Contact centres are being pulled in two directions at once: reduce cost-to-serve and raise the bar on experience, while demand volatility, talent pressure, fraud, regulation and AI acceleration all increase the stakes of every customer interaction. The result is that contact centre decisions are no longer ‘operational’, they shape customer trust, revenue protection, risk exposure and brand reputation. This summit is a timely place for senior leaders to come together, compare what’s working, and align on the few moves that will matter most over the next 12–18 months.
This senior-level forum is for leaders who want to move beyond ‘optimising the operation’ and start activating the contact centre as a strategic asset. The agenda is interactive to give you real conversations: how customer insight influences enterprise decisions, how workforce strategy flexes through volatility and change, how to lead restructures fairly, how to prove ROI, and how to protect trust in a higher-risk world shaped by regulation, fraud and AI.
- Leave with a clearer view: what’s changed, what matters next, and what needs Board air-time.
- Compare notes with leaders like you: honest discussions on model, channels, cost and performance.
- Get ahead of restructure risk: what ‘fair’ looks like in practice and how to protect trust through change.
- Make ROI easier to defend: the measures that cut through, and the stories your CFO will back.
- Get practical on trust, fraud and AI: what good governance looks like when the stakes are high.
- Find the avoidable contact: where is repeat demand coming from and how others are fixing it.
- Protect the brand: the importance of consistent tone, decisions and outcomes for loyalty.
If you’re shaping decisions on customer, cost, risk, people or transformation, this is a high-value day out of the business, and we have an incredible line-up of speakers.
Join us on Tuesday 14 July in Manchester, or send a senior leader who can bring your challenges and take practical answers back. Places are limited, so please confirm attendance early.
Agenda
10:00 – Welcome
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| 10:15 – Keynote: Reframing the Role of the Contact Centre
The contact centre is no longer an operational function to be optimised, it is a strategic asset to be activated. Kirk will set out a clear point of view on how contact centres are evolving from tactical delivery engines into enterprise-wide creators of value and sustainability. He will challenge you to rethink the role of the contact centre as the organisation’s heartbeat and most powerful source of customer insight; one that actively shapes strategy, informs decision-making, and influences outcomes far beyond the operation itself. Through a strategic lens, Kirk will frame where leadership attention should be focused and how contact centre leaders can create the space, credibility and influence needed to engage confidently with Boards and senior peers. You’ll leave with a sharper understanding of your role in repositioning the contact centre at the core of organisational success.
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| 10:45 – Workforce Strategy That Flexes: Leading Capability, Culture and Change
Contact centres are operating in a period of constant volatility, shifting demand, evolving customer expectations and rapid organisational change. Fibrus will take a strategic view of workforce planning, exploring how leaders can build future-ready capability, design workforce models that flex, and maintain performance when the ‘normal’ model no longer applies. Centred on people leadership, Stefan will explore how to plan for future skills, protect culture and engagement, and use coaching-led performance management to help people succeed as roles and channels change. He’ll share his practical thoughts into aligning workforce strategy with operational reality, supporting leaders to lead through ambiguity, and designing an employee experience that sustains resilience, motivation and results at scale.
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| 11:05 – Restructure Ready: Fairness for All
Workforce restructures are among the most high‑stakes moments a contact centre leader will face, commercially, operationally, and culturally. In this fast-paced, highly practical Q&A, Leigh will be asking Kate what the key HR considerations leaders need on their radar when reshaping teams. We’ll cover the people-impact decisions that can make or break trust: how to approach restructure planning and process risk, how to think about pay and role changes, and what to consider to protect fairness and consistency. We’ll finish on the positives: how to come out of change with a stronger culture by rebuilding confidence through reward and recognition, making sure colleagues feel seen, valued, and clear on what great looks like in the new structure.
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| 11:35 – Roundtable Discussion: Proving ROI
Whether investing in technology or people, your FD is looking for a return on that investment. How are you proving the ROI? Have attitudes to investment changed? Can you link investment to operational metrics to customer outcomes?
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| 12:15 – Networking Lunch |
| 13:00 – Trust: Leading Contact Centres in a High Risk World
As contact centres take on a bigger strategic role, the risks they carry grow too. Data privacy, regulatory scrutiny, fraud prevention and AI now sit squarely with contact centre leaders, not just legal or compliance teams. This panel debate will explore what it really means to lead with confidence in today’s complex risk landscape where customer trust is increasingly fragile. The discussion will unpack leadership responsibility and accountability, particularly in increasingly automated environments and when outsourcing services. We’ll debate the risks that come with AI‑driven tools and automated decision‑making and how leaders balance efficiency with protection, especially for vulnerable customers. Expect to be challenged in your thinking, to consider how risk, trust and responsibility shape long‑term organisational resilience given a secure, compliant and ethical contact centre operation is no longer optional but fundamental to sustainable success. Hosted by Chris Ward, Content Lead, CCMA with:
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| 13:40 – Roundtable Discussion: Reducing Failure Demand and Improving FCR
Which parts of the organisation are creating the most repeated contact? Will proactive contact make a difference? Does the customer journey irritate or support the experience? Can the customer’s issue be solved first time?
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| 14:15 – Making Every Interaction Live Your Brand Promise
Your contact centre isn’t just a service or sales channel, it’s where your brand is experienced, tested, and believed (or not) in real time. When customers feel the experience matches the promise, loyalty follows. In this session, we’ll explore how to connect brand experience to every conversation and build consistency so the tone, decisions, and outcomes feel unmistakably ‘you’, regardless of channel. We’ll discuss approaches used by brands with high customer expectations, including the policies and processes that protect the brand promise, the tone of voice and behavioural standards that bring it to life, and the quality and governance habits that keep delivery consistent at scale.
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| 15:00 – Q&A + Final Thoughts
As a round up to the day, you’ll have an opportunity to raise questions of all the days speakers and share your comments and learnings from the day.
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| 15:15 – Close |
About the Speakers
Kirk Bradley, Operations Director, Bupa
Kirk leads BUPA Operations, driving customer-centric transformation across people, process and technology, championing 2,500 agents delivering award‑winning service excellence helping customers live healthier, happier lives through multiple transformation initiatives companywide.
Stefan Cunning, Group Head of People and Culture, Fibrus
Stefan is a strategic people leader who believes culture is demonstrated through everyday behaviours. He guides teams through complex change using clear, high‑impact communication, building connected, high‑performing cultures where people can be themselves and deliver on the company mission.
Kate Palmer, Chief Operations Officer, Penninsula
Kate is involved in all aspects of HR and employment law advice. She develops Peninsula’s expert law advisors and ensures each client gets the answers they need every time they call. As an industry opinion leader, Kate’s expertise is frequently sought. She is regularly featured on national television and radio as well as in major publications, both industry and press. Kate is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.
Ketan Hindocha, Customer Service Director, Pennon Group
Ketan leads customer transformation at Pennon Group, blending operational excellence, cultural change and inclusive leadership to improve customer, colleague and regulatory outcomes across large, global, multi-channel teams and communities worldwide.
Ryan McCole, Director of Core Operations, Boots
Ryan is accountable for workforce operations, pharmacy deployment, stores communication, planning and insights. In addition he has overall accountability for the Customer Support Centre in Nottingham. The customer support centre is in the midst of an exciting programme of transformation where customers and colleagues remain at the heart of all future plans.
Alex Nagle, Customer Service Director, VIVID Homes
Alex is the Customer Service Director at VIVID, with over 30 years’ experience in housing. She is dedicated to delivering great customer service, shaping services with customers and creating positive customer experiences.
Obi Nwokedi, Managing Partner, Orbital Law
Obi Nwokedi is Managing Partner at Orbital Law. He is an experienced technology and data privacy lawyer. Obi is an ANSI-accredited Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E).
Lucinda Scott, Customer Director, FirstDirect
Lucinda is responsible for leading the bank’s pioneering approach to customer service and strengthening its reputation as one of the most trusted and innovative financial services brands in the UK. She brings over 30 years of leadership experience across financial services, with a proven record of driving cultural transformation, sustainable growth, and outstanding customer outcomes.
Supported by
Where and when?
Date: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Time: 10:00 - 15:15
Location: Hotel VOCO, Manchester
Who is it for?
Designed for senior contact centre leaders, such as c-suite executives, directors, and heads of function, this event focuses on the strategic challenges the industry is facing.
How much is it?
Included as part of CCMA membership.
£99+VAT for non-members
Why should you go?
If you’re shaping decisions on customer, cost, risk, people or transformation, this is a high-value day out of the business, and we have an incredible line-up of speakers.
Become a member for
- Free events
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Join today for immediate access.