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.

The automation of customer interactions is as lively a conversation now amongst the CX and contact centre communities as it always has been.

It was in the early 70’s that Theodore George “Ted” Paraskevakos, working at Bell Labs, developed the concept known as “Automated Voice Response” (AVR). His idea involved using touch-tone telephone keypads to interact with computer systems over telephone lines. His work laid the foundations for the development of the simple touch menus and the overlay of voice recognition systems that so many organisations use today as IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and we may finally be getting to the AVR solutions he intended (read on and I’ll tell you why).

What is the relevance of this technology in a world where ‘voice’ is a diminishing part of the CX tool set and contact centre operations you may ask?

It is hard to mention IVR without feeling tension, frustration, even damn right anger, when the technology is deployed badly. This is something we have all experienced to some extent or other, especially when so many of us are time poor and simply want to get the job done in 3 clicks or less. After 50 or so years of evolution and thinking, I do wonder why some organisations are so slow to change. Clearly some large enterprises have invested so much, and integrated so deeply, that a transformation project to address today’s imbalance of voice is seen as ‘super high risk’. Yet where historical investment is lower, there is little excuse not to feel enabled to address the challenges driven by customers growing preference to communicate with their fingers rather than their voices.

Many organisations are held back today because their customer engagement technology is rooted in the world of ‘telephony’. In this world IVR deployment and ‘change’ sits with the IT team and those supporting the ‘telephony’ environment. As a result, ‘change’ takes time and that costs money, the transformation required to take advantage current customer communication preferences mean ‘bolting on’ digital channel capability. ‘Bolting on’ is not a proper term the technical community use. They say “we have an API for that” but in reality, API’s are a very broad church and what the tech’ folk won’t tell you is how much API’s can restrict the flow of data. Which means that any future AI deployment to make sense of the organisations data flows, is looking at a restricted picture, increasing the risk of poor or ineffective decision making. All of which means that there are strong strategic, as well as tactical reasons, to get out of the muddy world of ‘telephony’ and walk boldly into the paved pathways and highways of today’s digital first world. For those that are still apprehensive, ‘telephony’ as Ted Paraskevakos knew it, became a series of 1’s and 0’s years ago.

Voice is now just another digital channel. As a digital channel, IVR simply becomes IR (Interactive Response).

As part of the drag and drop / no code CCaaS applications and ‘customer engagement platforms’, voice channel automation is a big component. New digitally driven contact centre tech’ gives organisations the autonomy and self-determination capability to set up voice driven IR data flows in almost any language, in any ‘voice’ and have those tested and deployed in minutes. Add to that AI (another broad church) and organisations find themselves in a position where the conversation is no longer about the transition from telephony (or voice) to digital, but from a digital organisation to an AI driven digital organisation. Which means that our future conversations will not be about Interactive Response but Intelligent Response…probably something closer to what Ted Paraskevakos actually had in mind when he developed his AVR technology 50 years or so ago!!!

Looking to strike the right balance in terms of your contact centre technology setup? Get in touch, we’d love to chat with you.

If you offer your UK customers subscriptions for goods or services then there are significant changes coming your way. As mentioned above, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill is now making its way through parliament!

The Bill isn’t just concerned with subscriptions, there are 5 new requirements on firms that you really need to know about. These are planned to make subscriptions more transparent, understandable and to help address the ‘subscriptions trap’ which results in millions of consumers paying for things they no longer want or have forgotten.

Once passed into law, the changes aren’t likely to take effect until the second half of 2024. But that’s just a year away and you may well find that the contact centre, process, proposition, process and data changes required are significant.

And once you’re compliant with the new rules you can then assess their bottom-line impact on subscription acquisitions, retention and revenues. For some it’s likely to be massive.

Whats changing?

1. Full Transparency

When a subscription starts with a free or discounted period then the company needs to be transparent up front about the new or increased cost – and the date when it will start to be paid. If the subscription is purchased online (as almost all are), the consumer needs to acknowledge that they understand they need to pay; how much and when.

Free or reduced-price periods are one of the most common techniques used for marketing subscriptions. They still can be, of course, but the substantive rates and the point at which they become effective will need to be overtly highlighted in a way that they often aren’t today – and in a manner that allows the customer’s understanding of the terms to be captured

2. Sharing information, twice!

“Key information” is to be shared with consumers before they enter into a contract, with “full pre-contract information” (the small print stuff) to be provided as close to the start of the contract as possible – but both lots are to be provided separately, so consumers aren’t bombarded by lots of information at once.

So that’s two separate ‘sends’ of information. You will need to amend your processes, review all your information and terms and conditions – and decide which information needs to be sent to customers when.

3. Reminder and reminders

Reminders must be provided before the first payment and before renewal (at between 3 and 5 working days before renewal) – with two reminders for annual subscription contracts.

Yes, you’ll need to remind customers when they’re about to start paying, even after an introductory free period (and just to make things more challenging, unless the customer has opted into marketing communications, then to obey the Data Protection Act that reminder will need to be dull, factual and unpersuasive).

4. Easy cancellation

Consumers need to be able to cancel through a single communication, without undue barriers.

So, the days of requiring customers to speak to the ‘cancellation’ (i.e. retention) team are numbered! You won’t be able to demand that customers speak to an advisor in order to cancel.

5. Cooling off periods

Consumers buying digital products already benefit from a 14 day cooling off period, but the Bill proposes extending these periods for subscriptions:

Just from a data and customer management perspective these new cooling off requirements may prove onerous – never mind their revenue and retention impact.

What will be the impact?

The effect of these changes is likely to be substantial. The new duties will probably require extensive technology and data developments, but the commercial impacts will be considerable, too.

There is a lengthy list of exclusions from the scope of what the Bill considers to be subscriptions, including utilities contracts, insurance and financial services contracts, package holiday contracts, medical prescriptions and residential tenancy agreements. Though nearly all of those will have sector-specific requirements of their own, too.

As ever, contact centres will find themselves right in the midst of the collision of proposition, customers and compliance.

Looking for support to lessen the impact of this new bill? Get in touch, we’d love to chat with you.

Turkey, once the mighty Ottoman Empire, is known for many things. From shopping in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul to visiting Cappadocia, known for its cave houses, cobblestones and hot air balloon rides – Turkey has a lot to offer. However, when you think of outsourcing your customer contact requirements, Turkey probably isn’t on the top of your list, right? Well, it may just be worth taking a closer look …

Recently, Turkey has made significant gains in the United Nations Global Innovation Index and became a leading innovation economy in its region, behind only Israel and the United Arab Emirates. By doing so, Turkey leapt ahead 10 rankings to place 41st in the Index, which measures the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 countries. Whilst this may seem impressive from first glance, it’s not really a surprise when you consider Turkey’s many positive attributes.

With the 3rd largest labour-force in Europe, Turkey has delivered on developing its infrastructure to fuel this change. This has seen the rise of a young, highly-educated, multilingual workforce, who are driving the recent boom in outsourced services delivered out of Turkey – with an expected CAGR of 20% between 2020 – 2026.

Still, not everyone will have thought about outsourcing their customer contact requirements in Turkey. So, why else should you consider Turkey as a future destination?

Location:

What makes Turkey different is the mix of cultures that can be found from city to city, mainly due to its location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Istanbul itself is a bridge between two continents, connecting Europe to Western Asia. This makes it ideal for European businesses to easily commute to Turkey (3hrs 45min from London to Istanbul), whilst being able to rely on the same business infrastructure they have become accustomed to in the West – including a favourable Timezone of UTC+3.

Languages:

Whilst most Turkish citizens speak Turkish and Arabic, they also speak English professionally. Furthermore, there are other European languages that can be accessed in Turkey – such as German. In the 1960’s, many Turkish workers relocated to West Germany to help fill labour shortages (better known as Gastarbeiter). This led to a growth of Turkish people living in Germany, with the children and grandchildren of these workers being born and raised in Germany. As of recent years, many Germans of Turkish descent have chosen to relocate back to Turkey, which has increased the amount of German people speaking in Turkey (including being aware of German cultural nuances). Furthermore, you will find these languages will come at a third of the price vs sourcing European languages in-country.

Infrastructure:

Turkey has made major strides in the last 10 years in developing its infrastructure. Turkey now boasts an excellent communications infrastructure, with the Turkish Government undertaking some major development projects to align itself to its European neighbours. The Turkish government is also a strong supporter of international investments and job creation, which means government loans and grants have been made available to help boost the sector.

With these key attributes in play, Turkey is in a prime position to start attracting more and more Western business into the country. It’s definitely a location to keep on your radar.

Interested in hearing more about Turkey? Get in touch, we’d love to chat with you.

Competition abroad, unforeseen challenges and diversification, it’s a difficult tight rope to walk for UK BPO’s at the moment. In this article, our Partner Success Manager, David Taylor, reviews the the current state of the UK BPO landscape and how external factors are pushing UK Outsourcers to diversify and adapt to changing market conditions.
The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the UK has faced significant challenges in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit creating much chaos, uncertainty and disruption. Over the past few months, we have unfortunately seen two sizeable UK BPO’s placed into administration – which ultimately has led to job losses and undue stress in a time where the UK is experiencing it’s highest rate of inflation since March 1993.

As part of this article, I wanted to explore the challenges facing the UK BPO market, what to expect over the next two years, and what UK BPOs can do to diversify and adapt to changing market conditions.

Challenges facing the UK BPO market:

  1. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the BPO industry here in the UK. Many businesses have had to re-evaluate their outsourcing strategies as a result of the pandemic, with supply chains disrupted and remote work becoming the norm. This has led to a decrease in demand for some BPO services, particularly those related to office-based functions such as customer service and administrative support.
  2. Brexit has also created challenges for the UK BPO market, particularly around access to talent. Many BPOs in the UK rely on skilled workers from the EU, and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit has made it more difficult to recruit and retain these workers. This has led to a shortage of skilled workers in the industry, which is expected to continue over the next few years.
  3. The high rate of inflation here in the UK has caused a significant squeeze in the cost of living. Many employers have reacted to this by increasing employee wages to help with the cost of living, and right so. However, this has huge implications on a market that is run on very fine margins, hence many UK BPO’s making the difficult decision of raising customer/client facing costs.
  4. In addition, the rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) has had an impact on the BPO industry in the UK. Many businesses are looking to automate certain tasks and processes, which has reduced the need for certain BPO services. While this has created new opportunities for BPOs that specialize in automation and AI, it has also led to increased competition in these areas.

What to expect over the next two years:

Whilst I don’t own a crystal ball, I believe there are still opportunities for growth and innovation in the UK BPO market. Here are some trends to watch for over the next two years:

  1. Increased demand for automation and AI services. As businesses continue to embrace digital transformation and automation, there will be increased demand for BPO services that specialise in these areas. BPOs that can offer expertise in areas such as robotic process automation, machine learning, and AI will be well-positioned to succeed in the market.
  2. Greater emphasis on flexible and remote work. Whilst this could be an article all in itself, demand for remote and flexible working will continue over the next few years, which will create new opportunities for BPOs that can offer remote support and services.
  3. Focus on innovation and digital transformation. Innovation and digital transformation will be key drivers of growth in the BPO market over the next few years. Time and time again our clients are looking for partners that can take them on a journey of continuous improvement and technological innovation.

Diversifying and adapting to changing market conditions:

In order to succeed in the UK BPO market, BPOs need to be able to diversify and adapt to changing market conditions. Here are some strategies that UK BPOs can use to do this:

  1. Expand into new markets. One way to diversify is to expand into new markets. BPOs can look to offer their services in new geographies, or target new industries and sectors. This can help to reduce dependence on a single market or sector, and create new opportunities for growth (as well as offering clients the same service at reduced rates).
  2. Embrace automation and AI. As mentioned earlier, automation and AI are key trends in the BPO market – just look at the recent explosion of ChatGPT. BPOs that can offer expertise in these areas will be well-positioned to succeed. By embracing these technologies, BPOs can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and offer more innovative solutions to their clients.
  3. Focus on customer experience. Sounds simple, right? Customer experience, something which has been forgotten about a little over recent years, is becoming increasingly important in the BPO market. BPOs that can offer exceptional customer service and support will be in high demand. This means investing in training and development for customer service teams, and using technology

So I go back to my question at the top of this article, are traditional outsourcers in the UK struggling to regain their balance? Well, I think the answer is yes (from a traditional sense), however we’ve definitely not seen the last of the UK BPO market as a whole. Many BPO’s in the UK have already woken up to what’s going on around them and have successfully diversified their business to adapt to this new environment – just look at the success of homeworking since the pandemic. However, I predict further change will be needed for some of those remaining BPO’s who have yet to fully embrace the changing UK BPO landscape.

Looking for further guidance after reading this article? Get in touch, we are here to help!