Positive signs for CRM at Call Centre Expo

• September 19, 2008

By Danny Sullivan

This week’s Call Centre Expo conference in Birmingham was overshadowed by the collapse of Lehmans and the sudden merger of two of the UK’s biggest banks in an apparent attempt to stave off a similar occurence on this side of the Atlantic. Wandering the floor and catching snippets of conversation, the same topics seemed to be on everyone’s mind.

With the economy in turmoil and at a conference full to the brim with technology vendors and service providers, it might have been reasonable to expect a poor turnout, but it seems this was not the case. A steady flow of booth traffic was the order of the day at the Sword ciboodle stand, and the CRM software company notched up a record number of leads at this year’s show.

Rachel Tait, marketing manager at Sword ciboodle, commented, “This has been our most successful show yet, and it appears that there is more demand than ever for technology that can help improve customer service.”

Interesting. Perhaps the effects of the slowing economy are yet to filter through to technology purchasers at large organizations, or could it be that these companies are recognizing the value that can be derived by focusing on the customer in times of economic uncertainty?

Earlier this summer, an article in Customer Strategy magazine by the University of Edinburgh’s Frank Kirwan laid out the argument against cutting back on customer service-related spend during a downturn, stating, “Those firms that increased marketing spend or spend on R&D, product launches or activities that affected customer perceptions of value-for-money, typically saw the largest increments to profitability and market share during the upturn.”

And, judging by the noise on the floor at Call Centre Expo, customer retention (let alone acquisition) will be one of the major preoccupations for businesses in the year ahead. All in all, the signs for companies in the customer service arena seem pretty good.