This is our theme for CCA Convention 2011 but what does it actually mean? One of the biggest changes for organisations to deal with is the reality that relationships are becoming less one-to-one and more one-to-many. For some new organisations built on a blend of social & traditional channels, this may not be such a big challenge. However, for those organisations who have large traditional channel infrastructures in place, providing great service to the connected customer, is more difficult.
A casual glance through some websites about call centres will very quickly lead you to endless views about how things should be improved. One of the biggest gripes is the feeling expressed by some customers, that the organisation is trying to process them quickly rather than solve their problem. When you consider average handling time (AHT) is still used as a measure of performance, then we can understand why this problem arises.
The rise of social and the ability for customers to talk to one another has the potential to be one of the biggest catalysts of change in the way organisations’ structure contact with customers. A difficult issue for many Boards to deal with is that rather than choosing to adopt a strategy of launching social, it is happening all around them. CCA research shows that few organisations have a fully formed strategy to manage and benefit from this new way of communicating. This is in stark contrast to everyday Board decisions where actions & timescales are at their discretion. Of course, Boards can make the decision to capitalise on the opportunity that socials offers them and for many it will be a steep but rewarding journey. Whether they decide to use social to get an inexpensive and instant customer feedback mechanism or more formally, as another sales channel, a strategy for action is critical.
The whole issue of listening to customer feedback is magnified by the advent of new channels and customers talking to each other. Winning organisations will be those who are quick to seize on the opportunities of listening across all of their channels in a consistent fashion and translating the data into useful insights to drive the business forward. There are some great, new technologies in this space and our hope for the future should be that we develop better ways of really listening to customers in order that they feel their contact with us matters and that they trust us with their problems.
CCA Convention is 8-9th November in Glasgow and over those 2 days, 1,000 delegates will take part in the future’s debate, Civic Reception, main Convention and CCA Gala Dinner & Excellence Awards Ceremony. Our venues are prestigious locations around Glasgow, including City Chambers, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Glasgow Hilton Hotel. Proceedings are being chaired by Nicky Campbell from Radio 5 Live and the Awards Ceremony presented by well-known comedian & actor, Hugh Dennis. CCA Convention prides itself on leading the debate of the future of customer contact and this year’s event is critical to the success of our industry during the most difficult of economic climates.
Anne Marie Forsyth
Chief Executive
CCA – the leading independent authority on contact centre strategies & operations