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Contact Center Show

Contact Center Show

Auteur(s): Amas Tenumah & Bob Furniss
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 This is the public square for all things contact center. This is where the world's best Call & Contact center professionals come to get better at delivering a great experience for customers. Your contact center mentors - Amas Tenumah & Bob FurnissAll rights reserved 2022 Développement commercial et entrepreneuriat Entrepreneurship Gestion et leadership Économie
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  • Stacy Sherman: Why 'Satisfied' Is the New 'Fine' And 12 Reasons That's Not Good Enough"

    Stacy Sherman: Why 'Satisfied' Is the New 'Fine' And 12 Reasons That's Not Good Enough"
    Nov 18 2025
    Low-Cost, High-Impact CX Improvements The Power of Language: Transform "I can't" into "How can we"Shift from "I have to" to "We get to"Being "impeccable with your word" (inspired by The Four Agreements)Words trigger emotional responses that shape customer perception Getting CX Buy-In Across Organizations The Alignment Problem: CX initiatives fail when metrics aren't shared across departmentsSuccess came when executives adopted the same CX metrics as the CX teamWithout shared goals, customer insights get shelved with "we'll get to it later" The Pilot Program Strategy: Start small before asking for big budgetsShow proof of concept with intentional, measurable pilotsUse success to rally and align different areas of the company Real Example - CX Day Success: Introduced first-ever CX Day celebration at 145-year-old engineering companyStarted small despite skepticismNow an annual tradition that continues after her departure Rethinking CX Metrics Beyond Traditional Measurements: NPS and effort scores are starting points, not endpoints"Satisfaction" is no longer good enough (it's the equivalent of "fine")New focus: Emotional altitude across every touchpoint The Emotional Impact: Brains constantly cycle between thinking and feelingEmotions create lasting imprints that shape brand perceptionResearch shows: 12 positive experiences needed to overcome 1 negativeMeasure emotional highs to identify gaps and successes The Four Rs of CX Impact: RevenueRetentionReputationReferrals The Future of Contact Centers Human + AI Integration: Smart companies intentionally map where humans add value vs. where AI should handle interactionsThe answer is "both/and" not "either/or"Critical: Validate designs with real customers, not just internal teams The Contact Center Superpower: Contact center teams speak to more customers in a week than other departments do in a yearThis proximity to customers gives agents unique power to be organizational change agentsVoice of customer insights should inform product development, marketing messaging, and more Words Matter in the AI Era: Example: Website offering "24/7 support, our guides are happy to help you""Guides" for both humans and AI feels impersonalNaming and framing still matters The Power of Customer Voice The 10-Minute Video Story: A contact center leader captured customer feedback about a failed new product. At an executive meeting, he played a 10-minute compilation of customer complaints. The CEO's initial advisor said it was a career-ending mistakeThe CEO walked out during the videoResult: CEO returned and said it was "the best 10 minutes anybody's ever played" and named him employee #1Customer voice changed the company's trajectory The Validation Imperative: Internal perspective isn't enoughCustomer validation must be iterative, not one-timeCan't use internal team as proxy for outside voiceBoth internal knowledge AND customer validation matter The Fundamental C-Suite Challenge When C-suite leaders aren't aligned in their meetings, misalignment trickles down through the entire organization. This is the root problem preventing effective CX implementation. Notable Stories The Morgan & Morgan Tattoo Story: Leadership promised to get company logo tattoos if the team hit an unprecedented conversion rate goal. When they achieved it, 40 leaders got matching tattoos - four tattoo artists came in for the day. The question became: "Is your brand tattoo-worthy?" Stacey's Podcast Origin: Bought her first microphone for under $50, then waited six months before taking it out of the box due to fear. That mic ignited her journey to intentionally sharing her voice through podcasting. Living Podcasting: At the conference, Stacey pulled out her mic to record a 10-minute session where Amas (who has Parkinson's) gave direct advice to her relative with a similar condition - creating immediate, personal value rather than secondhand communication. Takeaways for Contact Center Leaders Language shapes reality - Small word changes create emotional shifts in customer experienceDemand metric alignment - CX can't succeed unless executives share the same measurementsStart with pilots - Prove value small-scale before requesting major investmentLeverage your proximity to customers - Use it to become the organizational glue and change agentValidate everything with real customers - Internal assumptions aren't enoughMap the human-AI journey intentionally - Design where each adds value, then test with customersBring customer voice to leadership - Sometimes the most powerful thing is making them listen directlyAverage isn't acceptable - Move beyond satisfaction to creating emotional highs
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    23 min
  • Live from ICMI Conference - HR as a Contact Center with Bianca

    Live from ICMI Conference - HR as a Contact Center with Bianca
    Nov 11 2025
    Episode Summary Broadcasting live from the ICMI conference in Orlando, Amas and Bob discuss the evolving role of AI in contact centers, the ongoing struggle for strategic recognition, and welcome special guest Bianca, who shares her unique perspective on running HR as a contact center at Michigan State University. Key Topics & Timestamps 00:00 - Opening & Conference Impressions Podcast introduction (running since 2020, available on all platforms)Day 2 reflections from ICMI conferenceThe shift in AI messaging: less prominent on vendor backdrops than previous year 03:00 - The Strategic Positioning Problem Why contact centers remain viewed as cost centers despite being more strategic than everThe CFO's perspective and the "drive to zero" mentalityAHT obsession vs. strategic value creation 05:21 - The Power of Storytelling Bob's insights on communicating with executivesThe binder story: metrics vs. narrativeMarketing's lesson: taking credit for soft impactGetting CFOs to sit with agents (the "three clicks vs. 19 clicks" story) 10:01 - Guest Interview: Bianca Pryson Background: retail, waitressing, Urban Outfitters merchandiserHow she "fell into" HR customer service at MSUManaging a 3-person contact center handling 10,000+ calls and 10,000+ emails annually 14:35 - Putting the Human Back in Human Resources Training team on de-escalation and service basicsPhilosophy: servant leadership + customer-centric approachTreating unit HR as primary customersThe "useless in email" turnaround story 21:24 - The Tips Debate Amas's controversial proposal: tips for contact center agentsBianca's counter: extra PTO as tipsUnder $50 purchase discussion (travel charger vs. Neti pot) 23:38 - When HR IS the Contact Center "Who polices the police?"Zero complaints or escalations since taking the roleUsing Genesys (not yet using AI capabilities) 26:00 - Technology & Generational Preferences Gen Z wants chatbots and modern techContact center as talent pipelineHR chatbot pilot program coming 28:15 - Final Advice Help HR understand the contact center's roleInternal customer service = external customer serviceContact centers should be talent funnels for the organization Guest Bio Bianca is the HR Customer Service Experience Manager at Michigan State University, where she leads a team serving over 50,000 students, 6,000 faculty/staff, and 10,000+ retirees. With a background in retail management and customer service, she transformed MSU's HR service delivery by implementing contact center best practices and achieving zero escalations since taking the role. Key Takeaways AI isn't going away - it's just not the flashy selling point it was; companies are focusing on service improvement outcomes insteadStories > Metrics - National Speakers Association wisdom: spend 80% of time on stories, 20% on data when communicating with executivesContact centers remain undervalued - despite increased strategic importance, most still lack a "seat at the table" and are viewed as cost centersInternal service = External service - Research shows poor internal customer service directly leads to poor external customer serviceThe contact center talent pipeline - Smart organizations use contact centers as funnels to develop and promote talent throughout the organizationSmall contact centers face unique challenges - With only 3 people handling 20,000+ annual interactions, operational efficiency becomes criticalGen Z wants technology - Modern contact center tech is a competitive advantage for attracting younger talent Notable Quotes "I believe the contact center is even more important today than it was pre-AI." - Amas Tenumah "My team and I put the human back in human resources." - Bianca "If you want to grow, the way you're going to grow is you're going to invest in us." - On marketing's successful narrative (and what contact centers should emulate) "Whether it's three people or 25 people, they're just as important." - Bianca on not canceling orientation "When you have poor internal customer service, you have poor external customer service." - Bianca Connect Find the Contact Center Show: Available on all major podcast platforms Frequency: 2-3 episodes per month since 2020 This episode was recorded live with a studio audience at the ICMI Conference in Orlando, Florida.
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    30 min
  • How Contact Centers Became the Corporate Nervous System (Live from ICMI w Daniel)

    How Contact Centers Became the Corporate Nervous System (Live from ICMI w Daniel)
    Nov 6 2025

    Host: Bob Furniss (without co-host Amos)
    Guest: Daniel Thomas, Informa
    Location: ICMI Conference Expo Floor

    Guest Background
    • Daniel Thomas approaches contact center industry from a research background
    • Surveys audiences and writes research reports
    • Has "front row seat" to industry transformation
    • Conducts the annual State of the Contact Center survey
    About the State of the Contact Center Report
    • Comprehensive benchmark study surveying contact center professionals
    • Covers multiple verticals including:
      • Training and skills
      • Compensation and salary
      • Technology use
      • Leadership perceptions
      • Strategy
    • Tracks year-over-year progress
    • Recent additions include AI and workforce training questions
    Key Surprising Findings 1. Contact Centers as Strategic Intelligence Hubs
    • Major shift: Contact centers increasingly viewed as "strategic customer intelligence hubs" rather than cost centers
    • Described as "customer intelligence and nervous system"
    • No other department has closer customer proximity or more customer data
    • C-suite now acknowledges value with direct data funnels informing executive decisions
    2. AI Perceptions and Impact
    • 72% believe AI will transform roles, not replace them
    • Only ~25% think AI will lead to workforce reductions
    • AI expected to handle "level one, rote, monotonous, repetitive work"
    • Agents will focus on:
      • Complex needs and edge cases
      • Soft skills: empathy, communication, problem solving, critical thinking
    • 90% of surveyed leaders believe humans necessary as AI overseers
    • Gartner prediction: 40% of agentic AI projects will fail by 2027 (often due to neglecting human oversight)
    Agent Evolution
    • Agents increasingly viewed as:
      • Consultants
      • Solutions architects
      • Higher-tier problem solvers
      • "White glove service" providers
    • Rising expectations due to AI support
    • Agents becoming intelligence providers to C-suite
    • More analytical roles: identifying trends, patterns, creating intelligent summaries
    Top AI Implementation Concerns
    1. Customer resistance (top concern)
    2. Data accuracy
    3. Data privacy and security
    4. Lack of proper AI governance
    Workforce and Quality Management Insights Workforce Models (Nearly Equal Three-Way Split)
    • In-office full time
    • Hybrid
    • Fully remote
    • Models remain transitional and subject to change
    • Increased scheduling flexibility critical for retention
    Quality Focus Shift
    • Traditional metrics: CSAT, utilization, average handle time
    • New priority: Agent experience rising in importance
    • Recognition that internal customer experience drives external customer experience
    Customer Satisfaction Challenges
    • Current CSAT surveys often lack nuance
    • Can't distinguish between:
      • Poor agent performance vs. poor company policy
      • Single bad experience vs. overall satisfaction
    • Need for more qualitative feedback mechanisms
    • "Watermelon effect": High metrics but poor actual experience
    Channel Evolution
    • Significant jump from multi-channel to omni-channel implementation
    • Growth in non-traditional channels:
      • Social media
      • SMS/text
      • Video
    • Technology enabling unified customer history across channels
    Key Takeaways
    • Successful organizations treat contact centers as "valuable strategic sources of intelligence"
    • Organizations not recognizing this value are "dropping the ball" and will "see the consequences"
    • Contact centers serve as the "hub" and "nervous system" reaching everywhere in the organization
    • When no one knows the answer, they turn to the contact center
    Notable Quotes
    • "If your agents aren't excited about AI, then you actually haven't communicated to them how enriching and transforming it could be"
    • "Agents are increasingly going to play a role where they are the eyes and the ears... providing the intelligence back to the C-suite"
    • Contact centers as "the strongest data... the hub... the nervous system that reaches in everywhere else"
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    28 min
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