we’d highlight the top 4 common contact centre challenges seen in centres today:

1. Call Duration – this isn’t talking to agents about AHT, but inefficient process resulting in higher AHT is still an issue for many. Agent knowledge/competence could be part of the solution, however so could appropriate automation.
2. Repeat Contacts – whether intentional (process requirement) or unintended as a result of unclear information these contribute to:
   • Cost to serve
   • Customer retention
   • Agent frustrations
3. Improve Service Levels – in recent years average speed of answer has increased, queries have become more complex and recruitment has become tougher!
4. Understanding The Possibilities – Technology is evolving at pace and as a result it can be hard to understand the art of the possible. The CCP network has >120 technology and >220 outsource partners – so there’s plenty of options to find the right fit.

Are you facing similar challenges within your contact centre? Not sure where to start when it comes to finding the right fix? Weel look no further than CCP, we are here to provide both generous and equitable advice when it comes to your customer contact operations.

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Reviewing the results there was a clear view that people know their roles, the different aspects of it, the impact of people development and appropriate investment in it and the importance of the ongoing development of people in contact centre environments.

We know why we are here and what we are supposed to do

This survey area scored strongly and aligns with wider miPerform research around front line staff and how they are engaged, there is no shortage of data at a senior level, however those who engage directly with customers are perhaps less likely to see the strategic objectives of an organisation.  There are still opportunities to unlock further value from customer conversations, ensuring people have the right skills and knowledge to engage in these.

I know what excellence looks like in my role

84.5% of participants in the survey believe that they know what excellence in their role looks like. However, the ability to demonstrate this to customers and to clients is something to be considered, how can we ensure that we are measuring and reporting the service that is being delivered?  Measures like CSAT are always considered, however the retention of both customers and critically employees, which could be the most significant metric as staff who are engaged, know their role, are confident in their delivery are happier in their work, they will not only delight customers but will be less likely to leave due to feeling undervalued. This results in unquestionable benefits the employee, customer and business.

The ability to deliver continuous feedback in the right way so that people feel supported and empowered is critical to people wanting to, and being able to share that knowledge with customers.

Staff development plays a huge role in brand reputation, perhaps as an output of increase productivity and delivery of service levels, with 94% suggesting a strong correlation to the impact on this.

However there was sometimes a clear disparity between the amount of time available for staff training and the recognised benefits equally there were times when the time available was much higher than expected. Another key theme was there was a gap between in knowledge about what specifically people needed to be trained on, to ensure that there is value in coaching there needs to be better analysis as to where the training is needed and what technology can be used in supporting this.

Ensuring that coaches and trainers have the right insights to direct training as effectively as possible can be supported by technology:

• Focusing efforts with support on the right subjects and with the appropriate delivery methods,
• These may be conversations within the operation, not necessarily removing people from the operation to sit in a training room
• Remote working needs to be considered in this context with the appropriate monitoring and support,
• Training still needs to be specific to the needs of the individual,
• Which enables us to think more about how we make training and coaching really count for the individual?

Tools like Cognexo as a micro learning solution can take as little as 2 minutes per day and be delivered through a channel aligned to the daily tasks of the staff member, therefore engagement levels are maintained above 91% as it is part of the daily routine.

Behaviour shifts are the result of the right conversations.

It isn’t always necessary to take people out of their day-to-day environment to change culture or behaviours and the role of the manager in ensuring that they are “walking the walk” being a visible leader, providing coaching and support, leading with the right insights ensures the most impact.

Managers must be able to understand their people as individuals, that the outcomes that need to be delivered for the customers require appropriate trust and autonomy due to the unique nature of customer interactions which is increasingly pertinent as AI and automation completes the easier tasks, we need to consider what measure and how we manage.  Whilst this may feel obvious, the shift to home working may make access to these skills harder for our next generation of Team Leaders.

We need to listen to the experiences of the front line staff, the roles are getting harder, but we need to ensure people are allowed to contribute to the process, to provide feedback about the processes and how things may be done differently, technology may be used for surveys with employees and to consolidate those responses, with a workflow to the management to ensure that all staff feedback is captured.   

“Managers need to ensure that they understand their people on a personal level”  

Enabling people to review their own performance and to track against the expected levels of delivery empowers them to properly understand where they are, how they are doing and where they may need support.

This can be used as a tool to support culture change, however, when time can be limited because of operational pressures so the subject matter and insight of what training or coaching is critical to get the right support to staff at the right time.

Budgets may not always be allocated to ongoing training and investment time may not always be scheduled as often as people may like, ROI models around attrition reduction benefits and how this filters through the business in other impacts, the role of ongoing personal development to retaining staff and supporting the growth of brand reputation,

In a world of AI we still need to ensure investment in people

A 1% increase in engagement can deliver a 2% increase in productivity, there are multiple benefits as a result, using coaching and learning to deliver contact centre culture is not achieved through pizza on a Friday, technology can be useful but we need to ensure that people within the organisation are considered in the mix, from agents and first line manager levels, who need to see that the insights are being used through to the senior team who may need stronger insights to drive strategic decision making.

If you’d like to talk further then please contact me directly and we can look at how we can help.