We’re all now feeling the effects of ‘Covid debt’: physical, mental – and, increasingly, financial.

The UK telecoms market remains one of the largest in Europe.

The January 2022 UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) reveals that banks and building societies have ranked their highest for customer satisfaction in three years – and that the financial services sector is performing better than the UK’s all-sector average.

It should come as no surprise to anyone in the telecommunication industry that customer service is crucial for increasing engagement.

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 consumer desire for a brighter Christmas amidst continuing Covid-19 restrictions has seen a sharp rise in ‘buy now pay later’ schemes, and with furlough ending and depression rates rising, a perfect storm lies ahead for all collections teams as consumers juggle multiple payment demands.

Telecoms organisations face a highly challenging business environment as digitisation continues to fuel the relentless disruption of established business models and practices, to enable increasing competition from new, more agile, entrants and forces constant regulatory changes as the market grapples with the societal shift to living and conducting business online.

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.

Our previous articles have focused on the life and pensions workplace of the future, identifying new organisational structures, and working patterns that take account of the digital revolution we’re living through. Now we’ll turn our attention to the customer experience itself.