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.

In a short time, humanity has come a long way. Since the creation of the printed word 650 years ago, humans have moved from being isolated clans to a cohesive society, founded on shared information.

Treating customers with empathy has been an increasingly important area of focus within the customer experience industry.

As corporate customers are presented with more choice, telecommunication providers (telcos) need to look for opportunities to present themselves as strategic partners for business critical solutions, beyond the standard offering of connectivity.

How does customer experience need to change, to acquire and retain new customers and ensure a profitable road to recovery?

You have a problem. Someone else has been talking to your customer. The likes of Amazon, Apple, Nordstorm – and the other gods of customer service have been educating your customer in what excellent looks and feels like.

Customer loyalty is the holy grail of brand. Less than a decade ago, consumers told marketing research company IPSOS MORI that they trusted certain household brands (Heinz, John Lewis, Walmart) more than the Government.

As the rate of change increases, large established companies must be able to innovate at pace and scale, to keep one step ahead of start-ups and large technology companies that are moving into new sectors and markets.

Businesses today are more inventive, creative and bold than they have ever been before. They’ve had to be. We are living in a moment where there is no ‘playing it safe’ – and where doing nothing is often the worst possible option.

We’ve just commissioned some independent research into “Fairness in Collections” to gain a deeper insight into the issues facing people who are in debt.