What's On

Latest news, insight & opinion from CCA

Attracting and retaining top talent

Today’s media reports record employment figures and there are now more women working than at any time previously in the UK. Unemployment has fallen by 125,000 to 7.2% which is close to the figure quoted by Mike Carney as his trigger to look at ...

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Destination Frustration

This week’s announcement that a two-day London tube strike planned for this week has been called off prompted widespread relief in sharp contrast to last week when a 48-hour strike provoked sighs of frustration. I was among the millions of c...

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Time to 'Lean In'?

A recurrent theme throughout the body of CCA research is a persistent gap between boardroom rhetoric on the importance of listening to the voice of the customer and the reality, which is that customers’ views are often poorly understood or igno...

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Tackling Trust

Some say trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it breaks, but you’ll still see the cracks. Personally, I think that is too downbeat a view, particularly following the frank discussions we had this week at Industry Council on regaining custo...

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Immortal memory and abiding wisdom

You don’t have to be Scottish to celebrate the beauty and the wisdom inherent within the writings of Robert Burns. Tomorrow, people worldwide will toast the immortal memory of a man whose words still resonate 225 years after his birth. They...

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Right thinking leads to rightshoring

News this week that Aegis, one of the world’s largest outsourcing businesses, is setting up a 2,500 strong contact centre in Glasgow, provoked a flurry of headlines declaring it a case of ‘coals to Newcastle.’ The phrase (alludin...

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When hell freezes over

Sometimes a single image powerfully sums up an extraordinary situation in an uniquely memorable way - this week it was a picture of an ice-encrusted sign at the entrance to the tiny snowbound hamlet of Hell in Michigan state. With North America in th...

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Happy New Year

I don’t claim to be Mystic Meg and I know we’re a few days into 2014 but I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the trends we predict will dominate customer contact this year. But before I do, let me offer you a tongue-in-cheek remin...

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The best of times, the worst of times

Charles Dickens’ novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ contains perhaps the most famous opening lines in English literature: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...” As we come to the close of the year and begin t...

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Christmas hotline

Only five days to go before most of us will be tucking into our turkey and enjoying the fun of the festive season with friends and family. In the middle of the jollity, we should doff our party hats to dedicated contact centre workers everywhere who ...

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Banking on the future

Do you remember opening your first bank account? Like me, you were likely still a teenager and depositing your grant or your first pay cheque. I recall feeling a bit intimidated because everything was so formal, from the building to the atmosphere, ...

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A link in the chain

One week ago today nine families were robbed of their loved ones when a police helicopter plummeted from the sky and smashed through the roof of the Clutha bar in Glasgow, killing nine people and injuring others. The randomness of the shocking eve...

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Easy does it

Next week marks the start of December and the traditional season of giving, sending charities into overdrive competing for consumers’ attention and cash. But as well as, or increasingly, instead of rattling cans on the street, charities are goi...

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Remembering JFK: The power of words

As America marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy today, the world will remember a charismatic leader not just unafraid of change but one who fought for it with peerless eloquence and passion. Shot down in his prime, crit...

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Real time reality check

One of the dominant themes that emerged at Convention is that delivering speedy service is no longer enough - the new challenge is meeting customer needs in real-time. Presentations from six leading service organisations confirmed that the speed ...

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Reasons to be cheerful

With just days to go before the start of CCA’s 19th Convention in Edinburgh I can really sense the rising excitement among members shortlisted for this year’s Excellence Awards. I was privileged to read some of our judges comments on the ...

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A time for change

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween, steered clear of the ghouls and ghosties and enjoyed more treats than tricks. Autumn is a season of change, when shadows at dusk can trick you into thinking that something you glimpse on the horizon is someth...

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Automatic for the people

If there is one issue guaranteed to polarise opinion it is the question of whether the buzzword for the future of customer service is personalisation or automation. It certainly galvanised conversation at a great event I attended in London this week ...

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Chilly tones

Are you feeling an autumn chill yet? If so, you are probably thinking of switching on the central heating - but the prospect of a sharp rise in energy prices next month may persuade you to reach for a sweater instead. Unless you were out of the co...

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Being Human

Amid a drive for automation and efficiency in contact centres, it is heartening to see examples of organisations that value the importance of the human voice when it comes to dealing with customers in distress. The latest TV ad from insurance compan...

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