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As a contact centre leader, staying on top of regulatory changes is crucial to ensure compliance and a customer-centric approach. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has recently published its Plan of Work for 2024/25, outlining its priorities and projects for the coming year. While the plan covers a wide range of areas, including media and online safety, there are several key points that contact centre leaders should be aware of.

Term Dictionary

This blog uses key terms related to the contact centre industry, as defined by Ofcom guidance. You’ll see these terms throughout the text.

• ADR – Alternative Dispute Resolution: A process where a third party, such as an ombudsman, helps resolve disputes between consumers and companies.
• PSTN – Public Switched Telephone Network: The traditional landline telephone system.
• VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol: A method for making voice calls using an internet connection instead of a traditional phone line.

Consumer protection monitoring and compliance

Ofcom will continue to focus on ensuring that consumer protection interventions and voluntary initiatives are properly implemented and have a positive impact on consumers. This includes considering new customer protections relating to mobile roaming, inadvertent roaming, complaints handling processes, and any new rules relating to inflation-linked in-contract price rises.

For contact centres, this means a continued emphasis on delivering high-quality customer service and support. Ensuring that your teams are well-trained on handling complaints, providing clear information about services and pricing, and assisting customers who may be facing issues with roaming or unexpected charges will be crucial.

Supporting vulnerable customers

Ofcom will continue to monitor whether providers are treating customers in vulnerable circumstances fairly and giving them the support and services they need. They will work with the UK Regulators Network to improve outcomes for vulnerable consumers.

Contact centres play a vital role in identifying and supporting vulnerable customers. It’s essential to provide training to your teams on recognising signs of vulnerability, handling sensitive conversations with empathy, and offering appropriate support and solutions. Regularly reviewing and updating your vulnerability policies and procedures will help ensure you’re meeting Ofcom’s expectations and providing the best possible service to vulnerable customers.

Tackling nuisance calls and scams

Ofcom will work closely with industry, government, and other regulators to make scams harder to perpetrate. They will help consumers avoid scams by raising awareness and improving information, focusing on addressing voice scams while also exploring options to further disrupt the sending of scam messages.

As a contact centre leader, it’s important to be vigilant about potential scams and to have robust processes in place to protect your customers. This may include implementing stringent security measures, providing regular training to your teams on identifying and reporting suspicious activity, and working closely with Ofcom and other relevant authorities to share information and best practices.

Migration from legacy services

Ofcom will work with communication providers and the government to ensure issues raised by the migration to voice-over-IP services (VoIP), including the ongoing switch-off of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), are identified and addressed to protect consumers from harm and minimise disruption.

Contact centres must be prepared for the transition away from legacy systems and ensure that their technology and processes are up to date. This may involve investing in new infrastructure, updating training materials and scripts, and communicating proactively with customers about any changes that may affect them. Working closely with your technology providers and staying informed about Ofcom’s guidance on the migration process will be key to a smooth transition.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) review

Ofcom currently approves two Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes and has commenced a review to assess whether consumers are receiving accessible, fair, and consistent outcomes from the available ADR schemes in the telecoms sector.

Contact centres should be familiar with the ADR schemes available and have processes to escalate complaints to ADR when necessary. Keeping abreast of any changes to the ADR landscape resulting from Ofcom’s review will be important to ensure you’re providing the best possible support to customers who may need to pursue ADR.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on delivering high-quality customer service and support, with well-trained teams capable of handling complaints, providing clear information, and assisting customers with issues such as roaming or unexpected charges.
• Provide training to teams on identifying and supporting vulnerable customers, regularly reviewing and updating vulnerability policies and procedures.
• Implement robust security measures and collaborate with authorities to protect customers from nuisance calls and scams.
• Prepare for the transition from legacy services to VoIP, investing in new infrastructure, updating training materials and scripts, and communicating proactively with customers.
• Stay informed about developments in the ADR landscape to ensure customers receive the best possible support when escalating complaints.

Navigating the evolving regulatory landscape

In conclusion, while Ofcom’s Plan of Work 2024/25 covers a broad range of areas, there are several key points that contact centre leaders should focus on. By prioritising consumer protection, supporting vulnerable customers, tackling scams, preparing for the migration from legacy services, and staying informed about ADR developments, contact centres can ensure they remain compliant with Ofcom’s regulations and continue to deliver excellent customer service.

Staying proactive, adaptable, and customer-focused will be essential as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve. By keeping these priorities in mind and working closely with industry partners and regulators, contact centre leaders can navigate the challenges ahead and seize opportunities to enhance their operations and better serve their customers.

Uncertain about Ofcom regulations? MaxContact can help. Get in touch with our team for expert guidance to ensure your contact centre has compliance peace of mind.

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Have you experienced software regret? You’re not alone.

75% of companies experienced software regret from purchases made over the last 5 years.

At an ‘Afterwork’ community event MaxContact’s CEO Ben Booth delivered an insightful talk on the challenges facing companies when purchasing software and implementing AI in their contact centres.

Drawing from his extensive experience in the industry and his involvement in over 500 contact centre implementations, Ben Booth shares valuable insights and advice for contact centre leaders.

Here are the highlights:

• 📉 75% of companies experience regret from software purchases, costing $29 billion.
• 💻 The SaaS industry is relatively new, leading to disconnects between software capabilities and business needs.
• 🤔 Many companies struggle with indecision in purchasing new technologies, leading to missed opportunities.
• 📊 Many businesses are still in the early majority phase of adopting technologies like AI.

🤖 It’s essential to take a balanced approach to implementing new technologies to avoid negative impacts.

The High Cost of Software Regret

75% of companies experienced software regret from purchases made over the last 5 years, equating to a staggering average cost of $29 billion. This highlights the importance of making informed decisions when selecting and implementing new technologies in the contact centre.

The Gap Between Promise and Reality

One of the primary reasons for software regret is the disconnect between what software can do and how it actually does it. Many solutions promise extensive capabilities but fall short in delivering out-of-the-box functionality. Ben Booth uses Salesforce as an example, noting that it requires significant customisation and ongoing maintenance to meet evolving business needs.

A complex Contact Centre Landscape = Indecision

The current landscape of contact centre technology is complex, with a wide range of options available. This abundance of choice can lead to indecision in the buying process, with many companies opting to do nothing rather than selecting a competitor.

As the industry undergoes a new evolution of technology, particularly with the rise of AI and machine learning, Ben Booth advises contact centre leaders to take a balanced approach to implementation. While there is a fear of missing out on the latest innovations, it’s essential to understand that market adoption takes time. Even with well-established technologies like cloud-based omnichannel solutions, many contact centres have yet to fully implement these capabilities.

As the industry undergoes a new evolution of technology, particularly with the rise of AI and machine learning, Booth advised contact centre leaders to take a balanced approach to implementation. While there is a fear of missing out on the latest innovations, it’s essential to understand that market adoption takes time. Even with well-established technologies like cloud-based omnichannel solutions, many contact centres have yet to fully implement these capabilities.

Unlocking the Value of Technology

Ben Booth stresses the importance of investing in technology that has clear business value and addresses specific pain points or bottlenecks within the contact centre. By unlocking the value of data and understanding where improvements are needed, leaders can make more informed decisions about which technologies to adopt and how to implement them effectively.

Creating a Safe Environment for Experimentation

When introducing new technologies like AI, it’s crucial to create a safe environment for experimentation. Ben Booth recommended explaining the challenges, goals, and vision of the business to staff and involving them in the problem-solving process. This approach can lead to better adoption and buy-in from employees, who may otherwise feel threatened by the prospect of being replaced by automation.

Looking Ahead: What are the Challenges and Considerations?

As Ben Booth talks about the future of the industry, he highlights potential challenges and considerations for contact centres implementing AI and other productivity tools.

These include:

• Vendor price increases: As the market matures, vendors may increase prices for their products and services.
• Data security and compliance: Ensuring data security and compliance is essential when implementing new technologies.
• Evolving features and capabilities: AI and other technologies are constantly evolving, so contact centres need to stay up-to-date on the latest developments.

Ultimately, Ben Booth emphasises the importance of viewing AI as a productivity tool rather than an agent replacement tool. By focusing on how these technologies can enhance the work of contact centre staff and improve overall performance, leaders can navigate the challenges of software purchases and AI implementation more effectively.

In conclusion, Ben Booth’s talk provides valuable insights for contact centre leaders grappling with the complexities of technology adoption.

By taking a balanced, data-driven approach and prioritising clear business value, leaders can avoid the pitfalls of software regret and harness the power of AI and other innovations to drive success in their contact centres.

Join the MaxContact Community to be notified about similar future events.

Creating a safe environment for experimentation is crucial when introducing new technologies like AI. Booth recommended explaining the challenges, goals, and vision of the business to staff and involving them in the problem-solving process. This approach can lead to better adoption and buy-in from employees, who may otherwise feel threatened by the prospect of being replaced by automation.

Looking ahead, Booth highlighted potential challenges and considerations for contact centres implementing AI and other productivity tools. These include the possibility of vendor price increases, the need for guardrails to ensure data security and compliance, and the ongoing evolution of features and capabilities as the technology matures.

Watch the full talk from Ben Booth, CEO of MaxContact:

Ultimately, Booth emphasised the importance of viewing AI as a productivity tool rather than an agent replacement tool. By focusing on how these technologies can enhance the work of contact centre staff and improve overall performance, leaders can navigate the challenges of software purchases and AI implementation more effectively.

In conclusion, Ben Booth’s talk at the Afterwork event provided valuable insights for contact centre leaders grappling with the complexities of technology adoption. By taking a balanced, data-driven approach and prioritising clear business value, leaders can avoid the pitfalls of software regret and harness the power of AI and other innovations to drive success in their contact centres. Join the MaxContact Community to be notified about similar future events.

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We’re thrilled to announce the addition of Conor Bowler to the MaxContact team as our Principal Product Manager. With 16 years of product leadership experience across diverse technology sectors, Conor brings a wealth of knowledge in contact centre technology, financial technology, and AI-driven solutions.

A Journey Through Technology Innovation

Conor’s career path is marked by an impressive trajectory that began in engineering and development. His experience spans multiple disciplines, including professional services, pre-sales, and channel management. However, his true passion emerged in researching business challenges and collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop lasting solutions.

Throughout his career, Conor has achieved remarkable milestones, including launching a B2B product that attracted over 15,000 clients, securing patents for AI innovations, and successfully turning around products from decline to growth. His experience presenting at major industry events and managing global product portfolios across 40+ countries has given him a comprehensive understanding of the contact centre industry’s diverse needs.

Leading Spokn AI into the Future

At MaxContact, Conor will initially be taking the helm of our Spokn AI product. Spokn AI represents the future of contact centre analytics, enabling businesses to make better decisions by understanding the ‘why’ behind 100% of their contact centre conversations. This sophisticated yet user-friendly solution offers comprehensive topic analytics and sentiment analysis, providing complete clarity on business operations with insights available at the click of a button.

“MaxContact has all the ingredients for success – the people, the expertise, the vision, the empathy, and the drive. I’m eager to be part of that journey,” says Conor. His enthusiasm for the role is particularly focused on realising Spokn AI’s true potential, working closely with customers to ensure they can effectively leverage the platform for compliance monitoring and revenue optimisation.

A Vision for Growth

Conor’s approach to product management extends beyond technology alone. He emphasizes the importance of viewing products holistically – considering the processes, experiences, and people involved. His expertise in machine learning, deep learning, and SaaS solutions aligns perfectly with MaxContact’s vision for the future.

In his role, Conor aims to:

· Align MaxContact’s offerings with current market requirements

· Deliver products and services that precisely meet customer needs

· Foster positive customer experiences and references

· Develop solid product strategies for long-term market success

· Ensure a unified customer experience across all MaxContact touchpoints

We’re excited to have Conor on board and look forward to the innovative developments he’ll bring to our product portfolio. His commitment to sustainable technology innovation and creating value for clients, their consumers, and their communities aligns perfectly with MaxContact’s mission to transform contact centre operations through innovative technology solutions.

Welcome to the team, Conor!

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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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We’re excited to announce that we’ll be exhibiting at Channel Live 2025, taking place on 19th – 20th March at the NEC Birmingham.

During Channel Live 2025, we’ll be showcasing our feature-rich contact centre software, including our intelligent auto-dialling capabilities, omnichannel communication solutions, and AI-powered speech analytics. Visitors to our stand will have the opportunity to explore how our technologies can transform their customers’ contact centre operations and drive business growth.

“Channel Live 2025’s focus on authentic engagement and collaborative discussion perfectly aligns with how we work with our partners,” said Ben Booth, CEO at MaxContact. “We’re looking forward to connecting with potential partners and showing them how our CCaaS platform can create significant new revenue streams while delivering exceptional value to their customers.”

During the event, we’ll be hosting an exclusive roundtable discussion on “AI, Automation & Trust in Customer Communications: What Contact Centre Customers Really Want.” Led by our CEO Ben Booth and VP of Engineering Matt Yates, this session will share brand new UK market research and provide channel partners with actionable insights. The roundtable will offer valuable guidance on positioning your business as a trusted customer communication transformation partner and capitalising on emerging revenue opportunities in contact centre AI and automation.

We invite Channel Live 2025 attendees to schedule one-to-one meetings with our team through the event’s new meeting service or head to our stand (F60) to discuss partnership opportunities and explore our platform’s capabilities in detail. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information about our partner programme click here or get in touch – info@maxcontact.com.

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Manchester, UK – 18th January 2023 – MaxContact, a leading UK-based customer engagement software provider, announced its support of the UKNCCA 2024, an award programme recognising contact centre talent in the UK. Organisers, the CCMA (Call Centre Management Association), have added several new categories to the awards, including Sales Team Manager of the Year, Most Effective Way of Working and Best Apprenticeship. This year’s programme also welcomes nominations for Best Approach to Supporting Vulnerable Customers to recognise organisations that demonstrably support customers with additional needs or vulnerabilities.

The UK National Contact Centre Awards is the largest awards programme that recognises contact centre talent in the UK, with CCMA members being able to enter for free. The online process is simple, and there is plenty of support from the awards team. The deadline to enter is Friday, 23 February 2024.

“These prestigious awards recognise the best talent in our industry and the organisations that are succeeding with their colleague-focused approaches,” says Leigh Hopwood, CEO at the CCMA. “The judges are looking for role models, those that are inspiring others and are driving forward our industry. For 29 years, we’ve seen winners enjoy the recognition that these fantastic awards bring.”

“Our Head Judges have been an incredible support as we refresh the categories to reflect what is happening in our industry. They will continue to oversee the process. With a clear judging criteria in place for nominations to work towards and for judges to assess against, not only are these awards credible and uphold the greatest integrity, but they are designed to support individuals and teams.”

“We are all excited about this year’s programme,” says Pam Kallay, Vice President of Global Customer Care at Mastercard, and one of the head judges of these awards. “As senior leaders from across the industry with years’ of experience leading contact centre operations, our volunteer judges are giving something back to help continue to raise the standards of our brilliant industry. It is also a great development opportunity, and so I would encourage all contact centre operations to nominate their top performers to provide them with this wonderful opportunity.”

“MaxContact is proud to support the UKNCCA 2024, shining a spotlight on exceptional talent in the contact centre industry. It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase the best, and we’re thrilled to be part of it.” – Ben Booth, CEO, MaxContact.

Jackie Pringle, Director of Awards at the CCMA, added, “Entering the UK National Contact Centre Awards is easy! And there are so many benefits to taking part. From being told you’re nominated, through to the reflection needed to put together the nomination form, to the learning and development opportunity when meeting the judges and, of course, being part of the Awards Night. I’d encourage all contact centre organisations to consider entering this year and experience this wonderful journey.”

To take part, visit www.ukncca.com. The winners will be announced at the UKNCCA Awards Night on Monday, 17 June 2024.

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.

About the UKNCCA

Organised by the CCMA (Call Centre Management Association), the UK National Contact Centre Awards (UKNCCA) are in their 29th year. They are the most respected awards programme in the UK contact centre industry. All UKNCCA judges are senior leaders from across the industry with years of experience leading contact centre operations, who aim to guide organisation’s development through their insight, questions and feedback.

About the CCMA

The CCMA (Call Centre Management Association) is the longest established association representing the contact centre industry in the UK. The membership organisation supports contact centre leaders by providing opportunities to network and share knowledge. It aims to advise members, keep contact centre leaders in touch with trends and developments in their industry, and provide credible benchmarking information.

Contact details: 

For further information or media enquiries, please reach out to the MaxContact team at pr@maxcontact.com.

To find out more about the UKNCCA and how to get involved, please reach out to Jade Basford at jade@ccma.org.uk.

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