The Contact Centres Turning Ambition into Action

The annual UK National Contact Centre Conference took place on 30 September at Westminster’s QEII Centre, with the 2025 theme of ‘Built to Lead: Turning Ambition into Action’.

McKinsey previously cited 2025 as being pivotal for contact centres, declaring it as the ‘year of transformation’. “It’s a key time in our industry with technology changing at a rapid rate, and it’s the contact centre that knows your customers and continues to be its super power,” said Leigh Hopwood, CEO, CCMA, in kicking off the speaker sessions at the conference.

Over the course of the day, a number of industry leaders, experts and inspirational speakers showcased the variety of ways in which contact centres are now ‘turning ambition into action’.

Ripping Up the Rulebook

CCMA’s Services Director, Kate Knowles, hosted The AA’s Group Customer Outcomes Manager, Laura Muriel, Scheduling Manager Simone James and Real Time Manager, Stuart Noone for a panel discussion on resource planning, driving up Employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS) and Quality Assurance (QA) in the contact centre.

Resource planning and QA are two of the hardest things to get right in the contact centre, and making changes to systems can be daunting. “Historically we’ve needed a big team of Quality Assurance colleagues, but we’ve changed a huge amount and leant on a lot of employee feedback,” explained Laura.

“We’ve ripped up the QA rulebook. Two new pillars – targeting high risk customer journeys and implementing end to end journey outcomes to understand more – has driven so much insight.”

Heineken, the global drinks company, proudly pronounced that people and customers are at the heart of everything they do. Paul Mazoyer, their Head of Customer Care, shared how investing in quality, the right tools and new roles allowed Heineken’s contact centre to build on a people-focused and positive culture.

“Change brings challenge, but it also creates opportunity,” Paul noted. By fostering safe spaces to learn, encouraging open and authentic conversations, and keeping regular touchpoints, Heineken has driven consistency while staying true to who they are.

Confronting the Fraud Threat

Liam Bamford, Fraud Systems and Control at Lloyds Bank, provided detailed insight into the occasionally terrifying methods organised crime groups are using to target contact centres in fraud attempts, and how Lloyds is proactively tackling them.

“They [fraudsters] don’t always transact directly over the phone. Their aim is to get in contact, extract information to then take it and commit fraud elsewhere,” he warned, highlighting the sophisticated reconnaissance tactics criminals now employ.

“Fraud is something you have to get out in front of, especially in the financial services sector,” Liam added.

The Future of Customer Contact

CCMA Research Director Stephen Yap was joined on stage by BT research lead Dr Nicola Millard to discuss the future of the contact centre, and a recent research project published by ECCA examining what lies ahead.

“Customers’ basic needs don’t actually change,” Nicola observed. “But one huge change is channels. There are so many channels but spreading your investment across all of them isn’t feasible, so you have to establish those that are most important.

“Telephony continues to stand up. So many customers are in crisis when they contact, and they continue to turn to the phone for anything urgent. Telephony still needs investment, even alongside all these new available channels.”

Navigating the AI Opportunity

Generative and Agentic AI were unsurprisingly key topics of debate. How will AI impact roles, operations and customer interactions? “Generative AI has opened up a whole realm of possibilities for customer service and contact centres,” said Sabio’s Chief Innovation Officer, Stuart Dorman. “We have to constantly evaluate and reevaluate how we use and apply these technologies.”

The message was clear: AI presents transformational opportunities, but successful implementation requires strategic thinking, careful evaluation and ongoing adaptation rather than rushed deployment.

Throughout the day’s sessions, leaders shared how they’ve adapted to overcome challenges and hurdles in the contact centre.  Sarah Williams, Chief Customer Experience Office for Westminster City Council shared how a bold, innovative new approach helped support to help residents most in need led to its flagship Vulnerability Project. The initiative focused on improving the support for vulnerable residents and closed 13,000+ cases in under a year, reducing repair queues by 13% and achieving 97% satisfaction.

Westminster City Council’s Sarah Williams presents at the UK National Contact Centre Conference

NewDay’s Director of Customer Operations, Francesca Rea also shared details of how the financial services firm has undergone phenomenal change, recently winning the UK National Contact Centre Award for Contact Centre Excellence, and achieving the highest score against the CCMA’s Contact Centre Standards Framework.

Leading Through Change

The conference concluded with renowned psychologist Dr. Linda Papadopoulos, who outlined the importance of adaptability in becoming a great leader.

Her key principles resonated strongly with the audience: see change as an opportunity, cultivate a growth mindset, understand that self-talk matters, and zoom out when stress zooms in. Perhaps most importantly, she emphasised that burnout isn’t a badge of honour – a timely reminder for an industry navigating rapid transformation.

The 2025 conference demonstrated that while the contact centre industry faces unprecedented change, leaders are responding with innovation, courage and commitment to both their people and their customers.

As Leigh summarised in closing proceedings: “We stand at the intersection of AI innovation, cultural transformation and evolving customer expectations, but the future of contact centres isn’t just about technology – it’s about people. It’s always been about people. The stories shared today remind us that meaningful change starts with empowered colleagues and empathetic leadership.

“Our challenge now is to turn ambition into action: to harness AI; to build inclusive, resilient teams; and to design customer experiences that are not only efficient but deeply human. The contact centre of the future is already being built – by you, today.”

The UK National Contact Centre Conference 2025