It doesn’t seem too long ago that the introduction of interactive voice response (IVR) received a rocky reception with many customers citing that they preferred to speak to a ‘real human’.

There can be no doubt the pandemic has altered the emotional make-up of society. Collectively, we are now much more aware of the suffering of others – and how could we not be after seeing lives turned upside down and businesses upended with no sense of rhyme or reason or equity.

Knowing you’re delighting your customers is the holy grail for any business.

The second year of the pandemic has seen more people in the UK slide further into debt and organisations need to recalibrate their response through empathetic collections.

You don’t have to be involved in collections to be aware that the last 18 months have affected the financial circumstances of a huge number of people.

A complaint is a chance to turn an unhappy customer into a brand ambassador as well as an opportunity to improve your services…but only if handled correctly.

Customers may be about to become less forgiving. If complaint numbers rise, how are you going to provide a service which meets rising expectations?

As digitisation and complex business problems continue to change the landscape of organisations, shared services providers need to find new ways to stay relevant and deliver what their clients and service users need, raising the bar with the creation of brilliant service experiences

During 2021, the Capita Institute is asking senior decision-makers critical questions relating to the state of their organisations as we emerge from the pandemic.

The ever-enduring search for new ways to increase productivity is challenging, but it’s crucial for freeing up human and financial resources so that organisations can focus on and succeed at what they do, as well as to grow.