Local market research specialist SMSR selects KC Contact Centres as outsourcing partner

Tue Feb 28, 2012

KC Contact Centres has been selected by local market research specialists SMSR to carry out telephone surveys on its behalf.

The five-year contract, worth £1.3m, will see KC Contact Centres conduct around 50,000 telephone research interviews for SMSR clients each year. 
KC Contact Centres provides outsourced customer service, sales, research and directory enquiries services to a range of public and private sector clients including BT, MFI, and Hull City Council, for whom it handles more than 15,000 calls per week.

Established in 1991, SMSR specialises in conducting social research for public sector organisations including councils, police forces and Primary Care Trusts.  SMSR provides both quantitative solutions such as postal, telephone, and face to face surveys, citizen’s panels and online research; and qualitative solutions such as focus groups, community engagement events and in-depth interviewing. 

Its decision to outsource telephone surveys to KC Contact Centres means it’s able to handle increases in demand from its growing client base more efficiently.

Darren Hornby, Project Director at SMSR, said: “We’ve been very successful in winning new clients in recent years and this has led to a significant increase in the amount of telephone-based market research we do. We felt the time was right to outsource this aspect of our operations to a specialist partner who can deliver all the benefits of best practice contact centre services, allowing us to focus on what we do best, which is delivering top-quality social and market research that meets our clients’ needs.

“An important factor in choosing KC Contact Centres as a partner is their focus on great customer service. We’ve been able to transfer our call centre operations and call centre agents to them smoothly, confident in the knowledge that calls will be handled on our behalf with the utmost professionalism.”

Tony Jopling, Head of KC Contact Centres, said: “This is an important contract for us. SMSR are well-respected experts in their field and we hope that our partnership with them will lead to us winning more work from market research companies so that we’re able to grow our business and recruit even more local people.”

Last year KC Contact Centres became one of just 10 call centres in Yorkshire to be awarded the Global Standard for quality service by international industry body the Customer Contact Association (CCA). It is ranked 7th in the list of top UK public sector call centres for customer service and is the highest-ranked outsourced public sector contact centre. It is ranked amongst the top 40 of the UK’s 6,000+ call centres.

KC Contact Centres wins customer service contract with furniture retailer MFI

Fri Jan 13, 2012

ONLINE furniture retailer MFI has chosen KC Contact Centres to provide outsourced customer service and sales support to customers who buy from its website www.mfi.co.uk.

The one-year contract will see KC Contact Centres handle calls from MFI customers between 9am and 7pm on weekdays and from 9am until 2pm on Saturdays.

The MFI brand was relaunched as on online-only retailer late last year. Customers can buy bedroom, bathroom, dining room and lounge furniture from a range featuring over 2,500 products from its website.

Part of the KCOM Group PLC, KC Contact Centres provides inbound and outbound contact centre, wholesale directory enquiries and professional consultancy services to a range of public and private sector organisations.

Last year it became one of just 10 call centres in Yorkshire to be awarded the Global Standard for quality service by international industry body the Customer Contact Association (CCA). It is ranked 7th in the list of top UK public sector call centres for customer service and is the highest-ranked outsourced public sector contact centre.

Head of KC Contact Centres Tony Jopling said: “We’re delighted to be working on a brand that’s as well-known as MFI.

“As well as looking forward to delivering a fantastic customer experience on MFI’s behalf, we’re excited at the opportunity to extend our experience in the retail sector.”

Walker Group Retail Director Ged Lees said: “We’ve invested in making our website a great shopping environment for customers, and our performance over the holiday period has shown that’s proved worthwhile.

“We wanted to make sure the customer service we provide over the phone is of the same high standard, and KC’s commitment to customer service, flexibility and experience make them the perfect contact centre partner for our needs.”

Release of new Twilight movie sees calls to KC Contact Centres soar

Tue Nov 22, 2011

LOCAL outsourced contact centre provider KC Contact Centres has seen a huge increase in calls to a cinema booking service it provides on behalf of one of its clients since the release of the latest film in the blockbuster Twilight saga.

Breaking Dawn, the new movie in the vampire fantasy series, was launched on Friday and film buffs expect it to be a record breaker. In 2010 the most recent movie in the series, Eclipse, set a new record for the biggest midnight opening in US box office history, while the previous record holder was also a Twilight saga movie, New Moon in 2009.

KC Contact Centres handles calls from cinema goers from across the UK on behalf of call centre technology firm Netcall, which provides the speech recognition and voice automation service used by two leading cinema companies to take telephone bookings. In the event that callers need to speak to an advisor, calls are transferred to KC Contact Centres, part of local communications provider KC.

Since bookings for Breaking Dawn opened, the KC team has received 127 per cent more calls each day than usual.

Tony Jopling, Head of KC Contact Centres, said: “We always experience a spike in calls when popular movies are released, as movie-goers don’t want to risk showing up at the cinema to find that screenings are full. 

“If the increase in calls we’ve received since bookings for Breaking Dawn opened is anything to go by, this is a film that’s going to break some box office records. One of the reasons Netcall work with us is our ability to manage large increases in call volumes at short notice, and it’s great to play a part, however small, in something that causes so much excitement.”

Breaking Dawn leading man Robert Pattinson delighted crowds at London’s Westfield shopping centre in Stratford on Wednesday when he attended the UK premiere of the movie.

Earlier in the week hoards of screaming fans turned out for the Los Angeles premiere, with many having waited for days to catch a glimpse of the stars of the vampire fantasy series.

Breaking Dawn is showing at all four cinemas in Hull.

KC Contact Centres help revive community garden with help of local businesses

Sun Oct 30, 2011

When a team of employees from KC Contact Centres started to plan a team building challenge, they knew they wanted their challenge to give something back to the local community.

With the support of Business in the Community’s (BITC) business volunteering programme, Hull & Humber KC Cares, the team found a project at The Green Way Primary School to work in partnership with.

Sarah Cappleman, KC Training Consultant, was one of the two team leaders on The Green Way Primary School, she said: “We visited the school with the Hull & Humber KC Cares team and we knew it was the perfect project for us. The eco-school opened in 2008 and was awarded Green Flag Status, an international programme that ensures schools put sustainable at the heart of the school life, in January 2011. The sensory garden they wanted help with was run down and needed some TLC.”

The challenge wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity and support of local businesses who donated various supplies. The 18 volunteers from The Green Way School challenge were supported by MKM, B&Q, Tyremen, Colletta & Tyson, Morris’s and Crown Paints, who even sent down extra volunteers to help.

The project had previously been supported by KC Construction, A-Plant Swanland Nurseries, Henleys Nurseries, and Rainbow Gardens.

KC Contact Centres Business Analyst Paul Dannatt shared the team leader role with Sarah, he said: “Our team work on different projects and accounts so our team building challenge gave us the opportunity to work together to achieve one goal, improve our communication skills and help Sarah and I progress our people management skills. Despite the weather, which wasn’t on our side first thing, the challenge was a great success. It was great to see the children in the garden and enjoying what we had created together as a team.”

The Green Way Primary School headteacher Mrs Elizabeth Wilson said: “As a Green Flag school our outside spaces are extremely important to us. Our pupils learn how to respect their environment, so for them to see the volunteers from KC doing exactly the same and helping us to improve our sensory garden was just fantastic. The volunteers worked through horrible down pours but they kept going and the end result is brilliant. I can’t wait for our pupils to be able to use the garden again,”

Anna Millar, KC Community Relations Manager said: “Within days of each other, we had requests to find community projects for two team building challenges. Working in partnership with a community group in this way is a fantastic win win situation; our people got an immense amount out of their challenges from a development point of view and by being able to give something back. And the two community partners got tasks and jobs done that they would struggle to complete with their limited resources and time.

“The teams had a fantastic day at each of their challenges, I would urge other businesses to take a different look at team building opportunities in the future to find something worthwhile and they won’t have to look far, our team didn’t.”

To find out more about how to get involved in the Hull & Humber KC Cares programme please call Tessa Wray, KC Cares Business Manager on (01482) 638610 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

KC Contact Centres ranked in UK’s top 50 call centres for third year in a row

Thu Sep 22, 2011

It’s the third year running that KC Contact Centres has been recognised in the UK’s biggest ever call centre benchmarking exercise. The ranking exercise was commissioned by Call Centre Focus magazine with the aim of raising customer service standards in the call centre industry.

KC Contact Centres provides outsourced inbound and outbound customer contact services to the public and private sector. The benchmarking activity which took place to determine KC Contact Centres’ ranking amongst the UK’s best call centres tested the customer service delivered by the 300300 service it runs on behalf of Hull City Council, which provides a one-stop information service about all of the council’s services.

Last year it gained an impressive ranking of 24th out of 50 overall, and 4th in the public sector category. It is also the only outsourced contact centre in East Yorkshire to have been awarded the Global Standard for quality service from industry body the Customer Contact Association.

Tony Jopling, Head of KC Contact Centres, said: “To be recognised by the UK call centre industry just once is a fantastic achievement, let alone three years in a row.

“We’re thrilled to make the top 50 out of the 6,000-plus call centres who participated. Customer service is everything in our industry, and it’s great to get external recognition that the service we’re providing to local people on behalf of Hull City Council is top quality.”

The Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service survey is unique in that the results are obtained through independent market research conducted by GfK Mystery Shopping, which makes over 18,500 mystery shopper enquiries to call centres to identify the best performers. Each call centre is measured across five key areas of service identified by customers as important to them (timeliness, ease of use, reliability, staff knowledge and personalised service) and awarded a customer service rating in percentage terms.

The KC Contact Centres team will find out its exact ranking later this month, when the Top 50 table and the best performers in each sector will be announced at a ceremony in London.

 

KC Contact Centres chooses local firm to provide interpretation services

Mon Jun 27, 2011

KC Contact Centres, part of communications provider KC, provides outsourced customer services to a range of clients including Hull City Council and a busy central Government department.

From next week, all calls from non-English speakers to KC’s call centre based in Hull city centre will be connected to one of Language is Everything’s qualified linguists. A three-way conversation between the customer, the call centre adviser and the interpreter means that the customer’s enquiry can be handled quickly and with confidence that their needs are being met.

Language is Everything provides telephone and face-to-face interpretation services and written translation services to public and private sector organisations throughout the UK and internationally.

It employs 20 people at its offices in the World Trade Centre in Hull and has a network of qualified linguists based around the UK who cover more than 170 different languages.

Tony Jopling, Head of KC Contact Centres, said: “We receive calls every day from people whose first language isn’t English and we want to give them the same high standard of service that all our other customers receive.

“Language is Everything shares our passion for customer service excellence and we’ve been impressed by the quality of the interpreters they use, the efficiency of their operations and their innovative approach.

“The fact that they’re based locally is the icing on the cake. During 2010 KC contributed more than £150m to the region’s economy and a big part of this came from our policy of using local suppliers wherever we can. We’re happy to be working with a company that’s creating local jobs and contributing to the region’s economy.”

Language is Everything Chief Executive Carolyn Burgess said: “We’re delighted to be working with KC Contact Centres.

“Through our interpreters, non-English speakers can gain access to the vital public sector services they need, and it’s great to be working with a company that recognises how important it is to use qualified linguists.”

The contract will be managed by Hannah Brigham, Business Development Manager at Language is Everything. She said: “As our communities become more diverse there’s a growing need for language services within the public sector and our work with KC Contact Centres will see us interpreting calls speakers of languages including Polish, Russian, Latvian, Portuguese and Mandarin.”

KC Contact Centres wins contract extension with BT Global Services

Wed May 25, 2011

KC Contact Centres has won a three-year extension to its contract with BT Global Services to provide outsourced contact centre services on its behalf.

The contract, worth £1.3m over the three-year term, means KC Contact Centres will continue to provide inbound customer contact services, including call and email handling, to a key central Government department.

Part of the KCOM Group PLC, KC Contact Centres provides inbound and outbound contact centre services as well as wholesale directory enquiries services and professional consultancy services. It has provided services to Government departments on behalf of BT since 2004 and its other clients include Hull City Council, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, Telephonetics VIP and Maureen 118 212.

Head of KC Contact Centres Tony Jopling said: “We’re delighted that our contract with BT Global Services to support its outsourced contract with central Government has been extended.

“It’s an important contract for us – BT has exacting standards for service delivery and their desire to continue working in partnership with us is a signal to other potential customers of the quality of the services we provide.”

Janet Parkinson, Commercial Supplier Manager at BT Global Services, said: “We only sub-contract to the best and most reliable suppliers and over time KC Contact Centres has proven itself to be one of these. We look forward to continuing our relationship with them.”

Earlier this year KC Contact Centres achieved the Customer Contact Association (CCA) Gold Standard in recognition of its commitment to providing excellent customer service.

To achieve the Global Standard it had to demonstrate, through a rigorous assessment process, that its recruitment, training and development and communications processes are all designed with outstanding customer service in mind.

In 2010 KC Contact Centres was ranked among the top five UK call centres for customer service in the public sector, and among the top 25 UK call centres for customer service overall.

KC extends partnership with The Deep

Thu Apr 14, 2011

KC has renewed its sponsorship of The Deep’s Learning Centre for another three years. As part of the partnership KC has donated 22 new laptops to the Learning Centre, the first equipment upgrade that has taken place since The Deep opened 10 years ago.

As well as providing new laptops, KC is also sponsoring Discovery Corner, a popular interactive zone for visitors young and old, and the Business Centre, which provides office and laboratory space for small to medium sized businesses.

Susan Hornby, our Head of Education at The Deep: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with KC, and would like to thank them for sponsoring Discovery Corner and the Business Centre as well as helping us to provide fantastic IT services in our Learning Centre Their support in providing top class education facilities for young people in Hull is a testament to their commitment to the community.

“As a charity, we’re extremely grateful for the support of local businesses like KC, and we are looking forward to continuing to work with them.”

Each year more than 30,000 primary and high school pupils use the Learning Centre to enjoy fun and educational workshops, presentations and hands-on activities, which are delivered by qualified teachers. The young people learn a broad range of subjects raising awareness of the marine environment. All sessions are closely referenced to the National Curriculum.

Anna Millar, Community Relations Manager at KC said: “The Deep is one of our region’s success stories and we are proud to be continuing our partnership with them for another two years. The Learning Centre offers young people a unique and inspiring learning experience in first class facilities, which now includes brand new IT equipment that will support their learning further. The Deep has something for everyone, from supporting young people at the Learning Centre to helping businesses develop in the Business Centre. We look forward to working with them and continuing our great partnership.”

And it’s not the young people visiting The Deep that will benefit from the updated equipment. The old PC equipment from the Learning Centre is being donated to charity including the former computer storage units which are being given to children’s charity Barnardos.

Community power to KC’s people

Wed Mar 23, 2011

The individuals, organisations and projects that the business considers for support through its community contribution programme, KC in the Community, will now be decided by the KC Community Panel.

The team of nine people, from across KC nominated themselves to be part of the panel and meet once a month to assess each request for support.

Anna Millar, KC’s Community Relations Manager, said: “We encourage our people to play a role in our community contributions, and there isn’t a bigger role than making the decisions that directly benefit the communities we serve, and that shape our programme.

“The response we had from our people was overwhelming.  When assessing each request for support, for financial or business support, they bring their own life experiences and knowledge of their communities to the table. After only two meetings they have already shown great understanding of our community priorities and aims.”

Once a quarter the panel also allocates KC Community Grants to local causes and projects. In the last round of grants they awarded £500 to Special Smiles, a charity that organises day trips for children with life limiting illnesses. They also awarded £250 to the Hallgate Primary School Judo Club, run by judo World Champion Karen Briggs, and £200 to St Georges Primary School to enable the school to buy outdoor play equipment.

To apply for a grant of up to £500 or to seek business services or financial support above £500, apply online by visiting the community pages of the KC website, www.k-c.com , call Anna Millar on (01482) 602831 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Apprenticeship with KC leads to permanent role for Chelsea

Thu Feb 10, 2011

A local young person has started her career in customer service after completing an apprenticeship with communications provider KC.

Chelsea Birnie, 18, from west Hull, joined KC Contact Centres in March 2010 through the JHP Training apprenticeship scheme, which provides vocational training for people in the local area. 

Chelsea’s year-long apprenticeship was due to end in March 2011, but her dedication has led to her completing it and achieving an NVQ Level 2 in Customer Service well ahead of schedule.

KC Contact Centres provides outsourced customer contact and directory enquiry services for a range of local and national clients. Chelsea has been taken on by KC as a permanent, full time customer service advisor handling calls on Hull City Council’s 300300 service.

KC is committed to investing in local young talent, particularly helping young people to become well-qualified and skilled employees.  The firm recently employed a further eight young people on apprenticeships in a variety of roles throughout the organisation, and will support them to develop their careers and become fully trained and qualified in the roles they have taken on.

Helen Roberts, KC’s HR director, said: “It’s vital that businesses invest in local people and keep talent and skills in East Yorkshire. With the increase in competition for graduate jobs, it has become more important than ever to offer viable and credible alternatives to university, and to support young people to develop the skills and experience that will benefit them, our business and the local economy.

“Chelsea is a great asset to the KC Contact Centres team and a clear example of the value of the apprenticeship model to employers and young people alike.”

Speaking on her appointment, Chelsea said: “When I was at college I was keen to get into office work so am really happy to have had this opportunity and to have had KC’s support throughout my apprenticeship.  I’m looking forward to continuing my career with KC.