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People, Organisation and Leadership (40)
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Customer Feedback and Action (18)
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Case Studies Articles
How useful is a wiki?
July 2009
Sue Cooke, consultant at Budd, discusses the key role a call centre agent played in designing a financial services contact centre wiki and highlights the key factors in making it a success
100 things you can learn from SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
November 2008
Learn how Southwest Airlines makes it fast and simple. A focus on brilliant basics which are clear, well-designed and consistently communicated across the company.
100 things you can learn from Disney
September 2008
August 2008
Our white paper sheds light on why Disney is so successful in repeat business and why so many customers stay loyal. The company understands both the key elements of managing customer experience design and how to brilliant basics.
100 things you can learn from GOOGLE
July 2008
A shortened version of our popular article "100 things you can learn from Google"
The Flexi-Layer at Alliance & Leicester
February 2008
How cross-skilling front and back-office agents supported a 150FTE reduction and was part of culture changes that reduced sickness from 14% to 6%
Focus on Fundamentals at the AA
February 2008
Same people. New vision. How Project Sakura created focus & efficiency, by thoroughly reviewing resource effectiveness - and the planning team itself
MyVista drives workforce buy-in at Abtran
February 2008
How workforce management implementation drove positive change across the entire business, halving sickness and reducing attrition by 80%
Confidently in control at Barclaycard Business
February 2008
How thorough planning and employee engagement create a performance culture of stability and trust that delivers more for the collegue, customer and the company.
Flexible Resourcing at Carnival UK
February 2008
How the need for seasonal flexibility created the chance to improve work-life balance, transforming the profile of resource planning.
Challenging the call workload at EDF Energy
February 2008
How Resource Management developed a 3 phase holistic approach to resourcing, targeted to reduce calls by 26% in the short term, while simultaneously improving customer and employee experience.
Planning and automation at Fexco
February 2008
How planning and communication led 80% of schedule preferences granted, 30% more training delivered and 55% fewer call transfers.
Planning for Quality at Ingenico
February 2008
How service failure provided the impetus to develop workforce management and create operational resources for a complete re-focus on quality and training.
Creating depth of service at Contact Kent
February 2008
How resource planning and a skills development strategy created a sustainable basis for contact centre growth.
Networking technical supports around the globe at Logica CMG
February 2008
How global support became a key commercial benefit, increasing issue resolution, employee retention and service performance.
A Great Place to Work at Royal & Sun Alliance
February 2008
How involving champions in listening to employees and being seen to act created a workplace where sales rose 240% and attrition reduced 47%
"Think Customer" at Salford City Council
February 2008
How new services have been developed, working with other local public sector organisations, to deliver better, faster and simpler contact for Salford citizens.
Anti-social behaviour hotline at Sandwell
February 2008
How the new Anti-Social Behaviour hotline supports local residents, identifies hotspots and reduces crime in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Catalyst for Change at Southwark Council
February 2008
How a partnership with Vangent broke the mould at the London Borough of Southwark, gaining £9.5m efficiencies in the first phase of improving services for citizens.
100 things you can learn from Amazon
October 2007
The vision of Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, has been the foundation for building a robust business that puts the customer experience firmly at the heart of Amazon's operations.
100 things you can learn from GOOGLE
February 2007
The key to success at GOOGLE. Never settle for the best if you can do something to improve the customer experience.
Making It Easy When Customers Contact CISCO
October 2006
CISCO illustrates how “Fast+Simple” experiences can be created and sustained by recognizing the role of the web and how it should change the role and value to the company of the contact centre agent.
7 things you can learn about 21st Century business from great companies
June 2006
This is a high level view of how you can systematically remove the dumb things your company does to customers.
100 things you can learn from eBay
May 2006
Published May 2006, this white paper reviews one of the great 21st century businesses and how eBay leads and grows through its fanatical listening to customers.
PODCAST: 100 things you can learn from first direct - an introduction
May 2006
A 5 minute recording of the introduction and summary to the paper “100 things you can learn about first direct”.
Cahoot
April 2006
See how a powerful people strategy at Cahoot improved sickness and attrition in six months by introducing changes to recruitment , life-style and career progression.
Coventry Building Society
April 2006
See how Coventry Building Society increased telephone service by creating a single management structure and sharing skills.
Lloyds TSB
April 2006
How front-line feedback supported changes that reduced overall operating cost per customer and raised first touch resolution.
Pembrokeshire County Council
April 2006
How Pembrokeshire moved from a switchboard to a contact centre with little budget and great attitude.
Tesco
April 2006
How service levels improved at Christmas, the busiest time of the year, by offering behavioural training to team leaders.
West Midlands Police
April 2006
How a new call handling strategy reduced waste, raised customer satisfaction and improved morale at West Midlands Police.
Yell
April 2006
See how Yell have transformed local call handling offices to match their vision of what a virtual contact centre should be.
P&O Ferries
April 2006
How the contact centre at P&O Ferries was at the heart of massive change, achieving budget saving whilst increasing sales and quality at the same time.
Best practice guide on government contact centres
January 2006
Citizens are demanding accessible and easy-to-use Government services. The Government is committed to meeting these demands by offering the citizen choice in how and when they access services, while maintaining consistency and quality of service. This guide provide the latest accepted thinking on best practice when working in or setting up a local government contact centre
100 things you can learn from first direct
November 2005
Published November 2005. Our white paper researching how first direct designed and operates its values based culture to deliver award winning levels of customer service
first direct and the corporate DNA that makes it a winner
November 2005
This article about first direct and its award winning culture was first published in Customer Management magazine in November 2005.