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The first part of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new Consumer Duty legislation came into force on 31 July 2023. All regulated financial sector firms – insurers, lenders, banks, DCAs and more – now have to abide by its rules.

What is the FCA’s Consumer Duty?

So what is the Consumer Duty and what are its rules? In short, the Duty aims to enhance consumer protection as people buy and use financial products.

The new regulations are based on three core principles:

• Consumers should receive products and services that meet their needs and are marketed in a way that is clear, fair, and not misleading.

• Consumers should not face unreasonable barriers when they try to access financial products and services or exercise their rights.

• Consumers should receive products and services that are designed to meet their needs throughout their lifetime and are delivered fairly, taking account of their changing circumstances.

The FCA has also laid out three rules which underpin these principles. Financial services companies should:

• Act in good faith
• Avoid causing foreseeable harm
• Enable and support retail customers to achieve their financial objectives

In a recent speech, Sheldon Mills, Executive Director for Consumers and Competition at the FCA, said: “The common thread, the thing we are interested in above all else in our work, is reducing harm to consumers and ensuring firms deliver good outcomes for consumers.”

When does the FCA’s Consumer Duty come into force?

The new rules are being implemented in two stages. The rules coming into force at the end of July 2023 are for new and existing products or services that are open to sale or renewal.

For closed products or services, the rules come into force a year later, on 31 July 2024.

How will Consumer Duty impact your contact centre teams?

As the first point of contact with customers, it’s essential that contact centre teams are aware of the new rules and what they mean.

Contact centre leaders have to make sure teams are providing a high level of support, and are interacting with consumers in a way that promotes fair treatment, positive customer outcomes and increased transparency.

But what does that mean in practice? Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what the new legislation means for contact centre teams in the financial services sector.

Products and services

New and existing products will have to meet the goals of transparency and good outcomes for consumers.  

The FCA has made it clear that the new Duty is not one-size-fits-all. Companies must use the principles to make changes as they see fit.  

In terms of products and services, that could mean analysing product portfolios and prioritising improvements for those items with the greatest risk of consumer harm.    

It may mean putting new data gathering or governance policies into place to ensure all products and services meet higher standards.  

These are not roles for the contact centre, but contact centres will be in the position of having to explain any changes to consumers, and to make sure consumers understand the products and services they are buying. Clear communication is key to Consumer Duty compliance.

Price and value

Are products and services delivering value? This calculation certainly involves price but can also include non-price value. For example, does the product or service deliver on its promises, and what is the outcome for consumers?

To meet the principles of the Duty some firms are implementing full value chain analysis, while others are working to make sure consumers face no hidden costs or unexpected charges.  

Effectively, companies in the sector need to ensure that there is a “reasonable relationship” between costs and benefits to meet Duty requirements. Pricing structures may need to change. The idea of “fair value” needs to be applied to all consumer groups, including vulnerable or protected customers.

Again, the contact centre has a key role to play, in gathering information, identifying different consumer groups and helping to make sure consumers are satisfied with products and services they are paying for.

Consumer understanding

The FCA Consumer Duty rules are clear that consumers need to understand what they are paying for and how it impacts their financial situation.

Firms need to ensure that customers have the information they need, presented in a clear and understandable way, to make informed decisions.

In practice, that might mean using simple language in product descriptions, or providing content in more than one language. It might mean having terms and conditions, including cancellation rights and how to make a complaint, clearly laid out on the company website.

Some companies will need to create new communication strategies, taking into account those who may find traditional channels difficult to access. Communications should be tested for clarity and ease of understanding. A tailored communications approach may be necessary for more complex products.

In some cases, it may be advisable to put metrics in place for measuring consumer understanding. One such might be whether customers take an expected action after being contacted with relevant information.

Clearly, contact centres have a large role to play here. Consumers often contact financial sector firms because they want clarity on a particular product or service. Contact centre leaders might consider writing new scripts, specifically with the aim of aiding greater consumer understanding in mind.

Consumer support

Consumer support typically happens through the contact centre, which needs to make sure agents interact with customers efficiently and with clarity. To that end, firms might work to reduce call waiting times, and put call monitoring in place so they can analyse the quality of agent/customer interactions.

Customer journeys may need to be improved, and customers should be offered communication channels of their choice. Omnichannel support – email, text, chat, as well as voice call – is likely to create better customer outcomes.

Again, meeting Consumer Duty requirements is likely to involve tailoring support journeys for vulnerable customers and more complex cases.

Measuring the success of new support strategies will be essential, including monitoring contact centre metrics like first contact resolution rates and call waiting times. Companies should also monitor the complaints they receive, looking for trends or patterns that suggest systemic issues.

How your contact centre needs to adapt  

Enhancing customer journeys and outcomes

• Empathy and customer-centricity

Contact centre teams need to be aware of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles and apply them whenever relevant. Agents should also be trained to identify vulnerable customers and provide appropriate support.  

It’s important that agents prioritise empathy and active listening so they can properly understand customer needs. Training should focus on effective communication techniques to improve consumer understanding.

• Transparency and clear information

Contact centre teams should always provide clear and accurate information using plain language and avoiding jargon. This should include transparency around pricing, fees and any risks associated with a product or service. Make sure your scripts reflect these requirements. Be prepared to edit and update scripting whenever products or advice changes or in response to customer feedback.

Improving complaints handling

Consumer Duty requires firms to have effective complaints-handling procedures in place.

1. Handle complaints better:

• Establish efficient and effective complaints handling procedures.  
• Train agents to handle complaints promptly, with empathy, and in line with regulations.

2. Learn from complaints:

• Analyse complaints to identify recurring issues and take proactive steps to address them.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement by sharing insights from complaints across the organisation.
• Think about using speech analytics to monitor customer interactions and identify areas for improvement.

Monitoring and quality assurance

Create robust monitoring processes

You will only know that your contact centre is complying with new FCA Consumer Duty rules by putting robust monitoring systems in place.

That means measuring call centre performance and analysing complaints. It also involves regular agent reviews, audits of customer interactions and performance reviews.

Training and development

Your agent training and development programmes should highlight the FCA Consumer Duty rules, continually reinforce key messages and update agent knowledge as the rules and practice evolve.

A cultural shift

Firms can’t adapt to the new FCA Consumer Duty rules in an ad hoc or piecemeal way. To remain compliant, many financial service sector companies will have to undergo a cultural shift. From top to bottom, everyone in the organisation must understand and prioritise a new focus on customer protection and positive outcomes.

Fundamentally, the new FCA rules are about providing exceptional customer service. Consumers should have clear information about the products and services they want to buy. They should have all the support they need to make sure those products and services achieve expected outcomes. And when there are problems, companies need to take any complaints seriously and find solutions swiftly.

The FCA hopes and expects that its new Consumer Duty will benefit consumers, and also the industry as a whole. As Sheldon Mills said: “If applied correctly, the Duty should help firms retain and attract customers and will enhance the competitiveness of our financial services sector.”

More information

If you need more guidance on the Consumer Duty and what it means for you, there are lots of resources on the FCA website.  

An overview of key publications.

Consumer Duty implementation plans.

The Consumer Duty policy statement.

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Which is the best dialling mode? There isn’t a simple answer, because it depends on the use case. The right dialling mode is the one that best meets the requirements of a particular campaign or customer demographic.

A dialler is simply a piece of software that automatically places calls to customers, but it can do that at different speeds and in different ways. The best way isn’t set because it changes depending on why and who you are calling. Ideally, your outbound dialleranswe will offer three modes which you can switch between as circumstances dictate.

For an overview of diallers, read our blog: Demystifying diallers – what they are and how they operate

Three dialler modes

The three main dialler modes are predictive, progressive and preview dialling. Ultimately, they all place calls automatically, so your agents don’t have to waste time dialling numbers or waiting for connections.

And they all share various features that help call centres operate efficiently. For example, they all offer call back management services, so customers who don’t answer or who do but can’t talk at that time are administered appropriately. At the same time, good call back management will ensure no customer gets called more frequently than regulations allow.

Good diallers in all modes will also recognise when calls are answered by answer machines and take appropriate action (such as leaving a pre-prepared message), without agents having to become involved in the call – this is called Answer Machine Detection (AMD).

In fact, the three modes share many similarities. But their differences are fundamental, and make each more suited to certain types of call and campaign. We explain the differences and their use cases below.

Predictive dialling

Predictive dialling is perhaps the ‘classic’ outbound call centre dialling mode, helping agents work through large databases of numbers, often as part of a mass market sales campaign.

How does predictive dialling work?

Predictive mode dials multiple numbers at the same time, and then matches answered calls to available agents. You can adjust the rate at which the dialler places calls, but speed and efficiency are of the essence with predictive dialling.

What are the benefits of predictive dialling?

Predictive dialling uses a sophisticated algorithm to estimate the number of calls that are likely to be answered and the number that are likely to ring off or connect to answering machines. It continually adjusts the rate of dialling as the algorithm gathers more information. Because a percentage of calls won’t be answered, it dials multiple numbers at the same time, ensuring agents spend as much time as possible talking to customers. It is the most intensive dialling mode but also the most efficient.

Who uses predictive dialling?

Predictive dialling is the gold standard for straightforward, high volume sales campaigns. It can quickly and efficiently work through large datasets, making sure leads are contacted while they’re still warm. Predictive dialling is about making every call count, and ensuring agents are always doing what they do best – talking to customers and leads.

Progressive dialling

Progressive diallers are auto diallers that only dial a number when an agent is available to take the call.

How does progressive dialling work?

Instead of calling multiple numbers at the same time, the system only calls the next number when the previous one is finished, or the agent indicates they are ready for the next call. Dialling is instant and automatic at that point, reducing wait time between calls.

What are the benefits of progressive dialling?

By slowing the pace down a little, the system still allows for a relatively high number of calls, but also eliminates the risk of customers abandoning calls or waiting a frustratingly long time before being connected to an agent. With progressive dialling, there is always an agent free to talk when a call is answered. That’s not always the case with predictive dialling, when customers may have to wait before being connected to an available agent.

Who uses progressive dialling?

Progressive dialling is often used in more targeted sales campaigns, or those involving higher value goods or services. Smaller, more focused data sets mean cost per call pressures are not so severe, and having an agent available when calls are answered is of paramount importance. After sales service teams may also prefer progressive dialling.

Preview dialling

Preview dialling automates call placing but only after agents have had time to gather and absorb information about the call recipient.

How does preview dialling work?

When an agent indicates availability, information about the next call is sent to the agent for preview. After a set amount of time the number is automatically dialled. The purpose of this delay is to let the agent prepare for the call, using information typically taken from the company CRM system.

What are the benefits of preview dialling?

The benefits of preview dialling are the time agents are allowed to prepare for a call. They can review all previous contacts with a customer and any other information stored on the firm’s CRM system. That stops customers having to repeat information they’ve already given and also leads to more personalised conversations.

Who uses preview dialling?

Preview diallers are particularly helpful when the reason for the call is complex or sensitive. That could be a debt resolution call, or a call responding to a customer complaint. Agents get to rehearse answers and tighten scripts before the call is connected.

Choosing the best dialling mode for your call centre

So which dialling mode is best for your call centre? Ideally, your system will allow you to switch between all three, but here are the questions to ask before choosing the right one at any given time.

Which dialler mode is best for cold calling?

It depends on the data set and what is being sold. For commodities and utilities, predictive dialling that can speed through large data sets efficiently is usually the best option. For higher value or B2B sales, progressive dialling may be preferable.

Which is the fastest dialling mode?

Predictive dialling is the fastest mode, because it calls more numbers than agents and connects agents as soon as they become available.

Which is the best dialler for current customer campaigns?

Progressive dialling is a low risk option that can improve customer experience, help nurture loyalty and effectively help agents upsell additional products and services. Because an agent is always available to have a conversation, the customers you have painstakingly nurtured over a period of time feel valued.

If we deal with more complicated calls or B2B campaigns, which dialling mode would be best?

In these instances you need to slow the pace of calls down and ensure agents are well informed about the reasons for the call or the product or service being sold. We’d recommend preview dialling for these types of calls.

My team deals with high-volume sales campaigns so which dialling mode should we use?

Predictive dialling will allow your team to get through a lot of calls in a short space of time, while keeping cost per call rates at a minimum.

Which dialling mode would help us maximise efficiency? It’s a key aim for our business

That depends on the circumstances. Predictive dialling places the most calls. But call speed efficiency counts for nothing if valued customers require a more personalised service, in which case an efficient call centre might be one that uses progressive or preview dialling. Take this on a case by case basis.

We’re looking for a dialler/dialling mode that will reduce the chance of dropping outbound calls. Which would be the most appropriate option for us?

MaxContact is your friend here. Our sophisticated customer engagement solution will keep dropped calls to an absolute minimum (in fact, close to zero), while helping you remain compliant.  

The verdict

The right dialler mode depends on the reason for the call and who you are calling. Predictive dialling works efficiently through large cold call data sets, progressive dialling reduces the risk of dropped calls and preview dialling allows for more personalised conversations. Each has huge advantages over manual dialling, but call centres must choose the balance of speed, preparedness and personalisation that best suits their needs.

Get more information on MaxContact’s feature packed dialler.

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Every customer communication with your organisation produces data. Over the course of an hour, day, week, month or year, that can amount to thousands of pieces of potentially useful information. But it’s only useful if you can capture and analyse it. That’s the role of contact centre analytics.

Understanding contact centre analytics

What is contact centre analytics? Think of all the pieces of data thrown up by customer communications. At one end, that can mean simple metrics like the number of interactions your contact centre has with customers on a given day. At the other, it can be complex statistics on call waiting times or how long agents actually spend speaking on the phone.

Analytics can look at all this, mining it for patterns and insight. It can show how productive your agents are, how smooth your customer journey is, or how your outbound campaign is performing.

It’s easy to see how that can help support your contact centre. Analytics can give you a good idea of performance by comparing real time statistics with historical equivalents or industry averages. It can show where bottlenecks occur in inbound customer journeys. It can predict whether your outbound campaign will meet its calling targets.

When you have that information, you can start to properly measure and improve what you do.

Data Analytics: Essential for call centre success

Improved customer experience

The first thing that data analytics can do is improve the experience of customers. It does so by measuring how long customers have to wait in queues, how long they are kept on hold, or how many attempts they make before connecting to an agent. When you have that information, you know which areas require improvement. You can segment data and tailor journeys for every customer group.

Identify customer needs in real time

With analytics, you can create dashboards that show you exactly what’s happening in your contact centre at any given moment, and then act accordingly. For example, if customers are queuing for too long, you might temporarily divert agents from an outbound campaign to relieve inbound bottlenecks. If they’re spending too long on hold during agent interactions, that might suggest gaps in agent knowledge that require additional training.

Resolve customer queries quickly

In the longer term, analytics can help resolve customer queries quickly by using intelligent workforce management to ensure you have optimum staffing levels on every shift. They can also help identify weaknesses in your processes that lead to customer frustration and call abandonment. Analytics can help you design customer journeys that get customers to where they need to be more quickly.

Enhanced operational efficiency

How does analytics make contact centres more efficient? In the short term, it lets you allocate resources more optimally. In the longer term, it helps you identify gaps and bottlenecks and take remedial action.

Real-time monitoring

Create dashboards that show important metrics in real time. That might be how long it takes to answer incoming calls, or how long agents are spending on each interaction. It could be a multitude of other things, depending on what you do and what your priorities are.

If needs be, you can then share dashboards to a big screen, creating wallboards for the entire contact centre to see. Let your teams see in real time how they are performing against daily targets, or encourage some healthy competition with a sales leader board.  

Improved resource allocation

Analytics can also be used to ensure you always have the optimal number of agents per shift, creating the right balance between customer service and cost. Statistical analysis can draw on mountains of historical data to help you meet goals.

Better decision making

All of these features of analytics come together to help you make better decisions.

Improved data-driven decision making

Scores of data points can be amalgamated to produce detailed management reports. These can be standard or bespoke, and give a bird’s eye view of the performance of agents, campaigns, customer journeys and your contact centre as a whole. When you have this data you can use it to make more strategic decisions, based on real evidence. That might be to invest in training, increase (or reduce) staffing, implement secure payments to save agent time, or a hundred other possible innovations.

Improved understanding of customer behaviour and preferences

Data can even help you get inside the minds of customers, in a way. Speech analytics trawls huge amounts of data to find both real-time and historical patterns concerning conversations, sentiment and productivity. It can give you a feel for what customers are thinking, by analysing the words they use, the time they spend on the phone and so on. It can help you identify problems before they result in customers moving elsewhere.

3 things to consider before you implement analytics

Not all analytics are the same. Here are three things to consider so you get the right system for your needs.

Assess current contact centre operations

Assess what you do now, so you know what you need to measure and how to measure it. Is it mainly inbound, outbound or a mix? Is it mainly customer service, payments or sales campaigns? Think about what you do, where you see perceived weaknesses and how analytics might be able to help.

Identify the right tools and solutions for analytics

Then think about the analytics tools that could help you be better. There are many standard metrics like average handling times and call waiting times. But do you need to go deeper, with speech analytics or intelligent workforce management? Do you need customised reporting, or will standard templates be good enough? Make sure you explore the right tools for the job.

Ensure data security and privacy

When you’re dealing with customer information, even as part of huge data sets, you have to be lock-tight secure and fully compliant with all data privacy regulations. Make sure your chosen system has the certifications to back up any claims.

Best practices for contact centre analytics

How do you get the most from contact centre analytics? Here are four best-practice tips.

• • Regular monitoring and review of data

If you’re gathering all that valuable data, make sure you use it. Put processes in place to ensure regular monitoring and reviews and organise frequent sessions that explore what the data is saying.

• • Provide training and support for agents

If analytics identifies weaknesses in agent knowledge or approach, close those gaps with proper training or one-to-one sessions with team leaders. Give agents what they need to get better, and see your call centre metrics improve over time.

• • Continuous improvement and optimisation of analytics

The more you use analytics, the more useful it becomes. Add data points over time or create bespoke reports that better meet your business needs.

• • Implement a data-driven culture

When you have experience in analytics, use it throughout your organisation. Data-driven insight can help with agent productivity and career progression, campaign design, refining customer journeys, and making strategic investment decisions. They say data is the new oil. Use it to power your business from top to bottom.

Maximise Your Customer Insights

Data is powerful. So much so that it’s almost impossible to think of a major business that isn’t trying to harness the power of data to improve outcomes.

Modern contact centres have to consider data and the analytics tools that can gather and interpret that information, because your competitors will. Data gives you invaluable insight into customer sentiment, agent productivity, campaign performance and much more.

The best analytics platforms will provide all the insight you need to improve the contact centre experience for agents and customers, and present it in a way that is easy to understand and action. Analytics is an essential tool for every contact centre that wants to get better and bigger.

Ready to invest in contact centre software with a full analytics suite?

Book a demo today.

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Cloud-based software, also known as software-as-a-service (SaaS), is an application or service that is hosted and delivered over the Internet by third-party providers. Unlike traditional on-premise software, cloud-based software removes the need for businesses to install and maintain applications on their own servers or computers.

Cloud-based software has become hugely popular in recent years, and for good reason. SaaS (Software as a Service) takes away a number of in-house IT headaches, leaving many technology-related challenges in the specialist hands of a third-party vendor. That frees up businesses to get on with their core activities.

That’s true for companies in many sectors, but particularly so for contact centres. Here, cloud-based software can make a significant difference to efficiency, productivity and ultimately the bottom line.

In the rest of this blog, we’ll explain what the benefits are, and how contact centres can take full advantage.

What is a cloud contact centre?

Very simply, a cloud call centre or contact centre makes all the tools and services necessary to run a contact centre available on the internet. Essentially, it’s contact centre software housed in the cloud. The ability to make and take calls, along with other communications channels and a wealth of complementary features, is delivered as a software service that is run by a third-party vendor. Contact centres access the service through an internet connection.

This is a significant shift from traditional analogue telephone technology, which relied on physical hardware and infrastructure maintained on-premises. With analog systems, businesses had to invest in costly equipment, such as private branch exchanges (PBXs), phone lines, and complex wiring setups. These systems were inflexible, difficult to scale, and required dedicated IT resources to manage and maintain.

In contrast, cloud contact centres eliminate the need for expensive on-premises hardware and infrastructure. Through cloud computing, contact centres can access a fully-featured contact centre solution without the high upfront costs and maintenance overhead associated with legacy systems.

Cloud contact centre vs on-premise contact centre

Before cloud-based software, everyone housed their own contact centre solutions in-house within data centres. They owned and managed the hardware and the software. Some businesses still operate in this way, though the trend is heavily towards cloud. Here are some of the differences:

The features of cloud contact centres

One of the advantages of cloud contact centres is the wide range of advanced features they offer, which help contact centres improve operations, boost customer experiences and gain valuable data insights. These features can help to strengthen both inbound and outbound activity.

Let’s take a look at some of them:

1. Workforce Management

Cloud contact centres provide workforce management tools that optimise agent productivity and scheduling processes. Features like skill-based call routing make sure customer interactions are routed to the most qualified agents. In turn, this improves first-call resolution rates and customer satisfaction. Real-time monitoring and analytics also give supervisors better visibility into agent performance. It helps supervisors intervene earlier and provide targeted coaching to their call agents.

2. Customer Engagement

Allowing customers to communicate on their preferred channels is fast becoming an expectation in today’s omnichannel world. Cloud contact centre platforms can facilitate customer engagement away from traditional phone calls. Customer support is offered through self-service options like chatbots and interactive voice response (IVR) systems.

Customers can communicate through multiple channels (voice, email, social media, etc.) and easily transition between them without losing context. This is enabled by intelligent agent routing, which connects customers to agents they have previously spoken with.  

3. Reporting and Analytics

Gaining actionable customer data and insights drives continuous improvement in contact centre operations. Cloud solutions have comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, and can track agent performance metrics, customer satisfaction scores, and other key performance indicators (KPIs). Features like call recording and quality monitoring help identify areas for improvement and inform training programs, ultimately leading to enhanced customer experiences.

4. Speech Analytics

Speech analytics is a powerful tool that gives contact centre managers better insight into call agent performance. With speech analytics software, contact centres can monitor call recordings for quality assurance, ensure compliance with regulations and optimise agent performance through targeted training. This drives improvements across service quality, operational efficiency and customer experience. Cloud-based software’s scalable computing power and storage can handle large volumes of voice data and integration with other data sources.

Seven reasons why cloud contact centre solutions are the better choice

Aside from the wide range of features cloud-based contact centres offer, there are many other reasons why the trend is heavily leaning towards cloud.

1. Scalability: Cloud solutions make it simple to scale up or down. You don’t own the solution, so you just add or remove seats from your licence. It can be done in a couple of mouse clicks, it’s that easy.

2. Flexibility: On premise solutions can expand to include remote or travelling workers, but it’s tricky. By contrast, a cloud solution is available anywhere, anytime, wherever you have an internet connection. It’s made for hybrid work and a new world of flexible working.

3. Enhanced customer experience: Cloud contact centre platforms bring together a multi-channel experience, combining inbound and outbound calls, text, chat, email and more into a complete customer communications solution. At the same time, powerful analytics let you continually refine customer journeys. It all adds up to a more satisfactory customer experience.

4. Increased collaboration: With the right implementation, cloud contact centre software can easily integrate with other systems and processes, sharing data and improving information flows across your organisation. It opens up silos, increases collaboration and leads to better, data-driven decision making.

5. Seamless integrations: Cloud-based solutions make it easier to integrate with other systems due to their API-driven architecture and pre-built integrations, allowing you to link up all of your platforms for a seamless experience.

6. Better data management: Cloud software automatically collects and saves data. Good systems then put powerful analytics tools to work on it, sifting it for valuable insight in the form of customer trends or agent behaviour.

7. Cost savings: On top of it all, cloud can save you money. You lease the service rather than owning it, replacing a variable CapEx cost with a predictable OpEx one. You can also say goodbye to maintenance contracts and emergency engineer call out fees. At the same time, you free up in-house IT for more creative tasks. New features are often provided as part of the contract.

Preparing for a successful implementation

What do you need to consider before switching from an on-premise to a cloud-based contact centre solution? And how do you make sure you’re choosing the best contact centre software solutions for your call centre?

Choosing the right provider

Not all contact centre solution providers are the same. There are significant differences in the quality of their products – particularly dialler algorithms and data analytics – and the variety of features they offer.

Check certifications (especially in regard to security and data privacy), ask who else they work with and request to see the solution in action. Talk to a variety of people – do they understand the needs of contact centres?

Migrating to a cloud contact centre

You need to put a migration strategy in place, to make sure day-to-day operations are not affected by the transition to a new system. Liaise with your vendor and get firm commitments on essential questions: when the switch will happen, how long it will take and what support they offer. Prepare staff well in advance.

Training and support

Talking of staff, make sure agents are fully up to speed with the new system before you let them loose in the wild. Your vendor should offer comprehensive training and support as part of the service. If not, consider another vendor.

Integrating with other technology

One of the main advantages of cloud-based solutions is that they can easily integrate with your other systems and technologies and turn your contact centre into an information powerhouse.

For example, when your contact centre, payments and CRM solutions work together, agents go into calls equipped with a complete summary of customer activity at their fingertips. So always ask: will your new solution work with your established systems? Ask the vendor.

Some, like MaxContact, will create new APIs (the tech that lets digital systems speak to each other) if an existing one is not available. In fact, we add new integrations all the time.

Implementing cloud solutions: the benefits in action

We’ve helped many businesses successfully switch from on-premise to cloud-based contact centre software.

Take ICX, for example, a prominent player in the automotive industry. ICX struggled with frequent glitches, limited functionality, and inadequate support using their on-premises contact centre system. It was impacting their growth and ability to meet clients’ multi-channel needs.

ICX partnered with MaxContact, and we helped to migrate them to our flexible cloud-based contact centre, which offered omnichannel capabilities, easy integration and reliable support.

By migrating to MaxContact’s cloud contact centre solution, ICX has overcome the limitations of their legacy system and gained the agility, scalability, and omnichannel capabilities needed to deliver superior customer experiences and drive sustainable growth.

Thanks to the system’s advanced features and improved reliability, contact rates with decision-makers increased by over 30%, from 7-8 per hour to 11-12 per hour.  

Unlock the potential of a cloud contact centre solution

It really is the era of cloud, and that’s as true in the contact centre as it is in any other area of business. Cloud offers huge advantages in terms of scalability, flexibility, customer experience, collaboration and even cost. It brings new efficiencies and better ways of working. It should be the future of your contact centre.

Ready to harness the power of a cloud contact centre solution for your contact centre? Book a demo today.

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Labour is the single biggest cost for most contact centres, and with agent turnover hovering at around 30%, recruitment and training also eat into already tight margins.

So yes, cutting costs is a logical goal. But it’s not as simple as slashing spend. Every change you make has to be balanced against customer impact.

Why? Because customer expectations have never been greater.

Our Voice of the Consumer 2025 report found that:

• 42% of customers have switched providers after a poor service experience.
• 55% abandon calls because of excessive wait times.

That leaves contact centre leaders with a tough question: how do you reduce costs without damaging the customer experience?  The good news is these two things aren’t always in conflict.

In fact, the very strategies that cut wasted cost, like smarter workforce planning, integrated omnichannel software, and automation, are the same ones that improve customer experience.

1. Turn to omnichannel contact centre software

Running separate systems for phone, email, SMS, and webchat is inefficient and expensive. Multiple vendors mean extra licences, admin headaches, and longer training times. Worse, agents are forced to jump between disconnected systems, which slows them down and leaves customers repeating themselves.

An integrated omnichannel platform removes these barriers. One system, one supplier, one invoice. Agents get the full picture of the customer journey in one place, and customers get a smoother, faster resolution.

This matters because customers don’t stick to one channel. According to our Voice of the Consumer 2025 report, 67% prefer the phone for urgent issues, while 45% prefer email for routine updates. What they really want is the freedom to switch between channels without friction.

Omnichannel makes that possible, and it’s a win-win: lower overheads for you, less frustration for them.

2. Focus on agent training

Well-trained agents are one of the most effective cost-saving assets you can have. They resolve issues faster, make fewer mistakes, and keep customers satisfied. That translates into higher first-call resolution rates and shorter average handling times.

The cost of not training is clear. Our research shows 35% of customers have abandoned a call because the agent didn’t understand their situation. And that’s a failure of training, not technology.

Good training goes beyond scripts. It should focus on listening, empathy, compliance, and giving agents the confidence to handle difficult conversations. A confident agent doesn’t drag out a call unnecessarily, and they build trust, which leads to higher retention and lower repeat contacts.

And don’t underestimate the link between training and retention. Ongoing coaching and feedback improve job satisfaction, reducing the turnover that drives recruitment and training costs sky-high.

The end result is fewer expensive recruitment drives and a more capable, stable workforce that can build trust with customers.

3. Better workforce management

Even if you retain your agents, the next challenge to overcome if you’re looking to reduce costs is utilisation. Overstaff your contact centre, and you’re paying for idle time. Understaff your contact centre, and customers are left waiting, and abandonment rates rise.

That’s where platform features such as Workforce Management (WFM) will help you strike the right balance. WFM allows managers to forecast busy periods, optimise schedules, and monitor performance in real time. That way, you keep service levels high without wasting resources.

AI-driven workforce management tools take this further by learning from historical data. For example, they can predict Monday morning surges or seasonal peaks, so you always have the right number of agents in place.

The result is lower labour costs, smoother service, and happier customers.

4. Reduce call waiting times

Nobody likes to be kept waiting. So it’s no surprise that long waiting times are one of the biggest deal-breakers for customers. 55% abandon calls due to excessive waits, and a further 34% hang up after being transferred multiple times.

However, it’s worth rising to the challenge, as reducing average handling time (AHT) lowers costs by making your call centre more efficient, enabling more interactions to be resolved with the same-sized team of agents.

But the goal here shouldn’t be pressurising agents to rush their connected calls. A rushed interaction will result in missed details, poor compliance, and frustrated customers.

Instead, the goal is to remove wasted time, not valuable conversation. Intelligent call routing, integrated CRM, and access to full customer histories shorten handling times, while still ensuring issues are resolved thoroughly the first time.

It’s also worth noting that not every query needs to be a call. With omnichannel options like webchat, self-service, or automated payment lines, customers can often get what they need instantly, freeing up agents to focus on complex issues where human interaction matters more.

5. Route calls accurately

Call routing is another silent cost driver. Poor routing means customers are bounced between agents, leading to delays, repeat transfers, and frustration. In fact, 34% of customers abandon calls after being transferred multiple times.

Skill-based routing fixes this by matching customers with the right agent the first time. Simple issues can be handled by newer staff or self-service, while complex cases go straight to your experienced team.

The impact is twofold: customers get a faster resolution, and you reduce wasted handling time. Regularly testing and refining your call flows ensures your routing stays aligned with both customer needs and agent skills.

6. Make automation work

AI and automation shouldn’t be used to replace agents. But it can be used to free them up from repetitive, low-value tasks so they can focus on complex conversations where human empathy matters most.

Removing repetitive and low-value work that drives costs up and satisfaction down, is a win-win for customers and agents alike.

AI-powered tools make it possible in a more practical way than traditional automation ever could.

AI Agents can handle routine interactions end-to-end. This includes queries such as:

• Customer authentication requests
• Simple account queries
• Making payments
• Getting status updates.

When fewer calls reach human agents in the first place, less time is spent on tasks that don’t need human judgement or empathy.

AI Chatbots support the same goal but across digital channels. They give customers the instant answers they need to common questions, and a simple way to complete everyday tasks without waiting in a call queue. From a cost perspective, this reduces inbound call volume. And from a customer perspective, it removes friction and frustration.

However, if an interaction does need to move to a human agent, it escalates quickly. The context that’s already been captured is passed through to a live agent. This means that human agents can focus on resolving the issue without having to repeat checks or re-gather information.

This means lower call handling time and better agent utilisation without compromising service quality. AI solutions support an always-on customer support model, allowing contact centres to extend availability without increasing headcount.

With recruitment and training costs already high, not automating these predictable interactions is a direct and avoidable cost.

7. Re-evaluate your technology

Technology is one of the biggest hidden cost centres in a contact operation. Outdated systems, overlapping vendors, and complex licensing drain budgets without delivering value.

That’s why regular reviews of your tech stack are essential. Are you paying for tools that duplicate each other? Are agents wasting time switching systems? Do your licences scale with demand?

Modern platforms should consolidate multiple channels, integrate core features like secure payments and WFM, and scale with your operation.

MaxContact’s omnichannel platform is built to do exactly that: consolidate, streamline, and grow with you, so you can reduce overheads while improving service.

Contact centres can’t afford to ignore rising costs, but neither can they afford to let service slip. The good news is, cost reduction and customer experience don’t have to be at odds.

By optimising your workforce, investing in training, using automation wisely, and rethinking your tech stack, you can cut wasted spend and deliver smoother, more satisfying customer journeys.

That’s how you build a contact centre that’s efficient, resilient, and ready for the future.

Learn how MaxContact’s AI-powered contact centre platform helps reduce costs without compromising CX.

Book a Demo.

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How does your contact centre support potentially vulnerable customers?  

As agents speak with countless people daily, while trying to meet targets and other responsibilities, sometimes it can be tough to give each customer the time and sensitivity they deserve.  

However, there has been an increasing number of vulnerable adults, in part due to the cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic. MaxContact commissioned research on 1,000 customers who identified as vulnerable across the country to find out more about their needs and how contact centre staff could better support them.  

In this webinar session, MaxContact’s Sean McIver speaks with Sandra Thompson, Goleman Emotional Intelligence coach in the UK and Founder of Ei Evolution, and Helen Lord, CEO and Founder of the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS), to explore how contact centres can support vulnerable customers.  

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

Identifying vulnerable customers

How do we define a vulnerable person?  

Unfortunately, there is no one single answer to this. Vulnerability comes in all different shapes and sizes. It could relate to financial vulnerability, recent job loss, age or disability-related issues, mental illness, or bereavement. Any of these things can affect how people make decisions and how much support they need.

When handling sensitive topics in calls, it’s so important that first line staff have some training in how to best respond to and support customers going through tough times.  

As Helen explains, there’s greater recognition of the different aspects of vulnerability these days – especially following the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis we currently face. People are generally more open about things like financial hardship and mental health, which is a positive step.  

However, there’s still a long way to go in Helen’s opinion. There is currently a lot of talk and not enough action.

How businesses have responded to an increase in vulnerable customers

Sandra says that when leaders and staff have a better understanding of compassion and empathy, they can help to keep customers calm and resolve their problems more effectively. Part of that includes being proactive in giving out information so that customers feel like they have more control over their own situation.  

Many organisations are realising this and are doing what they can to train their staff in this way. However, there are still plenty of organisations that don’t do this. As a result, contact centre staff often suffer from burnout, and customers are left feeling like the agents don’t understand them.  

This leads to greater tension between the organisation and the customer, which means that issues take longer to resolve.  

There are two stages of handling customer vulnerability. The first is to identify it, and the second is to think about how we can accommodate it in customer interactions.  

As Helen says, dealing with vulnerability comes down to good customer service first and foremost.  

Beyond that, organisations need to rethink how they map customer journeys because not all customers will experience things the same way.  

For example, those experiencing mental health issues or people who are victims of economic abuse will have an entirely different experience. That’s why it’s important to consider all the different types of customer journeys.  

While you may not be able to map out each individual one, understanding that everyone experiences things differently and taking things on a case-by-case basis will help agents support each customer individually.  

The key to this is emotional intelligence. When agents have greater emotional intelligence, it makes them more empathetic and understanding of each customer’s journey. It also helps to keep agents themselves calm when dealing with emotionally difficult calls with customers.

Three things organisations can do to provide a better service

1 . Create content to support customers

Sandra says that if you have a good understanding of your customers and their needs, you should create content such as videos that help to build that emotional connection.  

Videos with useful advice can help customers feel empowered to tackle their own challenges. This can also reduce the number of customer calls.  

2 . Ensure you have the right statistics  

This means, for example, having a way to see if a customer has called multiple times and keeps getting cut off. If people are discussing emotional issues on a call and they get cut off, it can increase mental stress.  

Having that data keeps agents informed and ready to help customers right away.  

3 . Try something counterintuitive

While many call centres have targets on call handling times, Sandra has a method that might seem a little counterintuitive.  

Instead of trying to speed up the call, simply say “take your time.” When customers are stressed and are scrambling to remember a password, for example, saying “take your time” helps to keep them calm.  

Once they’re calm, they’re more likely to remember a password, and you can resolve the issues much faster. While it might seem like this phrase would increase call time, you might find it does the opposite.  

Protect contact centre staff

Dealing with difficult situations and emotions can take its toll on your agents as well. That’s why it’s so important to think about their wellbeing and mental health as well.

Helen suggests doing what you can to avoid a blame culture. By focusing so much on call times and targets, you just add more stress to the situation. Agents might feel rushed when dealing with sensitive issues, and this can affect customer service.  

Another way you can protect contact centre staff is to ensure they have adequate training to deal with difficult calls. If agents don’t feel prepared, this can increase stress, and that affects the customer’s experience as well. Good training is a win-win for all.  

Sandra shares some more ideas about how you can improve the training side of things.

1 . Don’t forget to check in on your remote staff

It’s important in today’s world to make sure you’re checking in on your remote staff. You can try out tools such as TeamMood, which staff can use to share feedback and let you know if they’re feeling low or stressed.  

Remember, people won’t usually come to tell you this themselves, but a tool can prompt them.

2 . Check-in on team meetings

Before diving into your meeting agenda, have a quick check-in with everyone. Ask how they are and if they give vague answers, dig in further and ask more specific questions.  

Sandra suggests, “what’s the top thing you feel amazing about?” Specific questions can help you understand your staff more easily and spot when something is wrong.  

3 . Invite people to develop their understanding of emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is essential when handling difficult calls and emotional situations. Sandra suggests encouraging your agents to learn more about what it is and how you can improve it via online articles and videos.  

Improve outgoing communication

Incoming communication from customer calls is one thing to think about, but we can also improve any outbound communications as well.

Sandra has three ideas you can try out:

1 . Prepare your customer for calls they’re due to receive

A quick email to let them know to expect a call over the next few days or a check-in can help to prepare customers. That way, they’re not suddenly dealing with a call and trying to figure out their account details. This can just increase stress, so a simple heads-up can go a long way.

2 . Make sure you’re tuned in to responses

Hearing and listening are two different things. When you make those outbound calls, are you really hearing the response the customer is giving? What words are they using? What behaviours are they showing when they receive calls?  

3 . Empower agents

What degree of risk is there for agents who go above and beyond to help individual customers? Are agents empowered to resolve customer issues without passing them on to another member of staff?  

By empowering agents to really help customers, they can feel good about their work and your customers will also get the care they need quickly.  

By increasing openness and understanding – while improving staff training, contact centres can better support their customers.  

To learn more about customer vulnerability and what call centres can do to improve their approach to it, tune in to the full webinar.  

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