Challenges ahead for customer service in the UK, expert warns

There are big challenges ahead for customer service in the UK, according to a leading expert in the field.

Speaking at the Institute for Customer Service’s annual conference today, the organisation’s CEO Jo Causon will set out the key areas of concern.

She will name a volatile world economy, a UK skills shortage, uncertainty over the future of EU membership and the introduction of the Chancellor’s ‘living wage,’ as factors to consider.

Ms Causon will say: “There is a real sense that we are at a crossroads and poised to enter a new era of challenge, uncertainty and complexity, but also one of great opportunity and renewed purpose for the customer experience agenda.

“I have often said fortune favours the brave and we need to be brave.”

Describing the findings of the Institute’s latest UK customer service index, Ms Causon will continue: “We have seen a year on year increase in all sectors except banking with some of the biggest increases in traditionally lower ranked sectors such as Utilities and the public sector.

“We are seeing evidence of the emergence of challenger brands taking on established players and changing the customer service landscape. In the latest research we can also see the importance of employee’s attitudes and behaviours as key points of differentiation for any organisation.

“I believe we are seeing an end to mass marketing and a greater drive to personalisation.  We are also seeing a greater polarisation in organisational performance from those that understand and drive the customer agenda and those that will over time simply fall away.”

Setting out how UKCSI would be informing these issues, Ms Causon will say: “We are undertaking a significant new piece of breakthrough research into the Customer of the Future and I wanted to share some early findings with you.

“This work picks up on the themes we identified in our Future of Customer Service research in 2012 and projects forward into the next decade. It focuses on how customer needs, behaviours and preferences will change and how organisations need to respond.”

The UKCSI boss will conclude by describing the vision the organisation had for the future of UK customer service, as “a world where customer experience makes a positive and sustained impact on individuals, organisations and the economic wellbeing of UK PLC.”