MECC ’17 Countdown Newsletter #2

Achieving “Higher Customer Satisfaction” is the main regional contact centre goal.

Momentum for the MECC ’17 event, the most important annual meeting for the region’s call centre professionals, continues to mount and with many show details now decided, the show web site of www.insights-me.com/mecc will start to have a much fuller look over the next few weeks.

There you will see that the main theme of the event is “Achieving Higher Customer Satisfaction & Beyond”.  This theme was chosen as a result of some extensive telephone and email survey work conducted by INSIGHTS in January, 2017.  The topic of “Higher Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)” stood out clearly as the main target that call centre managers are striving for at present (and, it turns out, in order to keep their bosses happy as much as anything!).  Interestingly enough, no one mentioned the weaknesses of CSAT as an indicator of future business potential.  In addition, the survey uncovered that, from an internal call centre point of view, the top current focus was “Staff Development”. As a result, and along with all the latest industry developments and best practices, both “Staff Development” and CSAT as they are currently handled in the region are to receive extensive treatment at MECC ’17.  Stay tuned for further developments by visiting www.insights-me.com/mecc on a regular basis.

Certification Option To Boost The Problem Resolution Rate

In a major boost to conference learning & development, INSIGHTS is introducing a MECC ’17 Personal Certification option for this year’s MECC ’17 event delegates.

Unlike anything seen in the region to date, MECC ’17 Certification will consist of 4 main phases.  The first phase is the pre-MECC 17 event phase where INSIGHTS consultants will engage with delegates individually to uncover their biggest and most worrying issues, and start addressing them with a series of exercises, advisory templates and online webinars.  Thereafter, in the second phase, MECC ’17 delegates will attend the main MECC ’17 conference (and the supporting pre and post conference workshops, if possible) where they will assimilate relevant plenary sessions and then also engage in a number of expert-led roundtable sessions in order to further develop customized solutions to their own particular situation.  Following MECC ’17, and for phase 3, a further series of assignments, advisories and webinars will be held to finalise the solutions being created.  In the fourth and last phase, the utility and practicality of the solutions developed, along with available results, will be evaluated by experts, and, if a passing grade is achieved, a MECC ’17 Certificate will be issued.

INSIGHTS believes that the launch of this MECC ’17 “partnering” exercise will have a dramatic effect on contact centre performance in both the immediate and longer terms and encourage as many managers as possible to avail themselves of this unique “problem resolution” and future direction-setting opportunity.  For more details on this initiative email the subject title “MECC ’17 Certification” to insights@eim.ae

Awards ’17 Value Highlighted By Past Winner

The INSIGHTS Middle East Call Centre Awards ’17 process is now in full swing, and INSIGHTS was delighted to be able to host a set of eager competitors in Dubai last month for a special “Awards Awareness Day”.  The purpose of the session was to help participants understand more about this unique, 12 year-old competition and answer any urgent questions they might have.

Beginning with the range and type of Awards on offer, attendees then learned about the methodologies behind the Awards, the scoring scheme, the best ways to prepare a submission and both the areas to focus on to impress the judges and the common mistakes to avoid.  For many, the highlight of the event were the remarks made by Osman Abdullahi Massoud from AWRostamani contact centre, a multi-year Award-winning contact centre.  Osman described how useful the Awards had been to AWRostamani to helping them clarify and achieve their business objectives.  He said the process had not been easy in the beginning but became easier as they went along and became more familiar with the ideas and methodologies being prescribed.  One key goal in particular that the Awards helped to achieve was to raise the profile of the contact centre as a prime contributor to value creation at the organisation.  He encouraged the Awards Awareness Day attendees to embark upon similar journeys, and the sooner they started the sooner they would also get to enjoy the multiple, ongoing benefits.

To apply for this year’s competition go to www.insights-me.com/awards

Transformative Outsourcing – Isn’t it about time?

As indicated in the last newsletter, Contact Centre Outsourcing is set for its own special treatment this year.  It will also have its own Certification program similar to the MECC ’17 Certification qualification.

To reinforce the increasing importance of regional call centre outsourcing, INSIGHTS is launching a brand new web portal called Outsourcing Middle East.  There you can expect to find the finest regional news, guidance, content, tools, templates, training,  digital products and services that anyone can take advantage of to ensure he/she can obtain and operate an optimum Contact Centre Outsourcing arrangement.  And when we say “anyone” we mean both parties, the client and the Outsource Service Provider (OSP).  So, for example, as well as a new “7 Steps to Contact Centre Outsourcing Success” model, the client will be able to attend training and certification courses on best practices in Contact Centre Outsourcing, and have access to easy-to-use tools to clarify their own requirements and prepare an appropriate RFP; even what needs to be included in the eventual Service Level Agreement.  For the OSP there will be courses, for instance, on how to do brand modeling for clients and how to offer extra value by offering “Voice of the Customer” services.  There will also be the opportunity to become “OSP Certified” by INSIGHTS, a competency that we believe clients will increasingly demand as the market matures further.  Interested to know more? Do drop us an email at insights@eim.ae with “Transformative Outsourcing” as the subject heading.

If you need guidance urgently………………

For those who cannot wait until MECC ’17 in mid May to obtain the guidance and insights they need to make a more immediate impact in their contact centre, we are delighted to announce, a 4 day set of workshops beginning later this month in Dubai under the tutelage of international expert Rod Jones.

For the first two days, Rod will deliver his renowned “World Class Contact Centre Master Class”, a proven and up-to-date workshop that over 2,500 people have benefited from to date. On day 3, attendees will explore the key self-service subject of “Building a Flexible IVR system” and on day 4, the topic is “Planning for Digital Migration in the Contact Centre”.

All three sessions are separately bookable.  For more details see www.insights-me.com/wccc