In the realm of customer service, contact centres play a central role. They have become a primary interface for brands, influencing customer experiences and shaping brand reputation. The role of the Contact Centre agent has evolved too. Today, they are true brand ambassadors, whose behaviour can have a direct impact on whether a customer chooses to make an initial or repeat purchase, or recommend the organisation to others.

However, empowering agents to provide the best possible customer experience is often easier said than done. Increasingly high consumer expectations, a raft of regulatory requirements and challenging market conditions – where many businesses are required to do more with less – make it harder for agents to deliver the desired level of service. Growing workloads, the pressure of juggling remote work, and the need to master multiple, disparate technology solutions only add to the challenge.

Against this backdrop, it is perhaps little surprise that agents sometimes struggle to show their human side. Brands need to find a way for their teams to deliver the friendly, empathetic, personalised and efficient service that underpins long-term customer relationships.

Let technology take the strain

It may sound ironic but the answer to helping agents be more human is technology. For example, increased levels of automation remove the burden and frustration of having to deal with mundane and repetitive enquiries, freeing up agents to focus on more complex or rewarding interactions; those that require a high degree of intuition, understanding and problem-solving.

With the right technology at their fingertips – and the skills required to get the most out of these solutions – agents can be transformed into ‘Super Agents’ or ‘Augmented agents’ who leverage automation tools, AI, and data insights to speed up resolution times while, at the same time, offer a personal touch. The impact of Augmented Agents extends far beyond immediate interactions to ultimately influence customer loyalty, brand perception and overall business performance.

Helping humans be more human: a five-point plan

To help agents interact with customers in a more human and authentic way, brands should focus on five key areas:

1. Look at ways to streamline technology. Disparate tools and solutions slow down the customer journey and are cumbersome for agents to use. Instead, organisations should explore platforms that support single desktops, and which integrate Knowledge Management and Agent Assist technologies to serve up the very latest information in real-time. This ensures agents never have to go searching for answers and can have total confidence in their decision-making capabilities.
2. Explore AI and automation tools. Customer enquiries are growing in number and cover a vast array of topics, so it is vital that simple, repetitive queries and tasks are dealt with automatically. Voicebots, chatbots and other self-service tools, as well as caller identification and verification (ID&V), are all ways to divert work from humans to machines. What’s more, as these tools speed up resolution times, customers benefit too. On a more sophisticated level, companies can deploy AI to analyse customer insights and assess how they might be feeling. Armed with this information, agents can adapt their tone or approach to deliver a much more empathetic customer experience. This is particularly useful when assisting vulnerable customers or handling complaints.
3. Gamification and Performance Management tools are an effective way to keep agents motivated, guarding brands against the high attrition rates that afflict so much of the contact centre industry. Gamification techniques make everyday tasks more fun and are proven to boost productivity and employee engagement. Brands should combine this approach with Performance Management tools, which provide managers with a clear picture of their top performers. This visibility is especially important in hybrid working environments.
4. Workforce Management. Investment here provides agents with far greater flexibility over their schedules – including over when they work from home and when they come in to the office – while at the same time optimising staffing levels. Not only does this enhance employee satisfaction it also ensures operational efficiency.
5. Technology is only one part of the puzzle; new solutions need to be complemented with comprehensive learning and development programmes that equip agents with the skills they need to deliver exceptional customer service. Feedback, training, coaching and other personal growth opportunities should be readily available and encouraged. Learning opportunities shouldn’t be limited to how to use different tools and touchpoints, they should also cover soft skills, so agents can seamlessly resolve the most challenging and complex of interactions.

As the face of the brand, it is vital that Contact Centre agents have the correct tools and sufficient time to deliver truly exceptional service to each and every customer. By prioritising the employee experience in this way, organisations can boost engagement and slash attrition rates while at the same time handle complex enquiries and deliver truly personalised service. Ultimately, by allowing agents to be more human, brands will see an uptick in customer satisfaction, loyalty and revenue.

Is your centre in need of a human touch?

Drop us a line. One of our humans would love to chat with you!

AI and the march to automation is a hot topic right now, with much being made of the gains that can be made through AI handling enquiries.

But the benefits of technology are perhaps being primarily considered in the context of larger operations, where the costs of servicing customers are easy to see.

What about the hidden contacts that organisations may be managing? The ones that are increasingly challenging to manage, that AI – for now at least – can’t deal with?

Information is power

Customers are better informed than ever before. They just need to spend a few minutes online to arm themselves with what they need before contacting you. From looking up reviews to seeking advice from social media groups on how other customers escalated a given complaint, or checking how regulations apply to your sector and how they should be applied in the context of their situation.

They may even know more about complaints to your organisation than some of your management team. Which means your responses need to be on point now more than ever.

Yet if former Dragons Den investor Piers Linney is to be believed, most contact centre activity will be automated by AI five years from now.

“There are undoubtedly times when speaking to a person is the only thing that will do.”

Realistically, nobody is denying that there are use cases that can be automated with better outcomes for customer, agent and organisation alike. Win-win. However, there are undoubtedly times when speaking to a person is the only thing that will do. And therein lies the risk of creating hidden contact centres in this futuristic AI-driven world. Indeed, they already exist.

What is a hidden contact centre and why do I need to worry about it?

In many organisations, contact centres already exist informally, even when they have bona fide real ones.

Groups of non-contact centre people are engaged in dealing with customers through calls, e-mails, chat or webforms, perhaps as part of their wider role. They are likely disbursed across multiple site locations or functions, handing off customers to each other and collaborating to resolve those queries.

Customers may be end users, other businesses or internal customers. The thing that unites them is that the queries are likely to be complex. And because it’s not their day job, everyone works a little harder to get the job done, sometimes at the risk of their other core tasks being delayed until the demand has passed.

Of course, none of this means these teams are doing a bad job in serving the customer. Processes may not be documented well, with best practice held in the heads – or languishing on the desktops – of team members, so they’re the best people for the job.

“The trouble with informal contact centres is that they aren’t set up to be responsive. Or have audit trails.”

But the trouble with informal contact centres is that they aren’t set up to be responsive. Or have audit trails. During holiday seasons cover may be limited and there is unlikely to be out of hours support for the customer. Reporting on contact volumes and contact types may not exist. Feedback loops for potential process improvement is probably dependent on the capacity in that team on a given week. And when servicing internal customers, inefficiencies may be magnified.

However, there may be limited opportunity for automation and self-service.

So maybe it is better to stay hidden?

Perhaps for some, ignoring all of this could be appealing. Especially if there are several “fractional” resources who are supporting and spreading the load. However, if those people are being taken away from their core roles, the decision (or lack of) not to address this could be a costly error. Those resources could be expensive for dealing with what in some cases may be low level queries. And not just in the time it takes them, but also unrecognised costs of double handling of queries, opportunity costs and even lost customers or lost revenue.

The first step is understanding if you have hidden contact centres. Speak with your people to understand what may be preventing them from getting core tasks done. If customer contacts, queries and complaints are part of that workload, perhaps it’s time to review and consolidate work to specialist staff who are set up to deal with these contacts.

Four red flags to watch out for:

1. Team attrition – perhaps because they’re not getting opportunity to do the role for which they were employed?
2. Customer attrition – are you seeing customers leaving you or not putting additional business in your direction?
3. Non contact centre customer contact handling – do you have a group of people who you may not term as contact centre, but they are all consistently doing a role dealing with customers?
4. Customer service levels aren’t matching your ambition – is it aligned to your values? Does it feel like a cost/burden?

If any of those resonate, then perhaps it is time to take time out and review whether you do, knowingly or otherwise, have a “contact centre” that could benefit from review or consolidation. To consider how this may benefit your people, your customers and ultimately your business.

What can you do about it?

First up, talk to people who understand the risks and opportunities of hidden contact centres. They’ll help you to decide on the approach that’s right for you, potentially with solutions you hadn’t considered. Whether you still want to keep activity within your team, or whether you need some additional help to provide increased coverage or flexibility.

For example, additional support and flexibility, including potential out of hours coverage, could improve services. You may not need dedicated resource, but the availability of someone to engage with your customers in conversation and support them at the right point in time may reduce the burden on your team during core hours.

If recruiting contact centre staff is a challenge for you, and managing and developing them is a further item on your worklist that you struggle to get to, it’s almost certainly time to seek guidance on how to address that.

And if you want to keep your ‘hidden contact centre’, it could be a smart move to examine your technology set up. Is it making it as easy as possible for your team? That doesn’t mean that everything could or even should be automated. However, implementing systems that enable omni-channel support – so that all details of the conversation can be easily linked and customers can skip across channels – will make it easier for both you and your customers.

“Technological developments over recent years mean that you could be able to improve life for your people and your customers.”

Contact centres take all kinds of forms. They can be managed in many ways and no one size fits all when it comes to dealing with customers. That’s why there are big in-house contact centres, hidden contact centres, and many different specialist outsourcers who deal with specific sectors or tasks – and often in ways that can give a competitive edge. Knowing which approach will help you to gain your competitive edge is critical.

Importantly, technological developments over recent years mean that you could be able to improve life for your people and your customers, reducing the impact on your business and the cost of servicing your customers. But wholesale automation is not the answer for all. And may never be, five, ten or many years from now.

Want to chat further?

Drop us a line. A problem shared is a problem halved and we love to share our expertise, whether you’re a client or not.

Over the past few years Bulgaria has certainly made it’s name in the world of contact centre outsourcing. Not only are business in Europe choosing Bulgaria as their nearshore destination of choice, but businesses in the US are now casting their eye over towards the east.

If you did ever find yourself in Bulgaria’s bustling capital city Sofia, you might be greeted by one of its 1.3 million residents with “Zdraveĭte, radvam se da se zapoznaem!” (Hello! I am glad to meet you). However, if you’re like me and rely on a translator, there’s absolutely no need to fear as over 1.7 million people in Bulgaria can speak English. Other European languages spoken in Bulgaria include (but not limited to):

• Bulgarian (obviously)
• Turkish
• Russian
• German

We recently caught up with waterdrop®’s very own Martin Vatchkov to get an on the ground view of Bulgaria. Not only is Martin a Bulgarian national living in Austria, Martin has also previously outsourced his customer service operations within Bulgaria:

“Здравей (Bulgarian “Hello”)! Diving straight in on why Bulgaria, which is mainly driven by the fact that Bulgaria has a highly effective language school system, where most European languages are extensively and effectively thought, the baseline is rather high and difficult to beat.

The university of “St. Kliment Ohridski” in Sofia has added another building block to the already high level of schooling within Bulgaria. This has brought some rather rare languages to Bulgaria such as Japanese, Korean, Arabic or the Nordic languages to name a few.

Once you get past the languages, another strong positive for Bulgaria would be the Geographic location. +2 hours from GMT and +7 hours from EST in the US, with US shifts (16:00 to 01:00) being something normal. Distance in my opinion is another asset at around a 3-hour flight, from most places in the European peninsula which is a rather short flight. Companies have started to explore the whole country with the opening of offices at the seaside (Varna and Burgas) and not only the capital, Sofia.

On another note, the fact that Bulgaria is part of the EU and NATO, brings GDPR with ease (contractual wise, as no data is leaving the EU) as well as economic stability. Internet downtime is almost nonexistent with high speeds.

Last but not least, the BPO and ITO industries are rather filled with the younger part of the generation which bring a lot of ideas and high engagement rates. AI is no foreign word and working efficiently is certainly a big asset as both industries have been embodied quite well in the countries’ economy.”

Thanks Martin! Contact Centre Panel too has had some terrific experiences with contact centre’s in Bulgaria, and we think you will too.

Like what you hear about Bulgaria and want to find out more? Get in touch, we’re here to help.

Our very own Neville Doughty recently caught up with Sean McIver for MaxContact‘s latest episode of Talk Time, discussing how successful outsourcing is built on a foundation of trust, respect, and a shared commitment to sustainability and fairness.

Take a look at the snippet from Nev for a sneak preview.

To listen to the full episode, click on this link.

The full range of Talk Time episodes can be found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Traditionally, contact centres have relied on a somewhat impersonal approach to assigning agents to clients. This method, often arbitrary and based on immediate agent availability, overlooks the potential of personalised interactions. Such a lack of customisation can result in missed opportunities for both agents and clients, leading to inefficiencies and general dissatisfaction. Personally, I think it’s time to move beyond this one-size-fits-all strategy and embrace the uniqueness of every individual involved.

Embracing the power of AI and Human connection

The integration of AI into your contact centre offers a promising solution. By analysing vast amounts of data, including historical interactions and behavioral patterns, AI can intelligently match clients with the right agents. This strategic pairing goes beyond mere transactions, aiming to create meaningful relationships where both parties find value and understanding. It’s about rekindling the human element in every conversation, ensuring that each interaction is not just efficient but also genuinely engaging.

A smarter approach

Technology should enhance, not diminish, human connections. Every individual has a unique mosaic of needs, desires, and dreams. Our mission is to foster meaningful work by appreciating and understanding this individuality By acting as matchmakers, we ensure that agents find joy and meaning in their work, leading to more positive and successful engagements with clients.

For agents, this approach transforms each workday into an opportunity for meaningful interactions. For clients, it ensures a more personalised and less stressful experience. And for leaders, this synergy between well-matched agents and clients not only streamlines workforce management but also enhances team engagement and success, contributing to the overall achievement of organizational goals.

The competitive advantage: valuing people

In a market where differentiation is key, the unique personalities of our people, combined with innovative matching technology, stand out as the competitive advantage. This focus on positive engagement and deep human connections within the corporate environment leads to enhanced profitability and a distinctive market position.

Final thoughts

The contact centre industry is poised for a significant transformation through the integration of AI, with a focus on enhancing human connections. By moving away from impersonal assignments and embracing a more strategic, data-informed approach, we can significantly improve agent satisfaction, client experiences, and overall success rates. Our commitment at Bestpair is to lead this change, ensuring that every interaction is not only successful but also truly enjoyable, reaffirming the undeniable value of meaningful connections in the modern workplace.

If you’d like to find out more, get in touch.

Are there really no bad ideas? This age-old question plagues organisations that are trying to innovate while managing realistic resources and budgets. None of us want to stifle creativity—we’re all encouraged to think creatively and bring new ideas. As we alluded to above, maybe it’s the execution of ideas that results in undesirable outcomes. 

Distributed and Contact Centre Panel (CCP) recently teamed up to help more organisations turn their ambitious ideas into reality. Any idea is worth exploring, but without proper execution, outcomes are often lacklustre at best and failures at worst. In a tech landscape where 70% of transformation projects end up failing according to McKinsey, it’s critical to get the strategy and process right at the onset.  

We want to set business leaders on the best path possible toward successful digital transformations. With our combined expertise and years of experience in helping companies implement change across industries and geographies, we’ve compiled the guiding principles that will be foundational to any large-scale technical project. 

Be clear on strategy and your “why” at the start 

Nobody sets out to do a bad job. The execution of a project—especially in an outsourced environment—is complex, so it may not be a specific decision that halts progress, but a situation where people fail to make a decision, or don’t work through the priorities and therefore are trying to work with limited resources.  

Distributed Founder, Callum Adamson shares, “Make sure you’re in love with the problem you’re trying to solve, not the solution you think is needed. I see people thinking, ‘I’ve got this great idea for an app,’ rather than ‘This problem needs to be solved.’” Clearly defining the priorities of a project will ensure that everyone is working towards implementing the agreed upon change. When resources are limited, there’s no more important factor to a project than knowing exactly how it will affect the organisation once the project is finished. In order to better track the impact of your change implementation, make sure to identify: 

• Key KPIs that will be measured before and after the project 
• Goals for those KPIs in order to track against expectations 
• Teams that will be affected directly by the transformation 
• Stakeholders who deeply understand the problem you’re trying to solve 

Make sure you have the right resources dedicated to the project 

Change is inevitable in any organisation and if we fail to acknowledge this then those organisations are destined to fail. Opportunities to deliver additional customers, revenue, or margin are dependent on successfully implementing change. The step that makes something a “bad idea” is potentially the decision to not apply the appropriate level of thinking and resources to the project.  

Once you understand the parameters of your project and exactly how the change will affect your organisation, it’s time to set out for the right resources. Good ideas become bad ideas when the levels of critical thinking and creativity don’t match the complexity of the project. Make sure there’s enough time, budget, and talent dedicated to the transformation project in order to move forward completely. If there isn’t, be realistic about what you can accomplish with what you have, and flex your creativity to stretch those resources in ways that will help your team make more progress. 

 At CCP, nearly a decade of work has been dedicated to honing in on connecting organisations to the best resources for their projects. CCP Founder Phil Kitchen shares, “We always see that the best fit organisations to support our clients or network have three key components to their offer. These are:  

1. Solution, that the needs are clearly understood and the partner is aligned to the same objectives  
2. Commercials, ensuring sustainability for all engaged to deliver a win/win outcome  
3. Cultural alignment, to ensure open and transparent communications and delivery

Leverage the right talent at the right time

What truly needs to be considered when making any critical change is that there needs to be the necessary capacity to deliver change whilst managing the day-to-day goals. Impactful change can only be achieved with impactful teams, and sometimes those teams need additional expert perspectives and skill sets in order to more holistically drive a project forward. 

 This is where leveraging external talent becomes the key to driving innovation at growing organisations that are moving quickly while simultaneously implementing ambitious transformations. We have a deep understanding that success can’t be achieved in a silo. In order for internal teams to excel in their “zones of genius,” they need the right support to enable an open, empowering environment for better productivity and workflows. 

Freelancers make up 40% of the digital workforce today. That’s a tremendous amount of talent that can potentially help organisations shift their businesses through successful transformation projects. This talent remains largely untapped today, even as business leaders become more open to the idea of leveraging talent ecosystems outside their own companies. With this leap comes global perspectives, remote working practices, and increased productivity that can be unlocked with the right talent strategy. 

We’re building the future of tech transformation—join us 

CCP and Distributed are partnering to help organisations achieve greater change at faster speeds—without compromising on quality. Keeping this balance is important to us because we know it’s important to business leaders worldwide. As we continue our work, see how good ideas can become great ideas when the right talent teams can contribute their unique skills sets and expertise to your projects. 

Words cannot even begin to describe what the people of Ukraine have had to endure over the past 18 months, since the war began. However, through this adversity, the outsourcing industry in Ukraine has remained resilient and is still very much open for business – providing a lifeline to those who need it most.

Before the conflict, Ukraine was well on its way to becoming the European hotspot for incredible tech talent and cost-effective solutions for both BPO and ITO services. Has the war changed this? Well, the simple answer is no. Ukraine has had to adapt, there’s no question about that, including looking at how employees in the sector operate and remain safe (which is of the upmost priority). However, the country is still able to rival its Eastern European neighbours in terms of quality of service and cost effectiveness.

When it comes to outsourcing in Ukraine, it’s employees speak English to a very high level – which includes adapting to cultural nuances of other countries with ease. We would say Ukrainian’s have a firm grasp of how Western businesses work. This means Ukrainians are excellent at collaborating with teams from other countries, especially for those business who already have an inhouse team and are looking for an outsourced partner to supplement the numbers they already have internally.

I recently pulled up a chair and had a chat with another of Ukraine’s own, Konstantin Ryzhov, the CEO of Simply Contact. Operating since 2012, Simply Contact has several offices operating in Ukraine, including their Poland office as part of recent expansion. I asked Konstantin a number of questions about outsourcing in Ukraine, with the most pertinent one being, “why outsource to Ukraine?”.

“In Ukraine, we place a strong emphasis on education, especially language skills. This means our contact centers have people who are adept in various languages and also deliver services with high quality. Plus, Ukraine is amazing at adjusting and coming up with new ideas when times get tough. The way Ukrainian companies remain stable and grow during hard circumstances is truly impressive.”

As Konstantin mentioned, the advantages of outsourcing contact center services to Ukraine are quite noteworthy. Let’s take a moment to review these key points:

1. Multilingual agents

Ukraine can offer a broad range of languages, with high proficiency in English and other main European languages. It is an ideal choice for serving a global customer base.

2. Cost-effectiveness without compromising quality

In the realm of outsourcing, balancing cost and quality is crucial. Ukraine excels here, offering competitive pricing without compromising service standards. This balance is particularly attractive to businesses looking to optimise their customer service operations.

3. Time zone advantage

Ukraine’s geographical location and time zone are beneficial for serving European and Asian markets. Also, it offers reasonable alignment with North American business hours. This enables more effective and timely customer service across different regions, 24/7.

4. Diverse talent pool

Ukraine has a large and diverse talent pool. This variety enables you to find the right match for your specific customer service needs, whether it’s technical support, multilingual services, or industry-specific expertise.

Are you considering outsourcing to Ukraine, but want to find out more? Reach out to CCP, we’d be more than happy to help.