London, UK, July 4 2013 - CCA (Customer Contact Association), the leading independent authority on customer contact strategies and operations, has commenced a new research project with Kcom, the managed communications provider, to identify new and emerging trends in customer service.
This will be the third year that Kcom has collaborated with the CCA to investigate the changes in customer behaviour.
John Knell, co-author of ‘The 80 Minute MBA’ and former director of The Work Foundation, will be leading the research for CCA with a focus on four industries: banking, retail, insurance and utilities. Companies from across the sectors (including Barclays, Virgin Money, Aviva and Phones4U) have taken part in workshops to draw out the critical factors in delivering customer service in their industry.
The project will look at key issues such as how the next generation of technology devices will influence interaction with customers and an analysis of how current service propositions must change to meet the needs of more demanding and better-informed customers.
The workshops will be followed by consumer research, desk research and a CCA member survey which will generate data and insight on the critical ways in which customer service habits and preferences are changing. It will examine the ways customers choose to make contact and the drivers that influence these choices.
CCA Chief Executive Anne Marie Forsyth said: “CCA is delighted to renew our research partnership with Kcom for a third year. Each year we undertake our major ’Future of Customer Service’ research we shed fresh light on important developments which will have a big impact on customer service delivery. CCA is developing clear roadmaps to the future which will enable organisations of every kind to develop smart strategic responses. We are confident that our work with Kcom will make a very valuable contribution.”
Sally Fuller, Director of Strategic Propositions at Kcom said: “We are delighted to continue working with CCA to complete an exciting new phase of our joint research. Organisations providing front line customer services are operating in a difficult economic climate; they’re faced with reduced budgets and increasingly demanding customers. Research programmes like this are key in helping them make the right decisions when it comes to shaping their customer service strategies. I’m confident that this research will deliver compelling data which can be used to shape their critical decisions.”
