There's no getting away from it - the call agent at the end of the phone is the face of your brand. And the experience a customer gets from communicating with that call agent very much colours the way they'll feel about that company. If a customer harbours negative feelings, for whatever reason, they won't become your loyal, high-spending customer; they'll go straight to a competitor.
This means keeping agents motivated and delivering excellent customer service at all times is a constant aim for call and contact centres. As the offshore debate rages on, technology advances, client demands rise, and staff and customer service issues remain at the forefront, for any contender in the industry, whether an outsourcer or an in-house operation, there's a lot to think about.
Call Centre Expo 2004
So it won't come as much of a surprise to hear that this year's Call Centre Expo expects to attract around 6,000 visitors. Taking place at the Birmingham NEC on the 29-30 September, the show covers the three core areas of interest for the industry: People, Strategy and Technology.
With 250 exhibitors and a full conference programme of keynote debates, masterclasses and talks on offer, the show aims to provide the answers to all manner of questions.
While it has always been positioned as an end-to-end call centre solution show, providing anything and everything to help companies run their call centres better, historically it has been seen more as an event for in-house call centre managers. A change is afoot however; outsourcing has been the big topic of recent years, and this is reflected in 2004's show. So whether you're a call centre manager looking for the latest kit to do your job better or a marketing director looking to outsource your call centre services, you should be able to find everything under the one roof, as Call Centre Expo's portfolio director Mark Snell explains.
"It's a show for end users," he says. "If you need recruitment services or technology it's all here, but what's been overlaid is a greater array of services from outsourcers. Multimedia services are also very much on agenda. The show's about improvement, about people who want to run their call centre better."
With this in mind, the conference programme is split into the three strands of People, Strategy and Technology. Each is divided into four hour-long sessions a day and includes a mixture of case studies from users, expert knowledge and discussion. Dealing with both staffing and customer issues, the People track covers development, motivation, culture, employment and brand, training, customer experience, coaching, recruitment and retention.
Among the topics explored in the Strategy conference strand are outsourcing, performance management, customer service, CRM and eCRM, change management and how to move from cost to profit. And with so many solutions on offer these days, and a constant need for call centres to perform, the Technology conference track covers topics including self-service, IP and VoIP, convergence, multichannel and CTI.
On top of this, a series of half-day masterclasses are running for those who want more indepth solutions on subjects including CRM and offshore outsourcing. And while keynote speeches have long been a fixture of the show, this year Call Centre Expo has upped the ante by getting in two top industry speakers: Chris Daffy, author of Once a Customer, Always a Customer, and Merlin Stone, IBM professor of relationship marketing at Bristol University.
Customer service
Providing excellent service is the key to happy customers and Daffy's keynote speech will focus on this by showing attendees how to create great customer experiences. Masterclasses and conference sessions throughout the show will also be focusing on the thorny subject of CRM (see box, right), which has become an increasingly important part of the call and contact centre offering in the years since the show's launch in 1999.
"Call centres were seen as a cost centre," explains Snell. "Now they're seen as a profit centre - a way of adding customer value. We have to be aligned with this at the show, and how CRM and brand value fits into it."
As ever though, it's the mixture of conferences, speeches and exhibitors that make the show what it is, with all elements working together to deal with today's hottest industry issues. One of the big ones for call centre managers is staffing. As an industry with traditionally high levels of staff turnover and low motivation, a key objective is to find ways of hiring and retaining the right staff.
On day one, there's a masterclass designed to help with this issue, as well as a conference session.
Marylin Devonish, director of Trance Formations, is speaking on the best techniques to train and motivate staff, while on the same day, Holiday Extras will be revealing how it keeps its staff happy. This is also something financial services provider egg will be discussing in its conference session on the second day of the show.
To deal with call agent motivation issues, training and proper skills deployment have been highlighted as ways to help keep staff happy in their work. Quality Plus Callscan is launching the latest version of its skills management solution, Sentrel, which allows users to assess, develop, and better deploy their staff, while Witness Systems is demonstrating its eQuality Producer. This is an application that enables users to construct an audio and video e-learning programme for agents.
The outsourcing issue
But getting staffing issues right is only one part of the task. One of the biggest questions facing companies that use call or contact centres today is whether to outsource offshore or at home. And with pros and cons to both approaches, it's a tricky one to answer.
A number of masterclasses and conference sessions will tackle this tricky subject. On day two, Mike Harvard, managing director of CM Insight, and Jagvinder Kang, director of Technology Law Alliance, will present a masterclass on developing an offshore strategy.
Traditionally, the show has attracted a number of domestic outsourcers as exhibitors but this year, there's also a significant international presence. For a start, Barbados Investment Development Corporation, the Department of Trade Investment SA, and FIPA Tunisia will all be exhibiting.
As an economic development agency, FIPA Tunisia will be available to discuss business opportunities and the whys and wherefores of establishing operations in Tunisia, with representatives available to explain the country's strengths in call centre and computer services.
As with any business though, the customer is king, and CRM is at last getting the level of attention it deserves, hence the emphasis on getting customer contact strategy right at this year's show.
And with around 30 per cent of exhibitors launching something new, many more demonstrating their products and services at the show, and a conference strand dedicated to technology, there should be enough here to answer most questions, including this one.
With time of the essence in any call, and getting it right first time vital to stop customers becoming annoyed, having tools at the agents' fingertips that feed them the information they need when they need it is a prerequisite for any call or contact centre. Bearing this in mind, Instranet is launching Contact Centres In-Line, a knowledge-based business application that drives the right information, be it on the customer they're talking to, or on a particular product or service, to an agent when they need it, increasing agent and customer satisfaction alike.
And with efficiency firmly in mind, Opal Telecom is launching network speech recognition, live call queuing statistics and predictive dialling services, all aimed at improving call centre efficiency and effectiveness.
Something else this year's show will reflect is the growth in smaller 'pocket' call centres. "Historically, call centres have been seen as the sole preserve of large corporations but now they're for any size as the increased growth of smaller call centres shows," says Snell. "A lot of providers are now doing 'lite' versions of their products so businesses of any size can use them."
This is reflected in two launches at the show. For the SME market, beCogent is launching be2B-direct, which it is marketing as a 'call centre in a box'. It provides a cost-effective way to set up smaller, fully functional call centres with up to 75 seats and comes with integrated recording and quality management, reporting and business analysis, workforce management, IVR and voice-enabled self-help, multi-channel routing and CRM tools.
Atmyside is launching a portfolio of bundled solutions specifically aimed at the SME market - a 'lite' version of its eService suite. It is also demonstrating its hosted service packages for SMEs, including the Customer/Sales Acquisition Package, which incorporates its WebChat, HotProspecting and KnowledgeBase components, and the Customer Service SME Package, which includes its SelfHelp, Mail, and KnowledgeBase components.
Contact centre expert Sabio is taking things one step further by offering visitors a free 15-30 minute personal consultation from one of its senior consultants. It is hosting the Innovation & Advice Centre, where these sessions will take place, giving people the opportunity to gain advice on their call and contact centre requirements.
Finally, something Snell is especially proud of this year, is the breadth of exhibitors. "We've got lots of new exhibitors this year, including Siemens, and lots of returning ones from technology companies such as Alcatel Telecom that haven't exhibited for a while," he says.
Sounds like it's going to be a jam-packed show.
FACTS
WHAT: Call Centre Expo 2004
WHERE: NEC, Birmingham, Hall 9
WHEN: 29-30 September 2004, 10am-5pm
WHY: This year's Call Centre Expo boasts more than 250 exhibitors, a
revamped conference programme with intensive masterclasses and keynote
speeches by industry experts, a wealth of product launches and
demonstrations, and the Innovation and Advice Centre where visitors will
be offered free personal consultations as well as the opportunity to
experience demonstrations of state-of-the-art technology. The show
promises to have something for everyone, whether they're an outsourced
or in-house operation.
WEBSITE: www.callcentre-expo.com
SPEAKERS' CORNER
WHO: Chris Daffy, author of Once a Customer, Always a Customer
WHAT: Keynote Debate: How sensational customer experiences create
competitive advantage
WHEN: 29 September, 12.30-13.30, Gallery restaurant
There's no doubt companies that give their customers the kind of experience that leaves them with a smile on their face gain competitive advantage over their peers, but knowing how to achieve this isn't as easy to understand. In this keynote speech, Daffy will show just how simple it can be. He'll explain how to understand what customer experiences are, why they work, how they can be used in the call centre to create competitive advantage and how easy it is to make a worthwhile difference to customers by providing top-notch service.
WHO: Merlin Stone, IBM professor of relationship marketing, Bristol
University
WHAT: Keynote Debate: Contact centre - value today or death tomorrow
WHEN: 30 September, 12.30-13.30, Gallery restaurant
The future of the contact centre industry could be in jeopardy unless we learn to adapt to new ways of adding value, according to Professor Stone. In his keynote speech on day two of the exhibition, Stone will discuss his research into CRM and contact centre management, and demonstrate how contact centres can use the internet and direct mail to their advantage. Attendees will be invited to explore how potential weaknesses in decision-making could lead to the call centre's demise and also learn how unifying strategy can overcome this issue.
WHO: Howard Dove, head of operations, and Peter Mooney, call centre
operations manager, Holiday Extras
WHAT: People: Achieving the impossible - how to keep everyone happy
WHEN: 29 September, 09.30-10.30, Conference Gallery
All too often companies forget the health, wealth and happiness of their staff in the quest for bigger profits, but Holiday Extras has proved you can keep your eye firmly on both, and Dove and Mooney will explain just how they've done it. Through sharing their experiences at Holiday Extras, they'll explain the benefits of reinvesting savings into staff development and show how to increase morale and positively affect culture through training, qualifications and coaching. The session will also show how to improve retention and how a grading structure can be used to reward consistent achievements.
WHO: Marylin Devonish, director, Trance Formations
WHAT: Masterclass: 21st century communication and performance management
techniques
WHEN: 29 September, 14.00-17.00, Conference Gallery
Keeping call centre staff motivated can be difficult and Devonish's presentation will provide practical advice on how to get the most out of staff by using techniques from NLP, corporate emotional intelligence, executive coaching and accelerated learning. Delegates will find out how these techniques can improve performance, communication and motivation, as well as improve customer satisfaction and return on investment.
WHO: Mike Harvard, managing director, CM Insight, and Jagvinder Kang,
director and solicitor, Technology Law Alliance
WHAT: Masterclass: Offshore: Develop your strategy, agree your contract
and secure the customer experience
WHEN: 30 September, 09.30-12.30, Conference Gallery
While the offshore option is an attractive one for many brands, not only are there a number of potential pitfalls waiting for new entrants into this field, but consumers still need convincing that it works. To ensure your offshore strategy reaps the kinds of rewards you're hoping for, and avoids alienating the public, takes careful consideration. Harvard and Kang will take attendees through the dos and don'ts of offshore deployment and customer strategy, and offer practical legal guidance on addressing them, and on securing contracts.
WHO: Tim Sunley, director of pension credit application line, The
Pension Service, and Vicky Jenkins, operations director, Ventura
WHAT: Strategy: Uncovering a successful public/private partnership
WHEN: 29 September, 09.30-10.30, Conference Gallery
The Pension Credit scheme has been credited by some as changing the way the public sector engages with the private sector for the better. Using the scheme as a case study, Sunley and Jenkins will show how to implement and manage multisite virtual contact centres, illustrating the challenges and lessons they learned from running this particular scheme. They will also explain how to develop a combined management structure and show how skill transferral can be used to implement a customer-focused operation.
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