Explore fresh, expert perspectives on customer engagement and innovation

The rise of AI is revolutionising industries across the globe. In healthcare, it’s personalising treatment options. In retail, it’s creating tailored offers. In manufacturing, it’s streamlining supply chains. And in call centres, it’s changing the game entirely.

Tools like ChatGPT have shown how AI can handle complex queries, learn from interactions, and deliver lightning-fast responses. For contact centres, this isn’t just exciting, it’s essential.

High call volumes, repetitive tasks, and increasing customer expectations for fast, accurate resolutions put immense pressure on agents. Balancing these demands while delivering quality and improving performance is no easy task.

AI is the solution. By automating routine tasks, providing actionable insights, and enhancing agent performance, AI helps call centres boost efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and empower teams to succeed.

In this article, we’ll discuss the impact of AI in contact centres, and the need for organisations to take a wider view of this evolving technology. When departments collaborate to create seamless AI integration, the whole business feels the benefit.

How is AI used in call centres today?

AI chatbots

The most obvious use of AI technology in contact centres is AI-powered chatbots. AI-powered chatbots have reshaped self-service, offering lifelike and personalised support through Natural Language Processing (NLP).

They can:

• Deflect routine queries: By resolving common issues without human intervention, chatbots free up agents for complex tasks.
• Provide tailored responses: Integrating with CRM systems, they personalise conversations based on customer history and preferences.
• Work around the clock: Available 24/7, customers get support anytime they need it.

With 80% of customers wanting better self-service options, AI chatbots meet this demand, reducing inbound call volumes, cutting costs, and enhancing customer experience.

AI speech analytics

AI speech analytics transcribes calls into searchable text files, streamlining QA processes and call reviews. Unlike manual reviews, which often cover a small percentage of interactions, AI can transcribe 100% of calls into searchable text files. Text is much faster to review compared to speech files, which means that QA teams can assess more calls than they would with a traditional manual process. This provides actionable call data and insights on a much wider scale.

Here’s what else AI-powered speech analytics can do for your call centre:

• Sentiment analysis: Understand customer emotions in real-time, flagging issues before they escalate.
• Compliance monitoring: Check agents meet regulatory requirements by tracking mandatory phrases within transcripts.
• Performance insights: Identify knowledge gaps and areas for improvement to enhance team performance.

These insights help contact centres optimise operations, improve agent effectiveness, and make data-driven decisions that have a positive impact.

AI analytics, automation & optimisation

AI automates repetitive tasks, streamlines workflows, and supports agents in delivering exceptional service.

Here are some examples of how AI and automation work together:

• Skill-based routing: Automatically connects customers with the most qualified agents for their needs.
• Real-time data access: Provides call summaries, keyword tracking, and sentiment insights for better team management.
• Workforce optimisation: Simplifies scheduling and forecasting, so resources match fluctuating workloads.

By handling routine tasks, AI allows agents to focus on high-value interactions, improving productivity and customer journeys.

BenefitOverviewImproved customer experience– Faster resolutions through chatbots and AI-driven call routing.
– Personalised responses tailored to customer preferences.
– Empowered self-service for customers who prefer instant solutions.Increased efficiency– Automates processes like call routing and QA, reducing agent workloads.
– Streamlines compliance checks with AI speech analytics.
– Uses real-time data to optimise resources and meet changing demands.Better insights for decision-making– Provides actionable data to refine campaigns and strategies.
– Identifies trends in customer sentiment and market shifts.Enhanced agent performance– Equips managers with detailed performance insights for personalised coaching.
– Helps agents refine skills and boost confidence with targeted feedback.Cost savings– Reduces inbound call volumes with chatbots and self-service tools.
– Automates manual tasks to cut operational costs.
– Optimises resources through accurate demand forecasting.

The fear of change

Despite its benefits, AI still faces scepticism. People naturally wonder if it will live up to the hype and question what potential downsides it might bring.

For AI, much of the anxiety centres on data privacy and security. AI tools rely on analysing vast amounts of personal information to uncover trends and patterns. But what happens when an AI system has processed all the available data? How can organisations ensure this data isn’t misused or repurposed in ways that customers didn’t consent to?

This isn’t just science fiction. The debate around data privacy in an AI-driven world is real, leading to the emergence of innovative solutions like machine unlearning-a new field aimed at enabling AI systems to “forget” sensitive information completely. Initiatives like the Machine Unlearning Challenge push the boundaries of this technology, helping businesses comply with strict regulations and safeguard customer trust.

IT and CX collaboration: The key to successful AI implementation

While data protection is a crucial consideration for AI adoption, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Successful AI implementation requires collaboration between IT and customer experience (CX) teams to address key questions:

• How will the data that drives AI be sourced, stored, and integrated?
• How will data flow seamlessly across disparate systems?
• How can patterns and trends identified by AI be turned into actionable insights?
• What specific outcomes should AI achieve?

An AI tool is only as effective as the infrastructure that supports it. CX teams must clearly define the organisation’s goals for AI-whether it’s enhancing customer satisfaction, improving agent efficiency, or boosting operational performance. IT teams, in turn, need to ensure the systems are robust enough to handle integration, data flow, and scalability.

When these teams work together, AI tools can seamlessly align with contact centre processes, enhancing both operations and customer satisfaction. Feedback loops between CX leaders and IT departments ensure AI solutions are continually refined to address real customer challenges and pain points.

By embracing collaboration and tackling implementation strategically, businesses can harness the transformative power of AI while safeguarding the trust of their customers.

So, what does the future of AI look like in call centres?

The future of AI in call centres promises even greater efficiency and customer satisfaction. AI will power more tailored customer journeys, automating support processes and empowering seamless self-service for a larger share of queries.

However, AI won’t replace human agents. Instead, it will redefine their roles, allowing them to focus on complex and sensitive interactions. Skilled agents will always be essential for delivering empathy and understanding in emotional or high-stakes conversations.

AI’s continued evolution will uncover deeper customer insights, support predictive analytics, and refine training tools. AI will support contact centres to deliver exceptional service and stay agile in a competitive market.

See AI’s transformative power in action with MaxContact’s leading contact centre software. Book a demo today.

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How can contact centre teams move with the times and improve contact strategies to push their results to the next level?

In a recent webinar session, Sean McIver, Product Owner at MaxContact, poses this question to two expert guests – Martin Teasdale, Founder of The Team Leader Community and the GOOW Podcast, and Beverley Hughes, Director of Mullard Associates.

They discuss how to improve contact rates in the modern day, why making small changes could be more effective than wholescale transitions and how technology and the pandemic have changed the face of the industry.  

Keep reading for the top takeaways, or tune into the webinar below.

What does customer contact strategy mean?

Your customer contact strategy is made up of every mechanism, decision and process that influences how customers are contacted.  

It’s the way you interact with customers, the way they interact with you and everything that makes up your approach.

What impacts contact strategies?

MaxContact’s Duty of Care Gap study found that 83% of contact centre workers say work is taking a toll on their mental wellbeing.  

Beverley explains that some of this stress is caused by the fact that customers have two priorities – speed and accuracy.

Martin adds that, in the past, agents who struggled with the stresses of the job would leave. But he thinks it’s essential to consider how you can make the pressure lighter.

Sean tells us 75% of people leaving customer contact centres say they’d be more likely to stay long-term if their employer implemented a more innovative approach to mental health. Things like talking more openly about agent wellbeing processes, giving everybody a seat at the table and aligning processes to work towards common goals.

How to drive continuous improvement in contact strategies today

As the customer contact landscape changes, so does the way we approach it. Martin highlights that traditional call scheduling is a thing of the past.

Here are a few ways things have changed and how they impact the industry:

The pandemic

COVID-19 has resulted in millions of people working from home. Martin explains that this disruption has “wiped the page clean”, leaving teams able to contact customers at many more points throughout the day.

On-demand

Traditionally, contact teams would plan to avoid calling customers during hotly-anticipated television events or the times when their demographic is most likely to be watching their favourite programmes.  

But nowadays, on-demand services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and catch-up TV mean people aren’t all watching at the same time. Again, this gives teams wider windows to get in touch.

Despite things seeming clearer in the past, many decisions to contact customers based on these factors were formed on generalisations. Today, we are presented with a new opportunity to discover more about our customers and make informed decisions to improve contact strategies.  

Martin also suggests the excess of choice customers have can mean they miss out on the best services for them. It’s vital to inform customers about the add-on services and options that could improve their experiences further.

Improving contact rates

We’ve discussed how we can improve contact strategies, but how can we increase contact rates themselves?

Beverley says it always comes down to one thing – listening to customers. Talk to the people in your team who speak directly to customers and ask for their opinions and suggestions for change.

Martin also put forward the ‘marginal gains’ theory, popularised by cycling coach Sir Dave Brailsford. The theory suggests it’s more constructive to strive towards improving something 1% at a time, rather than aiming for a huge increase in performance.

Goals need to be put in place, but a degree of realism is crucial.  

Host Sean points out that: “If every single outbound contact was in a position to have a full and complete conversation, you probably wouldn’t get through all of your data.”

Can too much change be a bad thing?

Change is often a positive thing, and it’s crucial if you want to continue performing highly.

However, as Martin says: “If you do too much, you can’t determine what’s working and what’s not.” It’s wonderful to have great ideas, but you then need to work through them in the right order.

With each change you make, however big or small, you need:

• A strong reason why it should be made
• A clear outcome to work towards
• A plan for how it’s going to be done

With these in place, put the changes in motion and if something doesn’t work don’t be afraid to remove it or review it or retract it. This is not always easy to do, because often in this industry we can be so committed to change that we want it implemented no matter what. However, if it’s not delivering the output you need it to deliver and if it’s at the detriment to your customers or your staff, it needs to be looked at.

As Beverley says,change has to be led from the top in terms of what the objective is for the business, but keep that communication two way. Test in small ways. Test and learn.

To discover more top tips on harnessing innovation to improve contact strategies, watch the full webinar.

Elevating Customer Experiences: MaxContact’s New Funding Boosts AI-Technology Advancements for Enhanced Customer Interactions.

Manchester-based customer engagement technology provider MaxContact announced it has secured funding to accelerate a new phase of innovation and growth.  

MaxContact, which private equity firm FPE Capital has backed since October 2020, has worked to secure additional investment to accelerate further development in AI technology and scale the UK-based team from 65 to over 100 by 2025.

Ben Booth, CEO at MaxContact, reflects on the journey, “Having dedicated years to the contact centre and customer engagement industry, we’re incredibly proud of the business we’re building. This investment supercharges our mission to give businesses a platform that makes work-life easier for them and their contact centre or customer engagement teams.”

MaxContact’s vision includes expanding its in-house team, with a key emphasis on scaling the software engineering function and operations teams to enhance customer success. It also plans to accelerate its product roadmap and the delivery of cutting-edge AI-driven technology to its customers while ensuring it delivers a best-in-class service for its valued customer base.

“Over the past six years, we’ve built a robust contact centre customer engagement (CCaaS) platform that serves thousands of users every minute of every day. It means we’ve not only got a wealth of experience in this space, but we can analyse large volumes of call and message data to develop AI tools that help to drive efficiency and ensure companies communicate compliantly with customers, simply and easily.  

One of the biggest challenges for many companies is increased customer demand. Our solutions will help businesses manage this demand more efficiently and reduce repetitive work landing in the lap of skilled agents.”

MaxContact has worked alongside FPE Capital and NatWest to secure this investment.

Kit Maclaren, Director, Corporate Banking & Structured Finance from Natwest, says “We are delighted to have been able to structure this growth finance facility for MaxContact, supporting MaxContact’s management team and FPE Capital as they continue their strong growth in the CCaaS market. This financing facility was delivered through our unique Venture and Growth Finance fund and reflects NatWest’s dedication to supporting high-growth, innovative scale-up businesses. We aim to continue working alongside SME businesses such as MaxContact, which form the heart of the UK economy, driving innovation and job creation.”  

About MaxContact

MaxContact is a customer engagement technology company with a difference. It was founded in 2015 by a group of contact centre professionals who had become frustrated with providers that over promised and under delivered on features, support and resilience. It’s now one of the fastest growing contact centre software specialists in the UK. MaxContact has been ranked one of the top 50 fastest growing technology companies in the North by the Northern Tech Awards consecutively from 2021-2023 and in 2022 received the IT Vendor of the Year Award from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and Computing Magazine.

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Leading debt recovery solutions provider, Marston Holdings, chooses MaxContact software to support on business expansion plans.

Manchester – 25th July 2023 – Manchester-based customer engagement technology provider MaxContact today announced its partnership with Marston Holdings, a leading solutions provider in corporate debt recovery.

Marston Holdings has been operating for almost 40 years, growing both organically and through acquisitions providing integrated technology-enabled solutions for private and commercial clients. They work in various public services aiding customers in debt recovery, parking fines, court orders as well as commercial debt, now recovering up to £850m each year on behalf of taxpayers.

As a fast-growing business, Marston Holdings wanted to improve the agility and technical capabilities of its outbound dialler, which wasn’t able to match their need to scale. After an extensive procurement process, Marston Holdings selected MaxContact’s outbound dialler as a more efficient and comprehensive solution for their needs across 285 full omnichannel diallers. The software will be also integrated with Marston’s workforce management and back-office CRMs and PBX.

Marston Holdings is implementing the MaxContact solution companywide across all of its brands,  as the company continues to grow. The company also plans to implement new features based on MaxContact’s commitment to continual product development, including AI chatbot functionality.  

Tim Van Oerle, Group Managing Director at Marston Holdings, said “As a fast-growing business we need technology that can be agile and scale with our expansion. MaxContact has been fantastic at understanding these needs and providing personalised support every step of the way, and we look forward to enhancing the services for our team and for our clients and customers.”

Ben Booth, CEO at MaxContact, said “We are really excited to be partnering with the team at Marston Holdings. We pride ourselves on providing personalised service and agile technology to businesses across the UK and can’t wait to support Marston Holdings on their meteoric growth journey.”

About MaxContact

MaxContact is a customer engagement technology company with a difference. It was founded in 2015 by a group of contact centre professionals who had become frustrated with providers that over promised and under delivered on features, support and resilience. It’s now one of the fastest growing contact centre specialists in the UK with a 97% CSAT rating and over 100 customers. The company was ranked one of the top 50 fastest growing technology companies in the North by the Northern Tech Awards in 2021 and 2022 and has recently received the IT Vendor of the Year Award from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and Computing Magazine.

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Need to reduce costs, but don’t want to sacrifice customer or employee experience? This is a very real situation that so many contact centre leaders are currently facing.  

Following the pandemic, prices are rising, there’s an energy crisis, a cost-of-living crisis, and the great resignation on top. Regardless of industry type, everyone has been affected in some way.  

In this webinar, MaxContact’s Product Owner, Sean McIver and CEO Ben Booth, combine more than 30 years of experience working in or alongside contact centres to provide actionable tips and strategies for making cost-saving changes.  

They answer the most pressing questions from contact centre leaders across all industries, provide practical ways to make cost-saving changes, suggest how to utilise technology to streamline operations and more.  

Keep reading for the top takeaways from our discussion or tune in to the full video.

Doing more with less  

The global business landscape has witnessed a steady increase in costs. This upward trend is particularly prominent in the technology and development industry, and as a software company, MaxContact has experienced this first-hand.  

In addition to rising costs, businesses are being asked to do more with fewer resources. The pandemic further compounded this by altering work dynamics across contact centres, resulting in a surge in customer interactions and a decline in available staff.  

During the pandemic, many organisations saw a drop in staffing numbers, while at the same time experienced an increase in customer interactions. The work-from-home model enabled people to address issues and seek assistance without waiting until their workday concluded or setting aside an admin day.  

As a result, the influx of customer enquiries rose, presenting contact centres with the challenge of meeting a far higher demand with a far smaller number of employees. And this hasn’t gone away, says Ben, and it won’t go away. That’s why it’s important to find the best solution going forward.  

Sean emphasises that within the contact centre industry, there are certain demographics that have been affected more than others. For example, those in the BPO (business process outsourcing) space have had to deliver on their own metrics as well as deliver the client requirements, which can be massively varied.  

Ways to reduce costs

Reducing costs is one thing, but how can you do it without impacting the employee and the customer experience?

To explain this, let’s break it down into three pillars: people, technology and data.  

People

Pre-pandemic, Ben explains, agents were often treated as commodities, resulting in high attrition rates. However, the staffing crisis prompted a shift towards recognising the importance of employee engagement and motivation within contact centres.  

It became clear that factors beyond monetary compensation – such as understanding your value to the business, aligning with company goals, and career progression – were instrumental in retaining talent.  

By recognising and addressing these factors, contact centres can foster a motivated and committed workforce.  

However, in order to address the challenges associated with rising staff costs, contact centres need to prioritise sustainable growth.  

It’s important to involve the entire organisation in setting the goals for this, from staff on the ground to those at the top. Engaging with frontline staff and seeking insights on process improvement and pain points can lead to valuable innovations. And while some won’t work, says Ben, some will and could have a lasting positive impact on the company.  

There’s still much to do in this space, says Sean, but the migration of staff from commodity to asset is critically important.

Technology

Ben doesn’t know an industry that has embraced modern technology as much as the contact centre space. But most systems offer more capabilities than many realise. To maximise value, lean on your vendors and get their advice on ways to get more value from the contact centre software you’re using, and embrace cutting-edge technologies, such as real-time agent assistance.  

Agent-assist is AI-powered software that provides suggestions to agents while they are in conversation with a customer. These transcriptions add enormous value as they help people deal with more complex calls faster and can improve training time. However, Ben is wary of scripted responses, as he feels this can demotivate agents.  

Sean emphasises how important it is to leverage the tools at your disposal to keep costs down. For example, ask yourself: how effective is your IVR? Make sure it is as slick as possible and that scripting tools provide agents with the right information at the right time to reduce callbacks.  

Data

Always keep an eye on the data.  

• Why are people contacting you?
• What for?
• What training is required?  

Also, try to engage more with your long-standing staff. Sean explains how those who have been with you for a while will have a range of shortcuts, cheats, and quick wins that you might not know about, or that haven’t been formalised. Centralise that knowledge to help other staff members streamline processes.  

This will also make your long-standing staff feel valued.  

Also, lean on your providers. If you have a challenge, take that challenge to them and ask what you should do, says Sean. The data that comes from these types of exchanges provide valuable information that can speak to a bigger issue in the industry that needs to be addressed.

To learn more about ways to reduce costs without negatively impacting the employee or customer experience, tune in to the full webinar.

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Technology can be scary.

The complexity, the cost, the pace at which it evolves.

For businesses, there is a lot riding on it. Everything from day-to-day operations to strategic future planning depends upon the right hardware, the right software, and the right management.

In the contact centre space in particular, technology has had to respond to seismic changes in the way the world communicates. There are now myriad ways for people to interact with the enterprises and organisations from which they purchase a product or consume a service. In addition, those interactions are no longer confined to certain days or times but occur 24/7.

Focus on the long-term benefits of CCaaS

Today’s cloud-powered contact centre functionality can simplify everything but, for many enterprises, the fear of getting started often means they sit on their hands; thus foregoing the multiple and immediate benefits of taking the plunge.

However, as is so often the case, partnering with the right technology provider can allay those fears: ensuring a smooth and game-changing next step on the digital transformation journey.

“Companies considering contact centre technology are clear about the benefits it brings but indecisive about the actual change – that’s why, for us, the conversation should be less about the actual sale and more about the difference it can make long term,” says Ben Booth, CEO at leading UK-based CCaaS provider MaxContact, whose transparent, plain-speaking approach is helping business leaders everywhere to overcome their nervousness.

“Contact centres are becoming incredibly complex. They are now omni-channel and produce large amounts of data capable of informing a business on the efficiencies of its workflows and how to improve the communication experience.

Choosing the right CCaaS provider is key

“Companies need a partner able to educate them and be alongside them every step of the way. Of course, it is the product which enables the new functionality, but the provider/customer relationship is easily as influential when it comes to return on investment.”

Not that the market is all about enterprises for whom a contact centre is a brand new addition to their stack.

Businesses looking to switch or upgrade existing solutions, and larger enterprises for whom acquisition has increased current contact centre complexity, make up a large portion of the opportunity.

In those cases, picking the right provider is perhaps even more key.

Don’t let fear hold you back

“We have been discussing options with a potential client with 160 sites resulting from a series of acquisitions,” says Booth.  

“They now have seven or eight different contact centre systems and want to move to just one. Understandably, there is some trepidation because the project is complex. Our strategy is to ensure that the same people from our business work from the outset and throughout with the same people from the customer’s business. That enables us to really understand that business and its needs. Having that level of consistency gives our customers confidence that the partnership will thrive which, in turn, alleviates some of that trepidation.”

“We take it very seriously because we know we have the potential to impact people’s lives, wages and careers. For us, the relationship is not all about the sale and the revenue. For us, it’s about the entire digital transformation journey and the long-term depth of the partnership.”

Pace and scale of deployment are also significant influencers on the fear factor.

Some organisations have complex contact centre needs which they need to address quickly. Others want to start small and go slowly. Again, a provider partner with the kind of culture and delivery model that plays well in both those scenarios can take the stress out of the process.

Additionally, in the case of MaxContact, a deep level of experience in verticals such as financial services and utilities means extra levels of confidence can be instilled in potential new customers from those sectors.    

“When we start any new conversation, we are normally very quickly discussing the challenges that we know the organisation is facing,” says Booth.

“That’s because we have specialist knowledge and a great deal of experience. Suddenly, where there was fear, trepidation and nervousness, there can be confidence and excitement.”

This blog was written by Simon Wright, journalist for CX Today, for cxtoday.com. View the original piece here.

Ready to find out more about partnering with MaxContact for your contact centre solution? Book a demo today.