EDINBURGH, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Employment has stabilised in the customer contact sector in the last six months, but cost pressures and increasingly demanding customers are putting staff under renewed pressure, warns CCA, the industry champion of global customer service standards.

According to the latest survey of CCA Industry Council members which polled major employers in the banking, retail and leisure sectors, some 90% of respondents said jobs in their customer contact operations had either stayed the same or increased in the last six months.

However, respondents were divided on the future employment outlook. An even split of 50% of respondents anticipated that jobs will remain the same or increase in the next six months while the remaining 50% expected job numbers to fall.

Major global organisations gathered in Edinburgh on November 4-5 for CCA Convention 2009, the contact sector’s premier event, to discuss strategies for delivering world-class excellence in customer service. Keynote speeches will include executives from Microsoft, British Airways, O2, Jumeirah, RBS and Comic Relief and the event will be chaired by BBC broadcaster Gavin Esler.

CCA Chief Executive Anne Marie Forsyth said: “The CCA Convention theme is delivering a world class customer experience. Contact centres are operating under unprecedented pressure yet they play a critical role in building customer trust and loyalty. Customers deserve no less than excellence and CCA is committed to upholding global excellence in service standards in both the private and public sectors.”

Staff in frontline customer contact roles face tough new challenges, according to a CCA Membership Poll conducted by Merchants, a Dimension Data company. Customers are increasingly demanding compensation and threatening to involve a regulator or ombudsman in customer service issues. There has also been an increase in the numbers of consumers requesting that customer service agents call them back to save on phone charges, with more than 50% of respondents reporting such requests in October, up from just 22% in April.

Technological innovation also presents key challenges for customer contact operations, from information management systems to speech recognition, and multi-channel communication and the UK’s foremost academics will address these issues at CCA Convention’s special International Business School sessions chaired by Sky broadcaster Kay Burley.

CCA Convention has attracted sponsorship from leading organsations including: BT and Avaya; Plantronics, salesforce.com, Sabio and Calcom.

CCA Convention sponsors said:

“As Gold convention sponsors Calcom continues to lead the contact centre industry. Our clients want to increase customer satisfaction, to improve the capability of their employees and leaders, and to achieve greater returns on customer investment. It's great to be able to share our insights, case studies and the Calcom difference with you. We hope you'll be inspired to deliver world class customer service excellence - inspired by the CCA convention, by the things you hear and see and, of course, by Calcom.” Natalie Calvert, Managing Director, Calcom

“Plantronics are delighted to be once again supporting CCA Convention and to be associated with world class customer experience. We are committed to supporting businesses to improve customer service and CCA Convention offers the latest thinking for the customer service profession.” Judith Hogan, Corporate Sales Manager UK & Ireland, Plantronics

“There’s never been a more important time for businesses to invest in the service they deliver their customers. At Sabio, we strongly believe in developing and sharing best practice in customer contact and that is why we are delighted to once again be supporting the CCA Convention – an event that’s committed to improving professionalism in customer service and placing the customer at the heart of the business.” Leigh Hopwood, Head of Marketing, Sabio

'Salesforce.com are delighted to be working alongside the CCA to help service organisations of all sizes deliver a World-Class customer experience through the use of the Service Cloud from salesforce.com, a next generation Cloud Computing customer service platform trusted by industry leaders such as Orange, Misys and Easynet to run their global customer service operations. The CCA’s World Class Customer experience is the ideal place for customer service professionals to get together and experience the latest and most innovative technologies and discuss customer service best practice.’ Tim Barker, Sr Director EMEA Product Marketing

NOTES TO EDITOR
About CCA (Customer Contact Association)
CCA Industry Council is a leadership forum for the heads of customer contact strategy, both in private and public sectors. The Council offers a unique blend of visionary research, intra group case studies and benchmarking. Industry Council has recently dealt with topics such as 'New Sourcing Strategies', 'Cause and Effect of Demand', 'Merging Voice and e-Channels' and 'New Generation Employees'. CCA Industry Council represents between 25%-30% of those working in contact centres in the UK and is in a fundamental position to effect real change within the sector.

Industry Council members include: Bank of America; Barclays Wealth; BBC; British Airways; British Gas; Bord Gais; Capita; Coventry Building Society; DWP; HMRC; ESB; NHS Direct; NS&I IBM; Lloyds TSB; LV=; Clydesdale & Yorkshire Banks; National Rail Enquiries; O2; RBS; Royal Mail; Shop Direct; Sky; Teleperformance; Tesco; Vodafone.

For further information visit www.cca-global.com

Customer Contact Association
Valerie Darroch
Tel: + 00 44 (0)7970 737708
Email: valdarroch@googlemail.com