5 steps to AI success: leading contact centers to a Netflix-like customer experience

We’re in an era of effortless customer experience (CX), driven by brands like Netflix and Amazon, who have pushed CX to new heights. Consumers worldwide have grown accustomed to personalized and frictionless journeys, yet many are unaware that it is Artificial Intelligence (AI) raising the bar for this gold-standard customer experience.  Having a connected brand experience across the entire customer journey is essential to transform CX the right way, and it must include contact centers. The adoption of artificial intelligence continues to rise every year, but despite this increase there are still blockers keeping organizations from full AI implementation. In order to leverage its full potential, AI must be implemented across people, operations and technology in four different intelligence layers … Read More

Scottish firm continues expansion with new Cape Town operation

Ascensos has announced its expansion into South Africa with the opening of a new operation in Cape Town.  The leading customer service outsourcing firm, which is headquartered in Motherwell, employs over 3,000 colleagues and has expanded internationally since its 2013 launch, with its network of offices now spanning the Isle of Wight, Bucharest and Istanbul, as well as several bases in Scotland.  Officially opening later this month, the new operation in Cape Town will create 150 jobs initially, with plans to grow the number of positions to 600 in its first year.  John Devlin, CEO and co-founder of Ascensos, said: “Cape Town is a premier location with a fantastic talent pool and it’s a well-established market for English-speaking service delivery.  … Read More

Business boost for Stranraer as new hub opening creates 100 jobs

A leading customer service provider has announced the opening of a new Stranraer base as part of a £1m investment which will see 100 jobs created in the local area over the next three months.   Ascensos, which is headquartered in Motherwell and currently employs 3,000 colleagues across its network of offices in the Isle of Wight, Glasgow, Bucharest and Istanbul, is launching a Stranraer hub as part of Ascensos Local; a new community-focused arm of the business.   Stranraer is the first of what is expected to be six local hubs, which will bring high quality digital jobs to rural communities, with staff working mainly from home.   The customer services outsourcing firm works with some of the world’s best-known brands including … Read More

Sensée Creates 500 New Work-from-Home Contact Centre Roles

Sensée, the work-from-home specialist, is creating 500 new permanent and temporary positions to meet the growing demand for homeworking staff. The vacancies are for Customer Contact Advisors, Team Managers and back office staff to work for new and existing clients. Start dates are immediate. Applications from people of all backgrounds, levels of experience, gender and age are welcome. Contact centre experience is preferred but not essential. Customer service and other job-specific training is provided.   Sensée is the UK’s only 100% work-from-home contact centre specialist with fully-employed homeworkers.  The company has 17 years experience of operating and refining its homeworking model and manages customer contacts on behalf of many household brands as well as a number of Government departments. “We are delighted to … Read More

How to build a true customer first approach and prove it – MaxContact ebook

Almost every organisation says they put customers first, but not all of them match words with action. Recent research found that 75% of customers will spend more to buy from a company that offers good customer experience (CX). In other words, customers know what good CX is and are prepared to pay for it. So how do you build and measure a true customer-first approach? In MaxContact’s ebook they explore explain why, in customer and colleague communication, AI-driven speech analytics should now be a key building block of your CX strategy. “Speech analytics enables companies to unlock hidden insights from customer conversations, thus helping them to better understand customer requirements and effectively anticipate changing customer needs.” MarketsAndMarkets report. In this ebook you will … Read More

Palatine invests in leading Call North West member FourNet

LEADING mid-market investor Palatine Private Equity has acquired a majority stake in Call North West member, FourNet, the award-winning digital transformation and customer experience specialists with clients including 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and the Bank of England. Headquartered in Manchester, and with offices in London and Burton-on-Trent, FourNet has annual revenues of £38m and employs more than 100 people. The company has around 200 customers, with a significant number in the public sector.  Reflecting its strong three-year growth rate of nearly 55%, FourNet featured in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 for 2020, the index of the 100 privately-owned technology companies with the fastest-growing sales. The company has won a string of awards in recent years and has also … Read More

FourNet speeds into the Top 40 technology firms in the UK

FourNet was today (Friday) named as one of the top 50 tech and telecoms companies to work for in the UK, and one of the top 100 companies in the North West of England.   Of the thousands of technology and telecoms companies across the UK, the privately-owned firm, which has offices in Manchester, Burton, and London, has been officially ranked as the 38th best technology firm to work for nationwide.   Call North West member FourNet was also ranked in the top 100 companies to work for in the North West, in the UK’s Best Companies 2021 survey.   There are nearly 800,000 companies across the North West and nearly eight million companies in the UK.  Last month, Best Companies revealed that FourNet had been given … Read More

Vulnerable Customers: launch of a 2-part programme

We are delighted to launch, in conjunction with TRUST, a 2 part programme which is designed specially to give contact centres the tools they need to best serve their vulnerable customer base. Call North West and SWCCF are collaborating with TRUST, a professional and exceptionally talented training provider whose experience and knowledge in this area of expertise are unrivalled to deliver a wide range key topics in a fully collaborate style which address: The identification of customers in vulnerable circumstance and making reasonable adjustments. The wellbeing of staff interacting with vulnerable customers. The development of policies relating to vulnerable customers. 2 great programme streams Programme 1 : Contact Centre Leaders Programme3 great sessions for Contact Centre Leaders whose teams are … Read More

FourNet given ‘outstanding’ star-rated status by staff – tech firm becomes one of the best companies to work for in Britain

FourNet has become one of the Best Companies in Britain to work for.  And that’s official.  The technology firm, which has offices in Manchester, Burton, and London, has been given an ‘Outstanding’ 2 Star rating in the UK’s Best Companies 2021 survey.  Richard Pennington, FourNet CEO said: “This is a terrific achievement for us. Receiving two stars in the Best Companies survey shows that we are one of the best businesses in Britain when it comes to happy and engaged employees.  “We also had more than 90% of our people take part in the survey, and that says a lot about the culture here, we’re all a part of making FourNet a great place to work.”  Achieving a 2 Star accreditation in the Best Companies annual survey is made possible only through an ‘outstanding’ commitment to workplace engagement.  As with … Read More