Infinity Contact Centre Software (ICCS) was formed in 1998 by Carl Adkins and major international contact centre outsourcer, Teleperformance Group, to create software products exclusively for contact centre operations. The applications covered areas such as agent productivity, contact centre management tools and structured CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Since then, these applications have been refined and developed into the current Infinity Contact Manager suite which is currently used by thousands of agents and managers across Europe. Clients include BPS Contact Centre Services, Call Britannia, Maia Consulting, Teleperformance, The Carphone Warehouse & Talk Talk.

In 2007, Carl and the management team at Infinity completed a management buy-out to form an independent software company. This move enabled them to continue to increase their investment in software development and expand the business with new clients and new challenges.  Today, Carl is a technological advisor to many contact centre businesses and has been a regular judge for the European Call Centre Awards.

Paul is the owner and managing director of PBA, a specialist contact centre consultancy company that focuses on people and labour market related issues. Over the last 12 years he has led transformation projects looking at recruitment, retention, motivation, training and development, reward and recognition programmes for many leading contact centre based businesses both in the public and private sectors.

A number of these projects have been in the North East and with his economic background Paul has also completed a number of labour market studies in the region. Paul has worked recently with a number of public sector contact centres on developing key KPI’s that relate to customer satisfaction and then driving through the organisation methodologies to deliver on these. Paul has also been looking at contact centres and outsourcing activity in Central and Eastern Europe linked to UK and other globally based corporations.

Alex Coxon has been reporting on contact centres and customer service for nearly a decade. She started working in the industry when she was made deputy editor on Call Centre Focus (CCF) magazine back in 2000, and was promoted to the role of editor in 2001. She stayed with CCF until 2005, when she embarked on a freelance writing and editing career which has included the editorship of online contact centre magazine Call Centre Helper. Her specialist areas are quite diverse nowadays; she’s a travel writer when she’s not reporting on charities or gritty urban regeneration stories.

Alex believes the contact centre sector will always be in her blood however, and she continues to write for several titles in the contact centre press. She also works alongside professional bodies such as the Professional Planning Forum, the Call Centre Management Association and the Contact Centre Council at the Direct Marketing Association, undertaking various copywriting activities.

Alex has been a regular judge for the North East Contact Centre Awards since they were launched in 2003.

Shona Harper is founder and director of Contact Centre Professional, one of the North East’s leading contact centre consultancies and training providers, servicing a wide range of blue chip and public sector clients both across the region and nationally.

Recognised by the Adult Learning Inspectorate as being one the best training providers in the UK, CCP won further recognition, when they were awarded a prestigious national award, presented by Bill Rammell MP.

Shona is recognised across the UK for her expertise in developing innovative qualifications and training programmes as well as for leading edge consultancy, research and people development solutions. A regular judge for north eastern and national business awards, Shona is also a regular contributor to industry press and is a key member of the UK contact centre stakeholder group.

David Payne is managing director and a senior consultant within Maia Consulting, one of the UK’s leading customer management consultancy practices. Specialising in the delivery of excellence in Customer Experience, David has spent the last 20 years working at both strategic and operational level within some of the UK’s largest corporate companies and major outsource operations. Often quoted in the contact centre and customer management press, David’s opinions are valued by many as a thought leader within the contact centre and customer experience marketplace.

Mats Rennstam is managing director of Bright, an independent customer management consultancy that also produces the benchmarking survey Bright Index which delivers key performance indicators of contact centres in different sectors from all over Europe. He has 20 years’ experience from the contact centre and research industry, working all over Europe in director roles at companies such as Frost & Sullivan and Teleperformance. He became a partner in Bright in 2004, founded Bright UK in 2006, and is a regular keynote speaker and member of the CCA’s Research Council. Swedish by origin Mats has been based in London since 1998. More info on: www.brightindex.co.uk

After working in banking for 21 years, Peter had a number of posts including business development and marketing manager for Tyne & Wear Development Corporation. He then joined Northern Development Company, which became part of the Regional Development Agency in 1998, working on inward investment. Peter’s present role is strategic accounts senior specialist with a particular remit for the service sector, including contact centres.

Graham is the managing partner at Blue Box which is a boutique consulting group set up in the North East of England. Over the past year Graham has enjoyed working on a diverse range of client projects including:

• Leading a review of social care alarms handling for a major Housing Association;
• Working with a NHS trust to implement new ways of working in customer contact handling;
• Reviewing and improving the Contact Centre operations for a Train Operating Company;
• Writing and implementing a Customer Access strategy for a large unitary Authority.

Prior to joining this Graham worked as a consultant for RXP, and has previously had several operational management and service improvement roles in both public and private sector organisations.