It has been a while since the press have focused on a generic call centre debate so it was interesting to see the coverage over the weekend of Which?’s latest consumer research which states that the UK’s biggest gripe is overseas call centres (new report to be launched this week). 

In some ways it’s reminiscent of the ‘Brassed Off Britain’ campaign back in 2004, which sought the opinions of UK consumers on the issues that were the cause of their greatest frustrations. 

Whilst this may seem like an outdated agenda item, it is clearly a timely reminder for organisations about how focused they are on the customer.  Many businesses are rightly concerned with becoming more digitally enabled with an eye on the future requirements of consumers.  However, a word of caution is advised.  It is fundamental that organisations plan for the future but in times of need, customers will still want to talk to someone versus using remote channels. 

CCA’s own research has indicated this time and again and we continue to lead the debate on the best strategies and approach to take in responding to increasingly complex requirements from consumers as contact channels become more and more fragmented.  CCA Global Standard is used by organisations to help support this objective and many are really seeing the results. 

This week on 16 & 17 Sep, CCA is meeting with industry to discuss and debate these issues and consider the options to take the service agenda forward.  Congregating at BSi (the home of UK standards), some of the biggest brands from the UK & Ireland will be tackling these concerns head on.  In addition, guests from academia, media and leading experts (including Which?) will be invited to participate in this forum that seeks to understand the steps organisations need to take to be future-ready, but also managing the demands and challenges of today. 

Furthermore, we will be taking the outputs from these discussions to our Annual Convention on 24 & 25 November where delegates will have the opportunity to discuss directly with Which? the issues raised in their research.  

We invite your comments and feedback on the Which? research that will be launched on Wednesday 16 Sep so that we can feed this into our discussion with industry this week and subsequently at CCA Convention later in the year.  Please email your comments to: pauline.cochrane@cca-global.com