UK Contact Centres Snapshot

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1 UK Contact Centres Snapshot

2 Contact Centres Content Key facts Employment Key trends About us

3 Contact Centres Introduction For the past decade, there has been an increasing desire within contact centres to improve upon customer satisfaction and experience, in order to keep customers loyal and profitable for longer. Much of their performance is driven by people, their skill sets and their willingness to excel beyond customers expectations. We pride ourselves in understanding the contact centre industry, the challenges, trends and future forecasts. This enables us to identify effective recruitment practices which are aligned to business needs and goals. This brief overview of the contact centre industry is the first in a series of reports scheduled throughout 2014.

4 Contact Centres Key Industry Facts The Contact Centre industry reached its height in , logging and verifying steady double-digit revenue. Nevertheless, the effects of the recession in the UK, as well as other European economies, radically changed the functioning conditions for contact centres and demand crumpled, triggering revenue to rapidly descend. Inline with the minor upswing of 1.8% during Industry revenue is evaluated to rise at a compound annual rate of 2.5% over the five years through 2019 to 2.3 billion. Revenue Profit Employment Wages 2.2 billion million 1 million 1.2 billion Annual Growth 2.5% Annual Growth 0.5% Businesses 500 Locations 6,000

5 Contact Centres Key Industry Facts Product / Service Segmentations Customer care generates the largest portion of industry revenue, accounting for 46% of the total. Customer relationship management has become an increasingly important part of corporate strategies. Customer satisfaction is now competition key battleground where companies can distinguish themselves, so there has been considerable investment in dealing with customers concerns. The most common way for customers to contact businesses is via contact centres. 6% Debt Collection 2% Other 22% Acquisition 46% Customer Care 24% Technical Assistance

6 Contact Centres Key Industry Facts Major Market Segmentation Contact centres make it possible to offer customers 24-hour service and help to generate sales. Hence, contact centres are used in all industries. However, service industries are the biggest users of contact centres. The largest clients are operators in the telecommunications, finance and insurance, health-care and government industries. There is a high level of customer interaction in all these industries, whether it comes in the form of product or service information, service calls, warranty advice, technological advice or other advice. In other words, these industries all have a high level of pre and post-sale service interaction. 12% Government and Health Organisations 24% Other 35% Telecommunications Industry 29% Finance & Insurance Market

7 Employment Contact Centres A competent skilled workforce is crucial to specialist contact centre organisations. Decreasing employment turnover and accumulating experience is a process of highlighting the economical benefit presented by specialised contact centres. Contact centres usually deliver a 24 hour service this necessitates flexible and adaptable staff. Sufficiently skilled and qualified employees are crucial to success within the industry. Over 1 million people work in UK Contact Centres. 3.5% of the UK s workforce are employed within Contact Centres.

8 Employment Contact Centres Because contact centres have re-located abroad this has resulted in industry jobs also moving overseas. In the five years through , industry employment has decreased at a more rapid speed than industry revenue, at a compound annual rate of 3.5%. The advancement and progression of contact centre software has caused companies to utilise computers more in order to make their current workforce more profitable. Also the combination of staff has altered so that there is a significant labour force to cover peak customer service periods. The relocation to offshore sites is reliant on the nature of the role. Industry operator, Sitel, is of the opinion that the location of a particular contact centre indicates the specific category of service which it delivers. High value outbound calls stay within the sphere of domestic centres; however, offshore agents typically field technical support and transactional calls. Contact centre labour is difficult to maintain over long periods. Indeed, the industry is renowned for high staff turnover as the positions typically deal daily with distressed customers or involve cold calling. As the total labour force increases, contact centre operators may have a difficult time attracting new recruits. The labour force is forecast to grow slowly, but relatively high unemployment should make it fairly easy for call centres to fill and retain staff.

9 Contact Centres Employment Key regional UK locations

10 Key Trends Contact Centres According to MZA Consultants The Global Telecommunications Market report (The EMEA Contact Centre Market), the changes in the way we communicate has resulted in the following trends developing in the contact centre market: Multimedia contact centres need to engage with communication mediums such as web-chat and social media. Cost reduction organisations are looking to self-service applications to automate processes and reduce the need for live agents. Remote workers organisations are increasingly enabling call centre agents to work from home and remotely as this can create cost savings and a better work-life balance. Unified Communications vendors are incorporating technologies such as instant messaging enabling agents to access to skilled workers that are not part of the formal contact centre. Agent productivity workforce management applications are allowing companies to maximise the efficiency of agents within their contact centres.

11 About us Contact Centres Cordant Contact Recruitment Ltd, part of a 550m recruitment business, is recognised nationally as one of the fastest growing recruitment agencies in the UK. Since our inception in 1992, we have become firmly established as a leading player in the market for permanent, contract and recruitment solutions. Our specialist Contact division has a proven track record in supplying both permanent and temporary candidates. Our national coverage of 125 sites and local knowledge enables us to cover every facet of recruitment needs within the Contact Centre industry. We are recognised as the agency of choice for a wide range of candidates and clients nationwide. Our Account Managers are supported by a team of experienced recruitment professionals specialising in sourcing, legislative compliance and health and safety regulations. Sourcing Thorough assessment of client requirements Full resourcing campaign Access to over 300k candidate resource pool Screening Fulfilment Tailored applicant vetting service In-depth assessment interviews Candidate skill and culture analysis Defined on boarding process Ensuring positive applicant journey Ongoing process management and reporting

12 About us Contact Centres Levels we recruit Inbound Sales Advisors Inbound Customer Service Advisors Inbound Retention Advisors Outbound Sales Advisors Outbound Customer Service Advisors Telesales Advisors Claims Advisors Helpdesk Advisors 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd Line Support Insurance Advisors Customer Care Advisors Team Managers Contact Centre Managers Customer Experience Managers Quality Control Analysts Call Compliance Officers Data Cleansing Agents Web Order Processors Complaint Advisors Correspondence Handlers E-Sales Executives