Say it quietly if you like, but businesses are grown and maintained through increases in customer numbers and/or customer value. Undoubtedly cost management is also a critical factor, but ultimately sales and retention activity that provides topline growth is critical to ongoing success and business value.

We all know that the chances of winning or retaining a customer are increased when you provide a great product or service. And that those who deliver, not just on price but perceived value, are in prime position to pick up customers from competitors when they do not.

Yet many businesses are focused on the potential cost savings that could be achieved through AI and automation. Have they have lost sight of the potential benefits of delivering a personalised service and those golden opportunities to encourage a customer to buy more or stay for longer?

Are you getting the best sales through service opportunities from AI and automation?

There are two key scenarios that could be playing out for many organisations, both B2B and B2C. Either of which could be limiting sales success:

1. The technology is doing great stuff

Customers are getting the service that they need in the moment they need it. Which means the brand is working on the assumption that because they’re well-served, they will come back to buy more. However, they are not engaged with these customers, they are simply dealing with their admin when they need to and as a result are being passive in their habits. This may work for on a number of levels, and it is reducing the cost to serve. However, is this a step away from brand bypass, as ultimately a gap in the connection with customers will result in them moving on when they see a better offer?

2. The technology isn’t hitting the mark

Customers are trying to resolve their issues, but are struggling. The automation or self-serve models don’t provide the right options and/or have no ‘way out’ for customers and as a result they become frustrated. So at the first opportunity, they are going to look to an alternative brand.

The examples are out there in key sectors.

Ofgem March 2024 data 

Harder to contact and less satisfying to deal with?

Despite and improving picture, the latest Ofgem data shows that 16% of customers find it difficult to contact their supplier, up from the low of 10% in Q1 2019.  Meanwhile, the same Ofgem data suggests that overall satisfaction with customer service across the energy industry currently sits at 66%, down from the peak of 74% seen in Q2 of 2020.

What’s more, the latest UKCSI data shows utilities performing the poorest with a score of 69.8. Telecommunications and Media brands are doing a little better at 73.3 (though down from January’s 74.7), but are still some distance short of the podium positions achieved by Retail (non-food) at 80.4, Tourism at 79.3 and Banks & Building Societies at 79.3. However, we can see drops in satisfaction across the board.

Could automation be contributing to those less satisfying experiences?

UKCSI data from earlier in the year tells us that for 53.7% of automated contacts, the customer still needed to speak with a human being.

Equally concerning, though, was that neither AI/chatbot or customer service employees are managing to resolve customer queries more than 54.2% of the time, as seen in the January results. Quite the damning indictment.

Consider also that 45.4% of customers would avoid using an organisation again due to poor use of technology.

Clearly there is work to be done.

Companies with higher customer satisfaction show stronger growth

But what is the impact of this on a brand’s fortunes? Is the 2-point drop in score for Telcos material?

Research in the UKCSI report from January 2024 shows that between 2017 and 2023 “companies with customer satisfaction at least one point higher than their sector average achieved stronger revenue growth”.

With c.80% higher compound revenue growth, 6.6% higher EBITDA, more than double the operating profit margin and a whopping £283.9k – more than half as much again – revenue per employee on the table for that increase of just one point, the importance of customer satisfaction to both the topline and the bottom line is stark. On the other side, the virtual lack of revenue growth and much reduced operating profit margin for 1-point lower puts into context the plight of Tourism, Leisure, Insurance, Public Services and the rather more beleaguered Telcos.

The same report highlights that 27.6% of customers who score an organisation 9 or 10 out of 10 for overall satisfaction will look to buy other products or services from them, whilst 20.8% of customers scoring 1 to 4 will spend less with the organisation and 41% scoring them at 1 to 4 will avoid dealing with the organisation again in the future if possible.

And so, it is easy to see why investment in customer service is critical to the success of an organisation. Why an organisation should be – and hopefully is – highly focused on it. And why a pure cost-reduction focus for automation or AI is short-sighted.

While these numbers tell quite the story, let’s assume things are the right side of the line service-wise, whether through AI or not. The next question then is, are you following up with the appropriate sales activity to effect further topline growth?

Are you ready to pick up the sales baton?

Effective sales operations depend on 7 key factors for growth, the same apply to both sales team and those required to deliver sales through service:

1. Access to the best people with the necessary sales and communication skills,
2. Clear reward and recognition structures with incentives, creating a culture and environment which encourages growth,
3. Appropriate product knowledge and ongoing team development, ability to handle objections effectively and to share learning to advance the performance of the team,
4. Effective technology which the team can leverage to access customer insights, understand which are the best customers to be contacted, when to contact them and what solutions to offer,
5. Practical approaches to sales compliance, which provide clear guidelines but can be managed without excessive burden to managers, allowing sales to be signed off effectively and if necessary, learning applied in a timely manner,
6. Ability to manage data and reporting to maximise sales opportunities which benefits the organisation, the sales agents and also the customers through ensuring access to right information at the right time,
7. Understand market conditions, customer behaviours and how your team needs to react to these.

If just one of these seven isn’t working too well, sales will suffer. But so may customer service or perceived value. For example, an intrusive offer in the middle of a customer complaint is likely to occur as unempathetic and may see the customer running for the hills. A well-handled complaint can increase value – or at least maintain it.

A colleague described a recent interaction about a problematic return with a well-known retailer, where mid-conversation they were invited to look at product that may interest them. Unsurprisingly, their reaction was not to immediately head to the link to browse, but instead to give a sharp retort – and then tell anyone who cared to listen how annoyed they were.

Not only did the retailer not make the sale, they likely turned the customer off. An excellent example of numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 (at least) not working. Not only was it bad scripting and a lesson in not what not to do, it may speak to overly aggressive reward structures and an environment that favours sales over growth. The nuance of which is important and why point four is critical – this was not the best customer to be contacted in this way at that time.

The same colleague similarly experienced rather odd service (from a Telco…) in store recently, where a service conversation without a satisfactory outcome turned to an attempt to upsell on a different product, followed by a recommendation to leave the brand for the product where the service outcome was unsatisfactory. Quite the rollercoaster! And no doubt an experience driven by a particular sales focus that the brand’s managers would be horrified to learn they have – let’s hope – inadvertently incentivised.

Picking your moment to turn service into sales is critically important and relies heavily on the skill of the individual, their training and incentivisation, supported by culture, technology and management.

With so much focus on customer service, do you have the need, will and capacity to optimise sales?

Great agents who can both serve and sell can be hard to find, and can be even harder to retain..

The use of technology and automation is increasingly expected for customer service – and rightly so, simple service issues don’t need complex solutions. But they do need human intervention when the service question isn’t simple, or the automated response fails. Or perhaps when a sales opportunity requires a more personal service.

The ability to deal with customers, their nuanced needs and when selling, their objections, still has a high level of dependency on human interaction.

Yet the data from Ofgem and UKCSI both illustrate that customers are frequently frustrated by both automated and agent interactions. Service delivery in many sectors is still some way short of previous highs, meaning there are still gaps to fix in customer service before you can even think of perhaps selling.

And to some extent, when improving customer experience can deliver increased revenue, getting the basics of service right first is a significant route to growth and building value – whether you agree or not about whether they ought to be, measures such as revenue growth, EBITDA and revenue per employee are important to investors and share price.

How you achieve optimised service, then layer on sales through service or even pure sales activity is a significant question. Each have their own challenges, but successful outcomes add up to an organisation that both sells to and retains customers optimally.

Last week I sat with a former client who said that the average sales cycle for them to sell their SaaS product has increased from 3 to 9 months. This reflects a general trend we have detected in conversation after conversation with both clients and partners. Across the board, we are finding that decisions are slowing, the criteria used within organisations to arrive at decisions are being changed mid-process and apparently settled courses of action get delayed deferred or de-railed by new initiatives.

So, why is this? Does it matter? And if it does, what can you do about?

Expect Delays

Lots of businesses – perhaps especially their customer-facing operations – have gone through a torrid 4 or 5 years of near-constant change. The pandemic, mass home-working, the ‘mass resignation’, surging inflation, supply chain disruption and war, both near and far from home, have all served to create massive disruption and demand rapid responses and decision making. However, this sort of forced decision-making and change is draining, both organisationally and at an individual level.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that organisations are less confident about their abilities to identify the right questions and make the right decisions about them. Uncertainty – fuelled in the UK and US by imminent elections – continues and now feels like a constant for all businesses. At the same time, genuinely profound challenges need to be addressed as organisations face the type of fundamental questions that just weren’t on the corporate agenda a few years ago:

• What will the real impact of AI be – and can we prosper from it?
• Is our business model tenable as we enter further into the climate emergency?
• Will our current customer experience approach and operational model be fit for purpose if we genuinely embrace support people with vulnerabilities?
• How can we exploit automation and granular customer insight if we can’t retain staff and deliver the customer service basics?

Maybe it’s no wonder the capacity and appetite to do so seems to be waning.

Delays may be fatal

Does delay matter? Well, you can argue that profound and existential decisions shouldn’t be rushed. Certainly, an ill-thought-out response to a developing challenge might be costly. But at a point when the pace of competitive challenge is quickening, unnecessary and unplanned delays just sap business confidence, revenue and profitability. Research conducted with senior decision makers showed that 89% believe that organisations taking too long to make decisions risk getting left behind (Orgvue Research).

What’s to be done?

When organisations are becoming slow and indecisive it might seem like there’s nothing individuals – even those in powerful positions – can do. However, there is scope to improve clarity about the decisions to be addressed, the basis on which to make them and your ability to deliver on them:

1) Open things up – rapid decision making won’t help if the range of choices is restricted or inappropriate. We need to understand the underlying challenge – be that a business difficulty or a new opportunity – and then frame the choices to be made. To do so, it may well help to open up that process. Get input from colleagues – at all levels – partners, suppliers and even through observing your rivals. There’s no shame in emulating smart people!

2) Define the decision-making process – once you are confident that you understand where your priorities lie, and the decisions required – about products, people, technology, investments or partnerships – then be very clear about how those decisions will be made. Who will be in the room, what are ranked considerations to be taken into account, what criteria will be used to make decisions – and measure the success of their implementation and effects.

3) Get some help from your friends – you – and your customers – know more about your organisation than anyone else. But getting third-party support and insights from trusted partners can be invaluable in:

• Crystalising your key business challenges (or describing them to a wider internal audience of stakeholders)
• Helping you assess options and possibilities, including the providers of services and technology that will be needed
• Building the assessment and measurement criteria you will need to frame, make and deliver key decisions

Where does Contact Centre Panel fit in?

We work with scores of clients and hundreds of partners every year, helping them make and carry out decisions that are fundamental to their organisational performance. We don’t have all the answers (or questions), but we would love to help understand the frustrations and delays you might be experiencing. Odds are, we have come across a similar scenario or challenge before – or know someone who has.

Let’s have chat and see if we can get things moving again. It could be your best decision of 2024 so far!

The shift to homeworking during the pandemic expedited the implementation of Teams and other messaging channels for many organisations, necessity being the mother of invention.  Other organisations, especially Tech and developer teams perhaps had been using Slack for some time, but the need to work collaboratively and remotely brought these methods of working into the mainstream.

Making people more accessible through a quick ping on teams or starting a call has all kinds of advantages, a quick clarification on a point, the occasional meme, some great team interaction.  So why would I be calling out the same platforms that enable this to happen as a risk?

A few questions; maybe once you’ve answered these then you’ll dare to think the same?

1. How many different Teams channels do you have, I call them channels, but you may call then conversations or groups?  There’s a new incident to deal with, someone creates a group, you know what I mean.
2. How often do you search for a document that you were sent off the back of a conversation and it takes longer to find than it used to, this may just be me getting older…
3. When you’ve been away from the office for the day or off on holiday for a week, what do you do with your Teams messages, all those conversations sat there in bold?
4. How often are you working on a document and a ping, ping, ping begins?

Teams (or other such platforms) have the ability to steal your time:

1. Having multiple conversations means additional time keeping up with them. Depending on the number of people in the conversations and what they are related to, there can often be chatter on a related item that you don’t need to respond on, but you still heard the ping and therefore read the message – concentration can be broken by this and as a result productivity impacted.
2. The conversations that you don’t need to be involved in the additional comment/back and forth, could be like the equivalent of going and sitting on the desk of a colleague whilst they have a conversation that you don’t need to be part of.
3. Those multiple conversations can mean that if there is a document or a link that was shared, it could be in one of many places.
4. When you were away from the office and you missed a conversation that was it, you’d missed it and if there was something material you needed to know you were either sent an e-mail to catch up when you got back or someone made a note to ask you for input, you would not have replayed all the conversations.
5. The ping, ping, ping – that can be avoided by setting do not disturb, but realistically how consistently do people do this?

Practically, what can be done to minimise the risk and take all the benefits?

1. Agree an approach for creating new groups, I’ve seen great examples where a channel is set for dealing with a specific type of issue, key people are on the group, if it is needed the bat signal goes in there, detail of the issue and the team are good to go.
2. Be brave enough to suggest that you don’t need to be in that group any longer and that you plan to remove yourself (if you are needed you can always be added back in).
3. Agree where you are sharing documents, if they are in a meeting then share in the chat for that meeting for example, this works especially well for recurring weekly meetings.
4. Be selective as to which threads you go back and review when you come back to the “*the office” (*wherever that may be)
5. Schedule focus time so that you can get deep work done without interruption, put that time in your diary, it will block the time out so you don’t get the pings, if something urgent comes up, people can still get hold of you.

Agree, or disagree? Let us know your thoughts!

Article 3 of 3

Our third and final area to highlight is the talent shortage in operations and more focused in areas such as data analytics, AI, and digital innovation. Attracting and retaining skilled professionals is essential for insurers to adapt to changing market dynamics and leverage emerging technologies effectively. But how are they going about doing this, particularly when their operational hubs are positioned outside the talent hub of London?

1. Talent Development and Training

Insurance companies are investing in talent development programmes to upskill their existing workforce. They offer training in emerging areas such as data analytics, AI, and digital technologies to ‘bridge’ colleagues in volume areas with deep experience of the customer, products and processes, into specialist roles where they can build upon that foundation. Additionally, insurers are partnering with educational institutions to create specialised insurance programmes that provide graduates with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the industry.

By investing in talent development, insurers are closing the ‘skills gap’ to cultivate a pipeline of skilled professionals. This takes time to bear fruit and so with that comes an interim need to maintain the shortfall, or at least provide the foundation to build upon. The outsourcing industry is well placed to help here, both short and long term.

2. Outsourcing

In recent years, changing dynamics within the industry has seen employees talking with their feet and finding pastures new. There’s simply more choice for people and if the reward is better elsewhere and the work less complicated (and stressful) then the lure of jumping ship for better pay and conditions is strong, particularly when the commute is no longer a factor for many organisations. Whilst there are advancements in the technology space to soften the blow of the resourcing turbulence, the pace at which these are delivering tangible benefits is nowhere near sufficient to keeping up with the shortfall in resourcing.

We’ve seen the use of UK outsourcers as the stop gap, at least tactically for the initial shortfall, but the winners we are seeing are the overseas territories, South Africa especially for the customer facing roles. We believe those insurers that brave the outsourcing decision for their operations, hand in hand with technology outsourcing, will create strategic advantage versus their peers. We are currently seeing this with US based Insurers increasing offshoring to South Africa but not so much in UK Insurance, just yet…..

Want to hear more on this topic? Feel free to contact us hello@contactcentrepanel.com for further insight and guidance.

Want to read our previous articles? Part 1 and 2 have been linked below:

• Part 1 – Collaboration through partnerships
• Part 2 – AI, Data Analytics and Insights

For lots of contact centres the recruitment and retention of frontline advisors continues to be their biggest challenge. The labour market has shifted, maybe permanently, and potential colleagues’ expectations have changed. At the same time technology developments promise to revolutionise contract centres and how they operate.

Good people are hard to find and good people expect to be recruited honestly and treated properly in work. So, are your current recruitment approaches fit for purpose?

Attitude, Aptitude and Experience

Recently I came across the ‘3As’ hiring model that Ralph Kasuba developed in the late ‘noughties when recruiting technology hires. The three As are the three sets of characteristics that candidates have and Mr Kasuba suggested the priority order in which they should be assessed:

1. Attitude – your innate approach to work
2. Aptitude – your ability and willingness to adapt, learn and develop
3. Ability (or Experience) – what you bring to the table in terms of qualifications, technical skills and experience

The model was developed when Kasuba’s team were struggling to appoint candidates for technical roles; they would pass a pre-assessment but then never get through a team interview with their prospective peers. The 3As sought to make sure that the candidates’ ‘fit’ with the organisation and team were right before going on to assess the level and extent of their – vital – technical skills.

So, do the ‘3As’ help us in today’s contact centre world? Potentially, but perhaps not yet!

The present

Everywhere you turn nowadays you can read predictions and descriptions of the onward march of technology in the customer interaction and contact centre space. Innumerable articles – most written by Chat GPT and some with the aid of human intervention – explain that the old contact centre world of complex manual processes and work-arounds is about to disappear under the shiny onslaught of machine learning and AI.

If these articles are even partly correct then the sort of people we need to attract to work in the frontline of contact centres needs to change. However, as long as contact centre advisors are expected to the below, then Experience and Aptitude will continue to trump Attitude in attracting and selecting candidates:

• Cope with multiple tools and systems (with more added all the time)
• Retain a good understanding of internal and customer-facing processes ‘in their heads’
• Prioritise multiple demands and requirements (mandatory statements, data protection compliance, data capture goals, up or cross-sell targets, quality management criteria, etc)

The future?

As systems are integrated, real time guidance is available to advisors to help them identify and resolve issues and – crucially – the contract centre is seen as a means of identifying and fixing broken processes, then things will change. Maybe then recruiting people mostly for their empathy, enthusiasm and communication skills will become possible.

In the meantime, if we want to retain the right people to help and support our customers it will continue to be necessary to accept that “what they do” is more important than “the way that they do it”.

If you’d like to discuss how well your recruitment model aligns with your present realities (and future ambitions) just drop us a line, we’d love to chat with you.

P.S. if you want to read more about the ‘3As’ approach you can do so by clicking here.

Article 2 of 3

Insurers have long since leveraged data and analytics to gain actionable insights and drive operational improvements. After all, data is at the heart of underwriting, pricing and claims management. Advanced analytical techniques are being increasingly used to analyse large volumes of data, identify patterns, and optimise processes. Insurers are employing predictive analytics and AI for claims forecasting, fraud detection, and risk assessment, allowing them to make data-driven decisions and streamline operations. These run hand in hand with the operation itself and it’s critical the teams work closely together, especially when outsourcing is involved. Insurers are gaining strategic advantage in several ways. Here are some examples:

1. Enhanced Risk Assessment

By leveraging vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, insurers can refine their risk assessment processes. Advanced analytics and AI models analyse historical data, market trends, customer behaviours and external factors to improve risk prediction and pricing accuracy. This enables them to identify profitable segments, develop targeted products, and optimise underwriting decisions.

Insurers rarely let go of this core competence and fully outsource, so if the demand surfaces, it’s likely to be augmenting rather than replacing the mother ship’s in-house capability.

2. Fraud Detection and Prevention

Insurers are employing data analytics and AI algorithms to detect and prevent fraudulent activities. By analysing data patterns and anomalies, insurers can identify suspicious claims, behaviours or patterns that indicate potential fraud. Advanced fraud detection models help insurers mitigate financial losses, improve operational efficiency, and protect honest policyholders from inflated premiums.

Typically, outsourcers work across industry verticals and so bring a distinct advantage in terms of sharing learnings from one business sector to another.

3. Personalised Customer Experiences

By analysing customer data, insurers are gaining insights into individual preferences, behaviours and risk profiles, allowing them to tailor products, pricing, and services to specific customer segments. This level of personalisation enhances customer satisfaction, improves retention rates (increasingly important after the pricing reforms) and drives customer loyalty.

In an industry challenged with differentiation beyond brand recognition and price, personalisation is ever more important to the policy holder.

4. Process Optimisation

Of course, the need to identify and eliminate inefficiencies, reduce waste, and enhance operational performance doesn’t go away just because you enhance your technical capabilities elsewhere. Techniques such as Lean Six Sigma continue to be used to analyse processes, identify bottlenecks, and implement improvements. Reengineering processes to simplify and automate workflows, reducing cycle times and enhancing overall operational effectiveness will continue.

Through the use of process mining (we rate this software highly) and analysis, insurers can identify bottlenecks, eliminate inefficiencies, and create a pipeline of opportunities, driven by date, primed for automation.

If you would like to discuss further the challenges in the Insurance sector, the benefits of data analytics, AI and insights or generally about any of the points raised, feel free to contact us hello@contactcentrepanel.com

Watch out for the next article in the series considering the impact of Talent Management and Skills Gaps.

Working in collaboration with Insight and Design Group (IDG), we put to you a series of articles to help support your understanding of the potential challenges currently being faced in the Insurance sector. IDG have used their experiences from the strategies they have helped develop and execute in the Insurance Industry, supporting executive teams as they faced into wave after wave of challenges over the last 25 years.

Article 1 of 3

From the ancient maritime trade routes to bustling modern cities, the concept of insurance has been ingrained in society for centuries. While the formal insurance industry as we know it today emerged in the late 17th century, the fundamental principles of risk mitigation and financial protection can be traced back to ancient civilisations. Throughout its storied history, the insurance industry has weathered storms, adapted to changing landscapes, and stood as a pillar of resilience in the face of uncertainty.

But where is the industry today, what challenges are being navigated and where is the C-Suite focussing their attention in the unchartered economic environment we’re all facing into?

Collaboration through partnerships

The industry hasn’t historically been particularly revered for its cutting-edge innovation. However, to give it credit, it has evolved and continues to launch new products and services as customer expectations change, driven by advancements in technology and the rise of a digital native population. Policyholders expect personalised experiences, seamless interactions, and simplified processes. Insurers are embracing customer-centric approaches, enhancing digital capabilities, and delivering tailored products and services to meet these expectations.

At IDG, we have led the charge in collaborating through outsourcing key components of customer and technology fulfilment, both overseas and in the UK. We have identified and deployed the lowest cost territories with incredible success, at scale and, we have invested in emerging territories to service the ever highly demanding UK customer. We did this through partnership with the outsourcing industry, to great effect. Entering a new territory is not easy, it requires a clear vision, strategy and investment in a leadership team that will stay the course. Finding the right partner for a time horizon that will surpass the 5-year mark is not easy, particularly on the back of a desk top exercise and a handful of face-to-face engagements to find the right partner.

An insurer’s search for an outsourcer should focus on a partner with ‘Digital Operations’ at the core of their service – a partner that can build and operate an efficient and effective human operation with a technological core to its DNA. The relationship management optics should shift from a ‘supplier’ orientation to one that forms strategic partnerships and ecosystems to enhance operational capabilities.

Collaborating with insurtech start-ups, technology vendors, and data providers allows insurers to access specialised expertise, innovative solutions, and advanced technologies. These partnerships facilitate the implementation of new operational strategies, enhance digital capabilities, and drive efficiencies. The more you can source from a single provider, the less friction and commercial tension there is – albeit there can be a sacrifice in terms of not sourcing ‘the best of everything’ in one go.

Selecting the right partner to outsource to

We’ve picked our top criteria we would encourage buyers to consider when selecting the right partner to outsource to:

1. Finding the technological edge: many insurers have moved from outdated legacy systems that hinder operational efficiency, agility, and innovation. Other Insurers are currently adopting strategies to modernise their IT infrastructure by migrating to cloud-based platforms, implementing scalable and flexible core systems, and leveraging emerging capabilities. This allows them to streamline processes, enhance data integration, and accelerate product development.

In our experience, these advancements need to run hand in hand with Claims and Customer Operations, and so the insurer must select an outsourcing partner that can seamlessly run the human operation alongside the technology enablers as one ‘digital operation’. It’s not easy to do, and so picking a partner that can reach into their estate vs sourcing ‘too many’ 3rd parties will both increase the prospects of a successful deployment as well as enable a better commercial proposition to be achieved. Here’s a few examples of the capabilities to look out for, having developed and integrated these alongside the core operations ourselves.

2. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Automation: insurers have been embracing basic RPA automation to streamline repetitive and manual tasks – like claims processing, policy administration and underwriting – for a number of years now, but with mixed success. Automating the routine tasks reduces errors, enhances operational efficiency, and frees up resources to focus on more value-added activities. But, capability is progressing rapidly and the real gains, through the use of AI and complementary technology, is enabling automation where data is unstructured, decisions are less rule based and the actions needs a level of interpretation. AI-powered claims automation systems can assess claims, validate information, and make accurate settlement decisions.

It comes down to the ‘make vs buy’ quandry and at the pace this capability is evolving, it’s increasingly difficult to stay at the forefront of the capability without buying it in from a partner.

3. Customer Self-Service and Digital Channels:

Insurers continue to provide customer self-service options through digital channels whereby policyholders can access policy information, register claims, make payments and so on. By empowering customers in this way, insurers are reducing the reliance on traditional channels, and as by products, both improve customer satisfaction and achieve cost savings.

It’s not easy though, insurance ‘cases’ aren’t always ‘once and done’ and the capability takes time to develop and pass the stringent standards necessary to satisfy the regulators. Digital transformation for insurers is more evolutionary than revolutionary, given the complexity, so the course can be long and you need to be confident in your chosen partner’s ability to innovate their own capability….they must have a proven track record of innovation themselves.

4. Digital Claims Processing: Insurers are digitising and streamlining claims processing workflows to expedite settlements, reduce administrative costs, and improve customer satisfaction. By implementing digital claims management systems, insurers can automate claims intake, enhance data validation, enable electronic document management, and facilitate seamless collaboration between claims adjusters and stakeholders.

Be mindful of a provider’s offering though: ‘Straight through processing’ of claims is achievable but, in our experience, it is harder to replicate this holy grail across many claims processes.

If you would like to discuss further the challenges in the Insurance sector, the benefits of collaborating in strong partnerships or generally about any of the points raised, feel free to contact us hello@contactcentrepanel.com

Watch out for the next article in the series considering the role of Data Analytics, AI and Insights.

Consumers must be at the heart of any crisis response plan. When any business is hit by a crisis, it sends shockwaves throughout the organisation. But the greatest impacts are often felt by consumers or service users

Emotional and financial impacts

Think about the stress of discovering that your confidential data, for example, has been lost or stolen. The financial impacts on individuals can be significant, but the emotional strain can be even more damaging.

The theft of confidential data can lead to identity fraud, financial loss and damaged credit ratings – with implications for many aspects of life. When the health and well-being of your customers is at stake, you can’t afford to cut corners in the way you plan for and respond to a crisis.

That’s why it’s so important to ensure your crisis response plan addresses consumer expectations, protects their finances and supports their emotional well-being. We know from experience that regular, clear communication is one of the most important ways to help minimise stress and uncertainty for consumers impacted by a crisis.

Customers understand that any organisation can suffer a crisis, but they do expect businesses to be open and transparent with them, and to keep them informed about the recovery process and any consequences that affect them.

Understanding consumer expectations

In recent surveys of crisis preparedness, response and recovery among businesses and consumers, we asked more than 2,000 members of the public about their experiences and expectations.

Respondents told us that if their confidential data was compromised by an incident, they would expect to be notified quickly:

• More than half (55%) expected to be informed within 24 hours. On average, people expected to be informed within five days of such an incident.
• Consumers also expect businesses to provide services to help them recover from a crisis and minimise its impacts. These services include identity theft and fraud protection (49% of respondents), contact centre support to answer queries (42%), compensation (44%) and credit file monitoring services (42%).

Businesses falling short

When we asked business leaders what support they could provide to customers in the event of a crisis, less than half said they would be able to provide contact centre support (43%), identity theft protection and credit file monitoring (42%) or compensation (41%). This suggests that many businesses are likely to fall short of customer expectations in the aftermath of a crisis.

Businesses that had experienced a data breach were also asked how quickly they were able to inform customers. Less than one in 10 (7%) had informed customers within 24 hours. On average, respondents said they had informed affected customers within eight days. Again, it seems many businesses would be unable to provide the rapid notification most consumers expect.

Communication key to successful response

Another concerning finding was that 42% of business respondents said their organisation had no notification process in place to inform customers. And 38% said they didn’t have processes in place to cleanse customer address data. Without accurate information on customer contact details and preferences, any emergency communication programme would be severely hampered.

Any delay or disruption to notifying customers is likely to result in greater emotional distress and financial harm. That’s likely to exacerbate reputational damage and erode the hard-earned trust you have built up with customers.

Careful and detailed planning for a crisis response in advance is the way to avoid delays, ensure you have the necessary resources in place, and ensure everyone involved in the response understands their role. If a crisis strikes, you will be grateful for the level of thought and detail you have put into your plan. That plan should include setting out the messages you wish to convey to affected parties and the channels you will use, as well as having templated communications ready to deploy. By keeping customers well informed in a timely manner, you deflect many incoming queries and generate positive feelings of trust towards your business – demonstrating your expertise and efficiency in dealing with the unexpected.

Plan for a positive resolution

The consequences of an effective crisis response can be beneficial for your business. The consumers we surveyed said they would feel positively towards a business that handled a crisis situation professionally and kept them well informed. Our survey findings suggest that consumers who have experienced an efficient crisis response are likely to remain a customer (46% of respondents), to think favourably about your business (43%), recommend it to others (23%) and even post about it on social media (16%).

Most people will be sympathetic to a business responding to a crisis, as long as they are kept informed about what’s happening and supported through the recovery process. Ensuring a positive outcome to any crisis means having a detailed plan. The time to draw up that plan is now, before the next crisis disrupts your business.

Whilst these are not-for-profit organisations created to provide affordable homes and to support local communities, they must ensure that support is of the highest possible standard at the most effective cost so that the maximum amount of income possible can be reinvested where it is needed most. However, as cost pressures increase how can housing associations ensure that operating costs of contact centres and service management are not eroding the monies required to maintain and build additional properties and give more families the opportunity to have a space of their own.

As England alone needs 340,000 new homes per year, including 145,000 social and affordable homes, there is significant pressure on providers with new residents to be considered, operating costs will increase because of inflation and rising wages and as the number of residents grows the cost to service them will too.

A number of organisations have turned to outsourcing as a means to support their residents, there are many benefits to this approach of using private sector expertise to deliver this including:

• Shared resource for around the clock support
• Access to broader experience and customer service best practice
• Lower capital expenditure – reducing office space requirements, IT equipment and software costs
• Access to the latest contact centre technologies without investment

The automation conundrum

Working in an environment where customer contacts are often of high emotion brings challenges. Whether moving in or out of a property or if there is a repair that needs to be made, residents are more likely to be calling at a time of stress or need and who wants to speak to an IVR when feeling emotional, not me for sure.  So how do the opportunities to bring technology and automation reconcile with the imperative to deliver a personal service when support is needed? How can the use of technology ensure that those with the greatest need are attended to first?

Perhaps one solution is to get proactive, the use of insight and analytics solutions can unlock vital information and highlight trends within the housing stock, allowing housing associations to identify and remedy an issue before it even happens.

Where agent support is required it is key to ensure that they have delivered all the essential compliance and safety information that may be needed by a resident. Use an intelligent scripting and decision making tool, coupled with speech analytics, to make sure agents have done all that is necessary on the call, providing certainty for the organisation, the agent and the resident. Layer on top coaching tools and analytics and then your agent’s ongoing development is covered, whilst ensuring that key trend data is made available to the organisation. Having these processes in place means that all the right information is passed to engineer resources accurately the first time. This reduces the need for them to go back to a job, avoiding additional costs to the organisation and inconvenience to the resident.

So in summary, effective contact management can help deliver efficiency in scheduling and planning of work throughout your organisation and therefore improve service whilst reducing outlay. Plus feeding all repair data back into the analytics engine can then help with proactive scheduling of work to reduce risk.

Differentiated service

It should be considered that housing associations are the main provider of supported housing in England with 300,000 homes for older people and 115,000 for people who need extra support.

Outsourcing providers are dealing with vulnerable customers on a daily basis across all sectors and can bring both personal and technical expertise to support and develop services in this area. Access to voice analytics software in real-time can assist agents in identifying where additional care may be needed, more than a simple flag on a CRM to signify that a resident was vulnerable at the point of moving into a property. This data is linked to contact number and query routing technology to ensure that people at high risk are connected to the right support quickly. Technology can now pick up on vital clues that a resident’s situation may have changed and therefore they need to be considered as vulnerable.

Channel divergence

People are now communicating in more ways than ever before and often on multiple devices. Conversocial have previously stated that: ‘Customer care teams today are 10 times more likely to resolve customer inquiries via a private channel, like Facebook Messenger and Twitter DM, than they were years prior. What’s more, the rate of growth of conversations using private channels has accelerated to 20 times that of conversations using public channels (i.e. 900% vs 45%).’

When customers need help they should have the opportunity to interact in the channels that they feel most comfortable in, so whilst an e-mail is great for a lengthy dialogue after the event perhaps, a call has historically been the first action if you have an issue, but what about messaging platforms? These have become the key method of interaction in day to day lives and provide the opportunity to ease communication with residents. The ability to send a message and see it was received in WhatsApp, switch to a call or even a video call so that the contact centre agent can physically see an issue and in turn provide visual reassurance.

Who can you talk to about your options?

Having worked closely with a number of housing associations we have an excellent understanding of what is required to deliver excellent customer care at an affordable price. We have built a ‘best of breed’ network of over 180+ contact centres and 100+ technology providers, which makes us perfectly positioned to recommend and source the ‘right’ contact solutions for your business. We are entirely independent, so you know our recommendations are not driven by self-interest. Our selection process is managed by industry experts, so you will always be in safe hands.

Sources:  

6M number from National Housing Federation https://www.housing.org.uk/about-housing-associations/what-housing-associations-do/