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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s more, employees now have an all-around greater awareness of their employer’s responsibilities, as well as their own rights. And with the Great Resignation tipping the balance of power in their favour, employees may feel emboldened to take work issues further than they would have dared to previously.

With this in mind, here are five key policies all businesses should have in order to help them prevent and manage disputes effectively.

1. Grievance policy

All organisations should have a grievance policy and procedure, as this will help employees to understand the correct steps to follow when they have a concern, problem or complaint that they wish to raise with their employer that they feel they have been unable to resolve informally.

 2. Equality and diversity policy

Disputes are commonly raised around bullying and harassment, and issues of equality and fairness, especially in relation to employees with protected characteristics such as race, sex and disability. In order to show that equality and diversity are at the core of your business, it’s essential that you have a policy around it.

3. Pay and performance

Having a pay policy will help to ensure equal pay is given for work of equal value by setting out how you apply certain pay to certain roles. This in turn will reduce the potential for complaints of unfairness and potentially even equal pay claims. A pay policy will also help you to communicate pay principles, such as when you will pay overtime and how certain bonuses are awarded, thereby preventing disputes arising out of misunderstanding.

4. Disciplinary policy

A disciplinary policy is one of an organisation’s tools for managing disputes, and employers must not be afraid to use this policy in the right circumstances – in other words, once all informal problem-solving avenues have been explored, or where the performance or conduct warrants it.

5. COVID-19 policy

A lack of clear post-COVID policies emerged amongst the top three factors that would prompt an employee to raise a complaint or bring legal action, according to our Mind the Gap report. Simply put, people want to know how the organisation will deal with issues such as homeworking, vaccination and self-isolation, and this is best done through a COVID-19 policy. This list is not exhaustive, and it’s extremely valuable to have policies around all aspects of the employment relationship. After all, the number one factor that would prompt employees to bring a complaint according to our research? A lack of communication. The more employees understand the better; if things are communicated to them through policies and other means, the less likely you will be to end up with a dispute.

For advice on creating watertight HR policies or to enquire about fixed-fee support, contact WorkNest at CCP@worknest.com.

Whether you provide outsourced services from overseas or are a client planning to use an outsourcer with delivery locations outside of your home market, you will be used to planning and managing lots of tasks. For any new outsourcing activity or contract you will have a long list of activities and factors that you need to scope and understand.

Naturally, this will encompass numerous areas under the heading of People, Process and Technology. But for some “getting your head around the costs and risks of foreign exchange management” will need to be added to the list for the first time.

Traditionally, outsourced contact centre providers and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms would handle the foreign exchange currency risk of delivering services from abroad themselves. When the first wave of UK offshore outsourcing started, with the use of India 15 to 20 years ago, this was invariably the case. As time has gone on, though, BPO companies have come to realise that being responsible for delivering ‘flat’ UK prices in the face of variable exchange rates is fraught with risks and potentially an unattractive option. This is even more the case as commonly used locations have expanded to include the Philippines, South Africa and a growing number of central and Eastern European locations outside of the Euro zone.

The range of foreign exchange management approaches agreed between BPOs and their onshore clients is very varied. What they all have in common is both client and provider facing the challenge of who should carry the currency risk, to what extent and for how long.

Options may include:

  1. The client is billed simple, ‘flat’ pricing in its local currency (Sterling, say) for the duration of a contract
  2. Periodic – usually annual – reviews of pricing, partly or wholly adjusting according to the change in FX rates
  3. Every monthly invoice being adjusted to your local ‘paying’ currency – or, more unusually, clients agreeing to pay invoices in the delivery location currency
  4. And every variation in between

You might imagine that the larger global BPOs, with both their financial scale and range of operational locations to help defray FX risks, would be more willing to offer clients simple, local currency pricing. However, broadly speaking the opposite is the case and the larger the BPO the more likely they are to look to pass more variable pricing onto their clients. This is probably a function of both:

For some BPOs, as they either enter new territories directly or in partnership with local firms, managing foreign exchange (FX) risks is a new challenge. Both they and their clients will need to take a view on:

  1.  The risks of their particular situation (the currency involved and its anticipated volatility, the current and future value of the contract and its duration)
  2. The costs of mitigating those risks (e.g. through currency ‘hedging’) as opposed to the potential impact of doing nothing

And finally, it’s worth remembering that currencies can rise as well as fall. There can be a significant upside if the value of a delivery currency falls and thus becomes far cheaper in real world terms for both onshore clients or the BPO business entity in the client’s location.

Still, you might feel that playing at being a Forex trader, with only one deal to your name, may be a stretch too far on top of the day job…

The recruitment crisis has made headline news in recent times, with businesses being affected by labour shortages brought on by changes to both local and global economic conditions caused by the post-pandemic recovery and for UK based organisations, the aftereffects of Brexit.

In one sense it’s great that economies are experiencing a period of rapid growth after such a difficult 16 months but this has its challenges for many business owners, with recruitment and wage inflation becoming two of the biggest hurdles to expansion or in some cases survival.

According to figures recently released by Reed Recruitment, customer service has seen the highest overall salary increase of any sector (in the UK) with employee wages in 2021 up 32% compared with 2019. This wage inflation is adding huge pressure to both the ability to recruit and retain existing staff, within customer service and sales operations.

Add to this the increase in customer demand for query resolution and a return to business as usual from the consumer’s point of view, then the reality for many contact centres is that staffing is going to be difficult just as a period of peak demand, for many businesses, begins.

Challenges faced include:

What can you do to cope with staff shortages?

There are two alternatives to recruitment, which may work better for your business helping to save time and money, whilst improving your customer experience as well as increasing sales conversion and revenues.

These alternatives can both help to fix your short and longer-term resourcing issues and enable you to build a more sustainable business in the future, that can handle both foreseen and unforeseen demand fluctuations.

Outsource to cope with peak demand and recruitment transition periods

There is a wide choice of outsource contact centres, who provide a highly professional service, which presents itself to your customers as a seamless extension of your business. Choosing an outsourced partner to cope with your peak periods or to handle your less complex frequently dealt with enquiries, will free up your core teams to focus on areas that require higher levels of expertise such as complaint resolution and more complex sales conversion. This will enable your business to focus on the development of its higher skilled advisors and salespeople, resulting in greater loyalty, increased retention rates, higher customer satisfaction and increased revenues.

Outsourcing can also be used to meet customer contact requirements whilst your business is in recruitment mode. Measuring your recruitment needs can be difficult, as consumer demands fluctuate, and finding the ‘right’ people for your business can take time when the labour market has become so limited. Working with a partner while you rebuild your teams can help you to maintain customer satisfaction, reduce customer churn and protect revenues.

Identifying the right outsourcer for your business can be difficult if you do not have full visibility of the market or the skills to vet each outsourcer against your requirements. Working with the Contact Centre Panel team takes the pain away, making the process much simpler and ensuring you find the right match for your business.

Implement new technology to reduce demand on your teams

Implementing the ‘right’ technology solution can help your business to cope with demand fluctuations and improve how you handle enquiries in a more consistent and controlled way. Improvements in technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Bots are enabling contact centres to massively reduce the demand on agents by channelling low level enquiries away from expert advisors and resolving them. The cost of implementing new technologies is covered by a reduction in resourcing expenditure, improvements to working and process efficiency and increased sales revenues.

The key to implementing technologies successfully is to identify a solution that fits your current and future business requirements. With such a large choice of potential systems and providers, it can be difficult to make the right choice, particularly if you do not have full visibility of what is available and the appropriate level of technology expertise needed to accurately assess each solution.

Many businesses have, so far, chosen to wait in fear of making the wrong choice, either retaining dated legacy systems or delaying the adoption of new. When adopting new technologies mistakes can indeed be costly in terms of wasted time and expense, but if done correctly this can be the reverse. Successful businesses are now embracing the opportunity to streamline their operations and improve customer service delivery by implementing the latest contact centre technologies, guided by the right level of expertise.

Working alongside a trusted partner, such as Contact Centre Panel, to help you narrow down your options will help your business to adopt a measured, managed process to selecting the right technical solutions to improve and future-proof your operations.

Who can you talk to about the options?

Contact Centre Panel has built a network of over 140 contact centres and 50 technology providers. We’ve done this to find solutions to the greatest challenges facing the customer contact sector. Whether it’s staff resourcing to meet fluctuations in demand or to cover recruitment periods, or it’s choosing and implementing tools to improve customer interaction/experience and agent reliance, we can help.

We work closely with clients to understand their specific requirements before helping them to source the appropriate contact centre outsourcer or technology provider. 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.

Charles was a panelist on our recent Homeworking webinar and was the ideal person to speak to about the risks facing customer service and contact businesses as they embrace hybrid working models as we ease out of the pandemic.

As we are emerging from the pandemic. What has Covid meant to Health & Safety professionals?

Charles recalls the past year: “Covid was a surprise to most health & safety professionals. The pandemic fell upon us and many people thought that it would be a temporary situation, with working from home as a short-term fix but as the pandemic became a fact of working life, Health & Safety professionals have had to consider some more permanent solutions: can people realistically do their jobs at home? And from the professional standpoint, can they do it safely?”

He continues: “In over a year since the first lockdown, we’ve all become very familiar with the ways that home and hybrid working have been made possible. Most people think of the software solutions like Teams, Zoom and so on, but from a Health & Safety perspective we have to think much more widely.”

Charles concludes: “From a health & safety perspective, working in a home environment is very different to an office.”

So as people have got used to working from home and are now returning to more flexible, hybrid ways of working, what are the big Health & Safety considerations?

Charles explains: “The workplaces we are used to will have had Health & Safety Risk Assessments in place, which recognise hazards and provide ways to mitigate and control the risk. These are generally standardised and can be made available to managers and workers relatively easily and centrally. Workstations in offices, especially contact centre environments, tend to be similar and provide a good level of safety to team members. Allowances can be made for individuals on a case-by-case basis depending on their needs, which can be easily talked about during the working day.”

He states: “It’s completely different when people find themselves relocated to working from home at short notice. We have experienced enormous variations in the suitability of workspaces, equipment and challenges which we had very little time to prepare for or adapt to.”

Charles points out: “Under Health & Safety laws, employers have an obligation to ensure that their staff are kept safe. This applies to wherever the workers are fulfilling their roles.”

He continues: “Bad workplaces can result in serious problems for workers. Lighting, ergonomics and comfort, as well as the immediate physical safety of appliances or tools, are more difficult to control away from the office but are equally important wherever your team members are working and using them.”

How can customer service businesses deal with the new risks?

Charles states: “If you have team members who are spending any time working from home, your obligations as an employer cover both the office and the home workspace, or anywhere your staff regularly work. In practical terms, this means completing a risk assessment for hybrid and homeworkers in their homes. These risk assessments should be used to establish what our workers have in place, versus what they should expect.

He continues: “In short: If your workers’ spaces cannot be made safe, then those workers should not be working from home.”

Charles adds: “There are more detailed requirements too. PAT (Portable Appliance) Testing is a well-known control measure in the workplace. Equipment used elsewhere must be kept safe, one of the more easy-to-understand difficulties with basing people away from any centralised location.”

He concludes: “Businesses can use standardised tests to identify many risks in non-standard workplaces, though. A DSE Workstation Assessment can be completed by employees with minimal easy to understand,  training and support. An electronic assessment sent to the HR department or an independent Health & Safety consultancy can be used to collate a company-wide view of the main risks. This view can be analysed for the organisation as a whole and used to prioritise actions and mitigate risks, as well as demonstrating a commitment to looking after your teams.”

What about individual needs?

Charles starts: “A company’s obligations extend to all employees, not just the workforce as a whole. Where an individual team member has an issue, it’s up to the employer to decide what action should be taken.”

He explains: “Some people find homeworking difficult, so an extra effort should be made to make communication regular and as easy as possible for your teams. One good example of this which we’ve seen clients enjoying during the pandemic is a weekly online social lunch, where teams spend time together, from home, without a business agenda. Events like this can maintain a sense of togetherness during difficult times and might help hybrid workers long into the future.”

Charles says: “Stress is an adverse reaction to pressure. Pressure can improve performance in some people but too much pressure can have a seriously adverse effect on not only results, but the health of your people.”

He continues: “If we think of stress as water, everyone has a different-sized jug for their ability to deal with the flow of it. Employers bear a responsibility to alleviate and manage the pressure, to reduce or control the flow of that water. It’s important to be aware that pressure not only flows from work, but from everywhere else in an individual’s life too.”

Charles states: “Hybrid working is a good example of the flexibility now available to employers. Remember that the same flexibility can be used to offer employees a less stressful way of working, something that suits their own life and challenges more effectively.”

 He explains: “With less organic interaction between your teams, try to encourage more mentorship and informal training to allow your employees to develop their skills as well as their social interactions. Support knowledge-sharing, wherever possible, to replace those conversations which many of us used to have in the office every day. Mentoring can be a vastly underrated and highly effective method of informal training for the whole business.”

 Charles concludes: “It costs around £10,000 on average to replace an employee, so businesses should be aiming to retain their team members, not least for simple economic reasons.”

With many offices now opening, what should businesses be thinking about in terms of Health & Safety?

Charles states: “If there’s one thing to take away, it’s that a person’s workplace is everywhere they work. That means that employers have a duty of care to take account of working conditions in more than just the office. If you can’t do that for everyone, then you might have to enable some of your team members to come back permanently to the office.”

 He concludes: “Outside the legal point of view, forward-thinking employers will also be communicating with their team members much more frequently than they used to. There are more factors at play now than ever before, with the lines blurring between home and working lives, so as employers we need to be more mindful of the health of our teams. We can help to keep the business healthy by working hard to keep our people healthy too.”

If you’d like to discuss how your organisation can be more effective in implementing hybrid working successfully, our expert team can help, this includes providing guidance on how to work with your employees to maximise their health, happiness, and productivity.

What will be the main changes for businesses in 2021 and beyond?

Sam states: “Businesses need to think of every work environment as an extension of the workplace. This means that for employees who will continue to work from home, either permanently or part-time, the employer needs to be fully engaged to ensure mitigation of the major areas of risk, particularly employee health, wellbeing, ensuring fair employment practices, cyber and information security.”

Sam continues: “Ideally, individual home-based risk assessment documents should be issued to home workers to complete for their working space at home. Employees should be supported in completing these documents, so businesses might need to be adaptable in how this support is provided. Cost-effectively, video overviews could be used to assist individuals or remote meetings along with home visits reserved for the most complex cases. Every employee must be treated individually with consideration of their specific needs.”

Sam concludes: “Following individual risk assessments, action must be taken to mitigate the risks identified. This might mean supplying equipment to provide a safe and comfortable working space for your team members. Failure to address known risks will not be viewed positively should a claim arise.”

How can employers manage disruption and costs from the necessary changes?

Sam answers: “Make sure that your business has a Homeworking Policy and adheres to it. Consult with your employees on the policy and review it regularly. Following a structured approach will maximise consistency and highlight opportunities to foresee repeatable tactics to address your employees’ issues in the home workplace.”

Sam points out: “Your policies will help your business to adopt managed procurement strategies. This means that you can purchase equipment in an effective way, helping your colleagues whilst enjoying the economies of scale and consistency that good purchasing behaviours deliver. It also means that everyone is treated fairly, with equal treatment of similar situations for your workers. Being able to evidence a reasonable and consistent approach will be key to the defence of any claim that may arise as a result of increasing volumes of home working. ”

What about looking after staff wellbeing and development?

Sam voiced: “Increase the amount of communication you have with your staff. By ramping up the interaction, people can feel more connected to the workplace and enhance your corporate culture. At Lockton, we have teams who work with video calls switched on even when they’re not in meetings: that ability to interact whilst working mimics the social aspects of working together.”

Sam goes onto illustrate: “Regular virtual training sessions using the wealth of online material is easy to set up and offers great opportunities to learn in a relaxed environment. Why not watch webinars together as a team from home then follow with a Q&A to share what you’ve all learned? Simple techniques like these can encourage a culture of shared learning and recognise your team members for their engagement.”

Sam adds: “Mentoring is another winning strategy for remote teams. Putting structures in place where more experienced colleagues are tasked with helping others and being available to answer questions not only gives the more senior team members a position of responsibility and recognition, it gives your less experienced staff permission to ask for the help they need.”

Sam was keen to point out that working from home is not for everyone, though. As we move through 2021 and offices can reopen, there is pressure on businesses to find the right mix of working styles for their people.

Sam explains: “Before planning your office layouts for the return back to work, check that your people are happy with the new arrangements. If you can be flexible, then adapting to the ways your teams prefer to work might deliver great productivity results. Put simply, some people work better from home, others are at their optimum in the office, and still, others may love a mixture of the two. The key is to offer flexibility and engage to the greatest extent possible, ensuring that all staff members are given the same opportunities wherever they choose to work.”

Sam concludes: “The businesses that share in the benefits of hybrid working will perform better and reduce their exposure to claims from employees.”

What are the other business benefits of getting hybrid working right?

Sam explains: “Employers who move now to identify how much office space they need can take the opportunity to reduce office costs. By reducing space, they can seek reduced rents. Use some of those savings to make working from home better for your employees and protect your business from future claims risks.”

Sam continues: “By building a supportive and flexible hybrid working model backed by mentoring and team building your business can feed a positive culture and your employees will feel supported. This will be reflected in low dissatisfaction, increased productivity and a comparatively lower risk of claims from your staff. Research of course also confirms that where employees are happy then this benefit is passed on to the client by way of enhanced customer service.”  

 Sam adds “An extra benefit for the medium to long term is that a good, flexible hybrid working structure makes it easier to recruit. Your team will no longer have to be based exclusively in the towns where you have offices nor will they need to stay nearby – people who leave the area can stay with you where before 2020 they might have had to find a job in a new location. This simply makes it easier to retain and recruit the best talent as your business grows.”

So finally, what are the main takeaway messages for businesses adapting to hybrid working?

Sam summarised his thoughts very succinctly: “The businesses that put employees at the centre of their hybrid working plans will do well, making the most of opportunities to decrease overhead, widen recruitment, lower staff turnover and absence, enhance productivity and reduce claims exposures. The key will be to ensuring that engagement and investment in culture is at the centre of the strategy; all employees must be brought on the corporate journey to ensure fairness and success. Those who cling on to a jackets-on-chairs mentality may face the negative side effects as staff demand flexibility and look to competitors who can offer it to them. They could also fail to make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity to improve their competitiveness.”

“‘By building a business which rewards people for results and supports staff development in a responsible way, companies now have a chance to deliver excellent service, attract and keep the best people, and reduce cost. For most this will be an opportunity that is too good to refuse.”

If you’re unsure how to assess your claims risk exposure and how to equip your business to handle new working conditions, the expert team at Contact Centre Panel can help. We can also help you to learn how to work with your employees to maximise their health, happiness and productivity.

There’s no getting away from the fact that the world has changed, but with good planning and adaptability, a prepared organisation can react and succeed where others may fail.

A change in our way of thinking

Julie highlighted major alterations in how we think about the risks in our business. “We’ve gone from being worried about our offices to worrying about homeworkers. In many cases productivity has gone up and people are reporting that they are happier, but many people are now missing the human contact and support that an office environment provides, so senior leaders need to work harder to support their people.”

Julie continues: “Those issues also extend to business continuity risks, which are now distributed in nature due to remote working, whereas in the past risks were largely centred around the main offices. Many systems which were implemented to cope with homeworking were rolled out very quickly, to solve an urgent business need. This approach may have lead to gaps and issues with both the resilience and security. Now that the situation looks more permanent, it’s important to check Business Continuity and Disaster Recover plans to account for the totally different risks.”

What does business resilience mean in 2021?

“Business resilience isn’t just having a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plan in place” explains Julie. “Although these things are important, the businesses that are most likely to do well in 2021 and further into the future are the ones who have changed their models to suit the new realities.”

Julie concludes: “Resilience isn’t just recovering, it’s thriving in changing times.”

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in practical terms

Julie explains: “One key example is your telephony systems. They may have been adapted to cope with the new normal when your people began working from home. These changes may have inadvertently introduced (sometimes hidden until it fails!) issues. Your contact centre is your shop window, especially while many physical shops have been closed for so long. Despite the reopening of the high street, your contact centres play a huge part in representing your business and brand.”

Julie adds: “If people can’t contact your teams effectively, you’re restricting access to your shop window. If your telephony systems fail or perform badly, it reflects on your business. If your online systems fail, telephony might be the only way your customers can get in touch so the ability to talk to somebody is a huge priority.”

So Julie recommends that telephony systems are tested regularly, say every 6 months. A plan for Disaster Recovery is needed in case your telephony fails. What will you do if your customers can’t get through? 

Cyber Security

Julie suggests asking two questions of your IT and Cyber Teams when assessing cybersecurity. If you don’t understand the answer the IT/Cyber team give you, or if you don’t even know what these questions actually mean don’t worry, but ask them to explain in plain English what it means for the business and the risk to data or systems. The two key questions are:

Irrespective of the IT/Cyber teams explanation, you should to take an urgent look at your Business Continuity plans and update them (with help from the IT/Cybr team) so that they can cope with a cyber attack. The plans should also be tested and rehearsed regularly with the business and IT/Cyber.

“There must be security at every level of your IT Infrastructure ” explains Julie, “Your central servers, within your technological partner solutions environments, and your end users including those at home. This includes educating your staff, who may be targeted by cybercriminals. They need to know how to recognise they are being  targeted  – i.e., what ‘red flag’ warning signs to look for – and most importantly what to do about it, and what not to do (e.g. not clicking on suspicious looking emails or links).”

Julie continues: “Testing is an important step. Penetration testing (or ‘Pen Testing’) is essentially paying experts to try and break into your systems. Even if you only do it once a year, this can uncover flaws and vulnerabilities in your security, and your security team or partner should then draw up an action plan to address the issues urgently – thus leading to better protection for your business.”

Julie adds: “Larger or regulated companies are more likely to carry out penetration testing, but smaller companies and outsourced partners might not be doing it. This might be because they think they’re too small to be at risk (they simply think it won’t happen to them!) or because they think they can’t justify it in terms of cost, or even because they’re worried about the potential results! In the event of a successful attack, none of these excuses will help.”

Julie explained that the key to introducing a good penetration testing regime is board support. Explain the risks in plain English to your board. Using IT jargon usually doesn’t help them to understand why they need to do it, how easy it is to break the company’s IT systems, and the significant risks of losing the battle against cybercriminals.

Julie continues: “Don’t believe it won’t happen to you. The criminals are running a numbers game and they may be just as likely to attack a smaller business as the biggest international brands and financial institutions.”

Julie concludes: “The pandemic has created a much more unstable world and global economy. Criminals will continue to look for new exploits so it’s important to try and stay one step ahead. Be agile, be flexible. Learn to adapt to the new world with its new sets of customer demands and business risks.”

What can business do now?

Julie suggests three questions to think about for your business today:

Which business will succeed in a world of new business risks?

Julie answers: “If you’ve taken your resilience seriously and have a proper Business Continuity plan in place, your business has a much better chance of coping with the next major disruption that comes along – and let’s be clear, something will happen. It’s just a case of when”

Julie explains: “Get the principles right and set your accountability and business framework for dealing with the risks, and your business should be able to succeed while others flounder. You will of course be nee to carry out training and exercising, which in turn will give you the confidence to be adaptable.”

Julie concludes: “The pandemic has actually given Business Continuity and Resilience professionals an opportunity to scan the horizon and hone our skills. Now is an ideal opportunity to engage with an expert partner if you haven’t done so already.”

How Contact Centre Panel can help

If you’re unsure how to assess your businesses risk exposure and how to equip it to handle any new risks posed by changeable working conditions, we can help by advising you on the risks you need to consider and the best way to mitigate them. We can also help you to learn how to work with your employees to maximise their health, happiness, and productivity.

In the second of our joint ‘coffee table style’ panel discussions with Contact Centre Panel, we will be asking leading experts in contact centre outsourcing, including outsourcer representatives covering the various geographics, the key questions concerning businesses looking to outsource.

The panel will include Dino Forte, CEO, Ventrica, William Carson, Director of Market Engagement, Ascensos, Robin Hoekstra, CEO, Outworx Contact Centre, as well as our joint host and outsourcing expert Phil Kitchen, Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel.

At the end of the webinar, we’ll hold an in-depth Q&A to help you with any questions or queries you may have on the content and guide you on specific outsourcing challenge

Topic overview

Whether you’re thinking of outsourcing your contact centre or are looking for a new outsource contact centre partner, location is often a consideration. Understanding the advantages and limitations of partnering with an offshore, nearshore or onshore operation can be difficult, particularly if you don’t have the right level of knowledge and understanding. There are many factors that need to be taken into account including regulatory compliance, governance, performance, brand reputation and customer experience.

Expert panel

Dino Forte: CEO, Ventrica

Dino is Founder & CEO of fast-growth customer management outsourcer Ventrica, the partner of choice for numerous ‘blue chip’ brands. With 25 years of experience in building and operating highly successful BPO businesses, he is a customer service fanatic and lover of people and life. Dino is also a builder of teams and a contact centre technology enthusiast who is passionately and genuinely committed to his clients’ success.

Robin Hoekstra: CEO, Outworx Contact Centre

Robin is Co-Founder and CEO of South African based Outworx Contact Centre. He is both an entrepreneur and aninnovative thinker, with a wide range of business experience across GBS, ICT/Telecommunications, Online Marketing, Web Design and Software Development. Robin is also Chairman of BPeSA KwaZulu Natal.

William Carson: Director of Market Engagement at Ascensos

William is Director of Market Engagement at Ascensos, an independent customer management services provider operating in the UK and Europe. Over the past 25 years, he has worked with the world’s leading BPO outsourcers including Concentrix, Teleperformance and SITEL, as consultant and board member. William sits on the Global Sourcing Association Council and is an active member of the UKCCF and the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing.

Phil Kitchen: Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel

Phil has a deep understanding of the contact centre industry, having worked within it for over 25 years. In 2006, he jointly set up VOICE Marketing Ltd, a successful outbound contact centre, which he sold to Capita Plc in April 2015. Phil set up Contact Centre Panel the same year, to help match businesses with the right telemarketing, call or contact centre partners and then support with the onboarding process. Phil’s working mantra is to provide a ‘safe pair of hands’ – he uses his vast experience, market knowledge and deep operational understanding to consistently deliver against clients’ requirements.

Topics for discussion

Watch our previous webinar…

Our ‘coffee table discussion’ panel shared their insights…

A panel of industry experts, including Contact Centre Panel’s Phil Kitchen, was hosted by the UK Contact Centre Forum (UKCCF). They were tasked with giving UKCCF members the information they needed to make informed decisions on outsourcing.

The expert panel

Lynda Campbell – Former Director of British Gas (Wales) and Head of Transformation, BA Global Contact Centres, British Airways

Dave Cleaver – Former Head of Operations at Centrica

Phil Kitchen – Managing Director, Contact Centre Panel

Neville Doughty – Partnership Director, Contact Centre Panel

When to outsource…and when not to outsource

The panel all agreed that the best outsourcing partnerships result from understanding the alignment of business strategies. Phil Kitchen also highlighted that good outsourcers enable businesses to give a rapid reaction to changing circumstances, an issue which has been highlighted throughout 2020 and 2021 so far.

Lynda Campbell offered a simple strategy to outsourcing: “Outsource when it’s part of your strategy, don’t outsource when it’s a knee-jerk reaction.” Dave Cleaver advised that if you can find a partner that has similar values, that will help both parties deal with challenges. For outsourcers, trying to stay clear of clients who are driven only by financial considerations.

Neville Doughty underlined that clients are outsourcing their brand, their most precious thing. They are not outsourcing the risk though, so be aware that your customers will perceive your brand based on our service, whether that’s delivered by your staff or your outsourcer’s team.

What are the main benefits of outsourcing?

Phil Kitchen: “Technology is one of the key benefits that can offer lots of additional value. We’ve seen some amazing demonstrations of technology from our panel of outsourcers that offer huge benefits in terms of flexibility, data handling, security and measurement. On top of this, the ability of good outsourcers to react to shorter term fluctuations in demand and therefore help deal with peak times is important, and there are clear cost benefits with many outsourcers who are set up to offer excellent quality of service from locations near and offshore, where costs are much lower than in-house options.”

Lynda Campbell: “Business continuity is another real benefit of outsourcing. Setting up a champion-challenger operation also enable both parties to improve results. Where outsourcers take similar calls to your in-house team, you can compare and contrast performance and listen in on the best calls to improve results across the board. Set up a partnership where you can learn from each other, where competitiveness does not harm the relationship. Champion-challenger needs to be used to drive performance but avoid using it to drive headcount, where it can be very counterproductive.”

Dave Cleaver: ”Outsourcers can deliver a step change in performance and relationships by introducing technological changes which, once proven, can be implemented by the inhouse teams too.”

What is the importance of cultural fit and managing culture across in-house and outsourced teams?

Lynda Campbell: “The cultural alignment is key to the longevity of the relationship between a client and an outsourced partner.  A cultural and strategic fit is a strong foundation to be able to give control away and to trust a partner to treat your customers how you want them to be treated. I believe it’s the answer to a successful long-term relationship.”

Neville Doughty: “When do you know you’ve achieved that cultural alignment? To me, it’s when you hear agents saying that they’re working for the client brand, not for their own company! A good cultural fit makes good governance happen. One of  the best meetings I’ve had with a client involved the Managing Director setting out his strategy on a flipchart in the meeting room, and everyone was able to get the alignment there from top to bottom, of what the client was trying to achieve.”

Dave Cleaver: “We created what we called an operational excellence framework, where multiple outsourcers could understand what we were trying to deliver. Not one partner challenged the idea and it made things clear for everybody, setting out the high standards we were aiming to achieve.”

Phil Kitchen: “One of the challenges is that procurement teams tend to apply a fairly hands-off approach to outsourcer selection. Taking procurement on the journey is very important, building that cultural fit and alignment that results in longevity.”

Lynda Cambell: “Cost does play a huge part in the outsourcing decision, but it’s important to help procurement understand the strategy.”

Challenges of direct procurement

Phil Kitchen: “Some businesses have had genuine contact centre experts in their procurement departments, but these skills have now largely been lost. We come across procurement departments that are prepared to understand the importance of business alignment, but we also experience more cost-focused procurement departments and it’s important to try to have the conversation to help the department understand the overall benefits of choosing the right outsourcing partners.”

Dave Cleaver: “As an outsourcer, it can be a red flag if the selection exercise is being led by finance using a scorecard approach. That’s not to say that the relationship can’t then be a good one, but it’s important to look at the strategic fit and to look at the long term goals.”

Neville Doughty: “Be clear and have a very well-written brief or RFP (Request For Proposal) from the outset. Have flexibility to allow creativity because if the commercials aren’t working, there needs to be a way to find out how to make the relationship better for both parties. The best conversations look for ways to make things better rather than finding fault or imposing commercial sanctions, and a difficult conversation never gets any easier by letting it fester too long.”

Dave Cleaver: “It’s not a parent-child relationship these days, it’s much more collaborative and with that comes trust. More things can be achieved with good communication and the best partners can find win-win solutions to challenges that they face. When an outsourced partner asks for help, it’s an opportunity to improve things across the entire business and this starts with open conversation.”

Are existing models of procurement fit for purpose in 21st century customer management outsourcing?

When one of our audience asked this question, unsurprisingly the panel agreed that traditional procurement models led by costs are less likely to result in good client-outsourcer relationships and results. Lynda Cambell summed this part of the session up very well:

“Not in my experience. Some of the large corporates seriously need to think about their procurement process in this area because we’re trying to build partnerships and not screw people down for a cost model that is inflexible in the end. The answer is we take them (procurement) on a journey for what we’re trying to achieve.”

Who should be responsible for measuring customer experience, the client or the contact centre provider?

Lynda Cambell: “Both. It’s a partnership and the same measure should work across the partnership, to build consistency and trust across the in-house and outsourcer teams.”

Neville Doughty: “You really can’t afford to have a difference in customer experience based on how a call was routed on a particular day. Customer experience had to be a thread that runs through the whole relationship and that both parties are responsible for.”

What is the role of technology and blended services including part outsourced solutions?

At one-time outsourcing decisions were driven by the phrase ‘let’s outsource some of this volume activity’ but with the advent of technology the landscape has changed. Neville Doughty explored this issue in the context of recent developments across the industry which not everyone has caught up with yet:

“Automation enables the outsourcing of more complex and emotional items, meaning that softer skills and more technical skills are needed to help people who have not been able to get their issues solved using automated systems. At one point there was a six-figure entry price to get this sort of technology into your building, but that’s no longer the case.”

Neville continued: “The Covid situation has meant that technology has been called upon to make homeworking possible, and the industry has learned that it can do a lot more than it realised it was capable of by utilising the right technologies. In some cases, contact centres were forced to enable people to work from home within seven days. Technology made that possible.”

Phil Kitchen agrees: “In addition, the proper use of technology actually frees resources to pay for people, to upskill those people and we’re definitely seeing the importance of upskilling agents being more recognised.”

Lynda Cambell has also noticed how the industry is taking advantage of the benefits offered by a new way of working. “I’ve noticed how much the move towards flexible remote working has made possible. Moving towards a more smart working model… If you consider recent work patterns and the difficulty some employers have had asking people to work unusual hours in the office, a smart homeworking model allows that more flexible working philosophy to be a viable option. I would be looking for outsourcers now that can help with the data science, automation and the digitalisation piece so that central agents can be upskilled to become more complex handlers of issues. The future of the industry is going to be around better skilled, higher-paid agents and fewer of them.”

Dave Cleaver underlined the need to put the customer at the centre of decisions. “The need to eradicate waste from call handling has become about the customer. What do we do to deliver the best customer outcome? We can automate most of the inbound enquiries and leave our best people to deal with the most difficult queries were, to use the common phrase, ‘computer says no’.”

When do you think that GigCX will become a reality in our market?

Neville Doughty: “The pace of adoption of the gig space for me is going to depend on how quickly brands, clients and outsourcers want people to be back in the office, and also which team members actually prefer to be in the office space. There are also questions around the gig economy relating to the security of employment, holidays and sick pay and so on.”

Neville continues: “With the right conditions, the gig economy is certainly a growth area but I think there are a few factors, including how quickly people are moved back into the office and whether that’s what they really want. Moving forwards beyond the current health crisis, making gig work a viable possibility might enable people to work much more flexibly than they do even now, logging on to work from anywhere in the world for example.”

Lynda Cambell: “In my consultancy work over recent years I’ve noticed how flexible remote working has made it possible to do much more. Moving towards a smarter working model, if you consider recent work patterns and the difficulty some employers have had asking people to work unusual hours in the office, a homeworking model allows that more flexible working philosophy to be a viable option.”

Neville Doughty: “That hybrid model of allowing remote workers to log on at peak times not only manages costs and capacity in the main office, it means that customer service performance can be maintained through peak demand periods without having too much unused capacity or struggling to handle volumes.”

What are the key messages for anyone looking to build a new outsourced relationship?

Dave Cleaver: “For me, there is a silver bullet. As a Head of Partnerships, contracts would be in place with the structure around that, but building a sustainable relationship needs much more. When a client sits in the heart of a call centre, engagement and communication become a strong part of the relationship. Finding a way to do that in the more flexible, more remote team structure that’s becoming the norm will be a key to building excellent relationships.”

Lynda Cambell: “Get it right from the start. If things are set up in the right way with cultural alignment and a win-win situation regarding the in-house and outsourced teams, then there should be no need for any blame game when things become challenging. Taking the time to build that alignment from the beginning of the relationship will result in more beneficial, more longstanding successful relationships.”

Key thoughts for outsourcers

When asked for some final thoughts for outsourcers in today’s market, our panel summarised with a few insightful brief pieces of advice.

Lynda Carter: “Only bid for work to which you think you are aligned with the partner and what they’re trying to achieve.”

Phil Kitchen: “I totally agree, strategically the goals of the two partners have got to be aligned. It’s important that the key stakeholders are helping to drive the decisions that are made. If you can get that right and find the right partner then hopefully proactive partnership management will minimise any problems going forward.”

Dave Cleaver: “Look beyond the contract and the price!”

Neville Doughty: “When building KPIs, focus on the K. You can build too many performance indicators but think seriously about what’s ‘Key’ – what’s really important. If you’ve chosen the right partner then hopefully you can leave the contract in a drawer and concentrate on getting the best result for your customers. Work together and you’ll achieve great things.”

Poll results

During the webinar, we asked a series of questions to gauge the state of the industry from our audience. The results are summarised here

Do you currently use an outsourced contact centre partner?

87% said no

In order of importance, which of the following is currently most important to your business?

41% Digital transformation
29% Cultural alignment/management
23% Strategic alignment
5% Cost reduction
0% Risk reduction

Are you looking to outsource or review your outsourced partner?

14% considering outsourcing
14% reviewing current outsourced partner
0% happy with incumbent
0% happy with in house operation
70% none of the above

Watch the play back…