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:

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:

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:

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:

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.

For more information, get in touch.

Sources:  

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

As the days get warmer and the nights get inevitably longer, thoughts for many will turn to handling peak demand, or for those who survived their last peak – reviewing how it went and learning lessons for the next one.

With the headwind of a cost-of-living crisis there’s uncertainty for some as to how busy they’ll be this year. However, all have the challenges of potentially needing to do more with less as increasing costs and potential recruitment issues could mean fewer contact centre agents.

So how do you balance demand and costs to serve? Service from a cheaper location, provide self-serve options, automate… all well-trodden paths with many failing to flourish if not approached in the right manner.

But isn’t voice the undisputed champion when it comes to resolving emotive issues, customers want to be able to engage via multiple channels based on their requirements. We’ve previously heard that:

So, with these numbers in mind, what are the options and where does voice retain it’s title? If staff are harder to find and more expensive than ever, then is the key to ensure that they’re being used as effectively as possible? A ‘well trained’ bot can make a difference in the triage of those 67% who prefer self-service to ensure they only speak to someone if they really need to, it keeps people free for the 83% that want to engage immediately too.

Asynchronous messaging offers flexibility for a customer if they don’t have time to talk but need support, there are opportunities using WhatsApp or web messaging, for example, to easily send photos of what’s causing the issue and switch channel to voice at the right moment.

Proactivity is key when trying to minimise customer effort. For example, my train tickets for a strike day are no use to me now. I need a refund but clearly for commercial reasons I’m not going to be immediately offered one, they’d rather I just decide to travel on another day, but that doesn’t work for me, whereas a proactive contact with a link to trigger a refund would. Other scenarios are easier though and brands making timely interventions can improve the experience for the customer, whilst managing demand and pressure on their own staff.

Voice is here to stay, especially for complex or emotional conversations and certainly when looking to make a sale. The key is ensuring that people have the right skills and information to hand, as well as understanding the insights from those contacts and improving processes where possible. Or when outbound dialling that productivity and conversion are optimised through tools which support the agent in maximising their potential. Good people are hard to find so ensure you give them the tools to do a great job, failing that there is always the option of outsourcing – a problem shared and all that.

Looking for peak demand support this year? Get in touch, we are here to help!

One of the biggest contact centre challenges of 2022 is still with us – the rising tide of rudeness and incivility, which is most often experienced at work by our frontline colleagues. Research conducted by Professor Christine Porath, across multiple countries, business sectors and customer-facing roles, demonstrates that this depressing trend is real and growing.

This HBR podcast about her article “Frontline Work When Everyone Is Angry” provides an authoritative view of the problem. But also offers some ways to combat this onslaught of unpleasantness and help protect the welfare of our colleagues at the customer service ‘coalface’.

It’s getting worse

Professor Porath shows that “rudeness or disrespect or insensitive behaviour” has worsened globally over 17 years and that by last August, 76% of people claimed that they had been treated rudely during the month.

Porath highlights that a lot of abuse is now experienced through digital channels, the use of which has grown massively. Even when not directly subject to abuse, people working in online content and community moderation are also exposed to damaging levels of intolerance and unpleasantness.

Covid and complexity

Porath also cites surveys showing a decrease in workplace community since Covid. As this McKinsey article explains, homeworking doesn’t necessarily worsen a sense of isolation and disengagement, but it often does. Traditionally, contact centres have – at their best – been cohesive and supportive workplaces. So in theory, contact centres should be well-placed to help support workers faced with rude and unpleasant behaviour, but many just aren’t.

At the same time, with the rise of self-service tools, the types of queries customers present to contact centres have become more complex, time-critical and emotionally charged.

So, our frontline colleagues are facing a toxic ‘double-whammy’ of consumer incivility and task complexity.

The costs

Colleagues’ emotional damage and distress are obvious, but there are clear performance impacts too, says Porath: “they lose attention, lose focus, make more errors, and perform far worse.” Added to which, abused and unsupported staff quit their jobs, fuelling costs, colleague stress and management challenges.

How to help

Increasing rudeness and incivility is a complex, societal problem – but there are concrete measures you can take to help make things better:

1. Support your people and allow them to support themselves

2. Use technology to protect your frontline colleagues

3. Reconsider whether “the customer is always right”

If you’d like to discuss how to better face up to the challenges of growing incivility and anger – or share with us what you’re already doing – just drop us a line.

We all recognise putting things off until the new year. Going to the gym, looking for a new job and paying bills. December is often a month where the bills are deferred and money is spent on Christmas. Most companies will struggle to collect money in December and often in January too. A number of consumers will be suffering a financial hangover in January, with some going further into debt in order to buy the associated treats and goodies. The gap between an early December pay day and January pay day can feel like months rather than weeks. Don’t be surprised if people don’t have the money to pay and will again be in defer mode.

With ever increasing rise in costs for businesses, writing off the money isn’t a palatable option. However, going in strong is not the best way to engage. People need help now more than ever. For a number of people being in debt will be a new experience, for a number of reasons. Therefore, getting prepared early with your Q1 strategy is a must.

As providers, we are now also more aware of the mental impacts owing money has on a person. That coupled with “January Blues” can be a potent recipe. Be proud of the support you offer to consumers. Some industries shun being public about how they work with and support their customers who are in financial distress. It’s felt to be a poor public image to even acknowledge that there is debt and that you have a team of people who are dedicated to manage it. Don’t be shy, you should be proud that you work so hard putting measures and teams in place who are ready to help engage and work through financial challenges with your customers.

Definitely make sure it is front and centre on your communications platforms at this time of year. Website, apps, call holding messages, emails, letters, texts and even carrier pigeon if that’s your bag. Make is easy for people to find, use and engage with. The content should be clearly written and the tone used is very important here.

A new year will often mean customers feel that they are starting again. Part of your strategy needs to be a refresher of where things were left at the end of 2022 and where we go next. This can be useful as a scene setter, but also useful as a reminder that the money is still due and that you are there to support and talk to people if they need it. It also works as a reminder for any “won’t pays” that you haven’t forgotten them and you won’t be going away anytime soon.

Therefore, the communications and handling for January needs to be a little bit “Christmas Carol” based. What does the past, present and the future hold?

Why not go one further and offer a new year’s incentive? We know the gym does it, so why don’t you? Discounts for paying off quicker, reduction of debt owed on settlements, or anything else that you feel could work for your business.

What is undeniable is that the pace of change facing organisations across all sectors is showing no signs of slowing. The necessity for firms to change and constantly innovate is clear. So, can we dispense with iterating, pruning, maintaining and some other ‘boring jobs’?

It sounds like contact centres and all teams tasked with guiding and engaging with customers need to get with the programme of relentless change, yes? Definitely. But unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that customer-facing functions have the freedom to ‘change and move on’.

Although contemporary technologies allow firms to implement new tools and solutions without the lengthy delays of a few years ago – and often do so using their expert frontline teams directly – this does not mean that hard work finishes at the point of implementation. For customer-facing teams and operations, with their need to reflect and adapt to changes in firms’ propositions, markets and customer expectations, the successful initiation of a new technology often just creates another maintenance, administrative and optimisation task.

Failing Bots

In the past few months, I have seen various examples of expertly optimised chatbots. One failed to recognise any of the eight most common query types for the business sector it operated in. Another failed to resolve 20 easy and theoretically bot-friendly queries in a row. Instead, everyone of the contacts had to be passed to a live advisor.

Does this mean that bots are useless? No, not at all, but they require progressive, iterative optimisation to ensure they resolve as many queries as possible, in a way that’s friction-free for customers. Bots can’t be switched on and left to their own devices; they need informed, experienced customer service people to guide their processes and learning.

Multiplying Templates

Recently a former client explained that after an apparently large number of inconsistent email templates had been identified, they started a project to review and simplify the templates. As a result, the previous total of 1270, which had built up over many years, were reduced to a far more manageable 70.

So, is the use of email templates doomed to failure? Again, no, but in order to maximise the effectiveness, relevance and the degree of colleague adoption of templates, a person or team needs to be tasked with their ongoing review, maintenance and curation.

Dull but essential

Neither helping a bot to learn or editing and managing text templates are glamorous jobs, but they absolutely need doing. To some extent this maintenance will directly reflect and support the exciting change agenda. But at other times it’s just another routine task that can too easily be overlooked or dismissed in the face of seemingly more demanding priorities.

Over the coming few months contact centre people will be getting increasingly skilled at re-stating business cases for the value they can generate for both organisations and their customers. They need to ensure that they champion some of the ‘dull but essential’ tasks of process maintenance and optimisation, too.

If you’d like to discuss how you are facing up to these challenges, or how best to effectively optimise technology both new and old, just drop us a line.