Take the Ziptone Final Exam: 20 questions, based on what we have written over the past few months about customer contact, CX, AI, sourcing, and the labor market.

Hyperautomation, aimed at end-to-end automation using a combination of technologies, is on the rise.

In part two of the series on omnichannel: how do you set up omnichannel customer contact and what are the most common pitfalls?

Where do the opportunities lie for the use of AI in customer contact for the benefit of customers, employees, and managers? Ziptone helps you get started.

In the first part of this knowledge article, we explain what omnichannel customer contact is and what it can yield for both the organization and the customer.

In addition to agents, team leaders, supervisors, and contact center managers are also vulnerable when it comes to data breaches, states Ilias Bouaissa of Steam-connect.

In this article, we take a specific look at the costs of AI in customer contact. What do you pay per application, and how do you control the costs?

Shorter conversations and less after-work time through the application of AI: you can calculate the benefits. But what are the AI ​​costs associated with that?

“On digital self-service channels, it is not always visible whether an action is performed by the customer themselves or by an AI agent acting on behalf of that customer.”

Would you give an AI agent access to your smartphone, email, calendar, and bank account? Agentic AI is eager to enter our lives.

The wrap-up of CCW2026: a lot of attention for AI, agentic AI still needs to mature and the focus on sovereignty is growing.

Only 25% of business and IT leaders say 40% or more of their AI experiments are now in production.

For those still planning a cloud migration: what does sovereign cloud mean? And what does "uptime" mean if you lack complete control?

Good customer service strengthens your brand. Or does good customer service actually start with establishing a strong brand?

ISO standards can help organize and improve the quality of customer contact. What ISO standards are available, and what are their benefits?

The Dutch Digitalization Strategy has been relaunched.

The new ABU collective labor agreement will take effect on January 1, 2026. Temporary and permanent employees will then be equated in every respect.

Ranzijn promises: after reading this book, you'll be eager to effectively help dissatisfied customers. For the service recovery champion, it's certainly a kickstart.

There is a specific market for smaller facility contact centers in the Netherlands.

The new collective labor agreement for temporary workers is one of the biggest changes to flexible work in a long time. All the rules are being overhauled.

The new version of the Code of Responsible Market Conduct has been made less restrictive in many areas. In other areas, ambitions have been relaxed.

The EU Data Act, which has been in effect since 12 September 2025, affects customer service departments in various areas.

Managers see a problem and look for a tool to address it (or vice versa). Adopting new technology is a multi-headed monster, but it's easily tamed.

How do we prepare our employees to collaborate with AI agents who may be able to do more than they are themselves?

The CXPA's call in the 2025 CX Throne Speech: dare to make choices and build a movement with energy and evidence that truly turns customers into fans.

Professor Arne De Keyser researches the gap between technology and customer experience (CX), as well as emerging technologies. Will we see cyborgs in the contact center?

TNO sees the added value of genAI for improving productivity, but warns about its impact on work. Agents could lose their rest time.

Dutch municipalities still rely mainly on the physical counter in the city office or town hall, telephone and email for their contact with citizens.

Molly Kinder and Christy Hoffman believe that the use of new technology in the workplace should be discussed with the workforce. Podcast tip!

Customer service is a frontrunner in several respects, according to research by Berenschot and Waag into the use of AI in organizations.

At the self-managing telecom company Voys, roles are more important than functions. Ludo Raedts shares his vision on trust and self-management in customer contact.

Researchers have developed a new method to detect, predict, and influence personality traits in LLMs.

NiCE has already made a series of acquisitions to build its current CCaaS platform. And: European AI companies are in demand in the US.

The use of AI creates additional CO2 emissions—something companies are required to report. What's more beneficial: an agent or an AI chatbot?

Customers who contact us multiple times about the same problem: repeat traffic costs time, money, and customer satisfaction. How do you get rid of them?

Ilja Gleiser and Dirk Jan van Barneveld have started a new initiative together: a periodic sector survey, supported by a community.

Ziptone mapped the European market for cloud-based contact center solutions (CCaaS). In this article a preview. 

Outsourcing customer contact does not automatically become a success, says Cynthia Mak, with whom we list the tips for 'first time outsourcers'.

Two different studies show that the return on investment from using GenAI in customer contact, among other things, is modest.

Self-service sounds ideal: instead of the customer contact employee, you put your customer to work. In this article, we will discuss the pitfalls of self-service.

The exit from outsourcing: those who dare to ask difficult questions before entering into a new partnership will benefit from this later.

“Not everyone has the right knowledge and skills in-house and in many cases expensive consultancy processes are not feasible.” Cynthia Mak wants to offer a solution for this.

Self-service offers freedom to customers and relief for employees. Discover in four clear steps how to make self-service successful.

Those who want to be less dependent on American software can switch to European alternatives, but that is a complex operation.

How do you create synergy between relationships on the work floor? Customer contact professionals exchanged tips and experiences during the latest SUSA Workshop.

Concerns about dependency on US cloud providers – often home to the contact center platform and more – are growing.

Automated customer contact? Yes, but it has to work well. 48% are annoyed by poorly functioning chatbots. Two years earlier, that was 42%.

What price will companies pay for their dependence on American tech giants if the EU-US Data Privacy Framework falls away?

Unnecessary customer contact is a burden for both customer and organization. In this knowledge article you can read how you can work on contact reduction.

With the Trump administration, data exchange regulations are under pressure. Do Dutch contact centers have an exit strategy?

The French parliament voted unanimously last Monday to ban all forms of (cold) telemarketing.

In 2025, several 'digital' laws will come into effect: the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the Cybersecurity Act, the CRA and the Wbdwb.

The business case for real-time speech translation (RTT) is clear, but implementing it is a complex process.

The European Accessibility Act also has consequences for contact centres: content and contact channels may need to be adapted.

Aggressive customer behavior impacts customer contact employees. How do you ensure a safe and healthy work culture?

Offshoring to Suriname is hot. What does the market look like, what are practical experiences and best practices and how are employment conditions dealt with?

Try it yourself: let an autonomous AI voice agent call you. Ziptone discusses five tech trends from Gartner, including disinformation security and AI governance.

What are the most important labor market-related plans of the new cabinet, relevant for customer contact professionals? Ziptone lists them.

ISO 9001, 27001 or 18295? Whichever ISO certification you choose for your contact center: it affects the entire organization.

For those looking for alternatives to squeezing suppliers or the customer contact cheese slicer: here are 100 tips for inspiration to save costs.

With predictive customer service you can reduce the pressure on customer service and contribute to personalized services.

The result of tendering is not always the best outcome for the requesting party, according to suppliers in the customer contact market.

In this knowledge article we discuss the basic principles of tendering and provide practical tips to successfully complete the process.

GenAI can not only shorten call times, but also drive the first shifts in the global BPO landscape.

Proactive customer contact. That sounds attractive and has major advantages, but it should not be confused with programs aimed at call reduction.

Research shows: people benefit from sufficient autonomy in their work. How can you effectively increase autonomy in customer contact work?

A persistently tight labor market, rising wage costs, a pond in Suriname whose bottom is in sight: what does that mean for facilities?

Looking for a cloud solution? In addition to costs per second or costs per seat, also take into account additional work costs, hidden costs and exit costs.

Anyone who wants to achieve more by outsourcing customer contact than simply relocating work can opt for a collaboration based on outcomes.

What results in very good customer service is often difficult to calculate. What has been demonstrated is the cost of very, very poor customer service.

Onboarding involves much more than just the first working day or introduction day, is a two-way street and requires a sensitive manager.

Not all peaks in customer contact can be predicted, but you can always prepare for them; even at unexpected peaks.

What if a platform comes along that makes half of the apps on your mobile home screen obsolete? What does that mean for your app first strategy?

Has the productivity of the customer contact employee increased or decreased in recent years? Ziptone looked again at the gross-net ratio.

All kinds of characteristics are attributed to Gen Z. True or false, the most important question is how best to work with this group.

Daniel Kahneman, who died on March 27, 2024, is one of the psychologists who made his mark in the fields of customer contact and customer experience (CX).

What are specific risk factors in customer contact? What do you do with agents who are ill and still continue working? And how do you implement an absenteeism protocol?

AI offers challenges for customer contact employees, but is also a tool for sustainable employability and learning new skills.

Reverse coaching, where a junior employee coaches a senior, can help break down silos, bias, stratification and generational differences.

Working from home, at the office or hybrid? There is no overall evidence of productivity gains or losses. However, all strategies have both opportunities and risks.

The moment when the use of AI, in addition to efficiency gains, can also mean job losses is approaching.

“A successful exit is largely determined before signing the outsourcing contract.” And how do you deal with price increases during the contract term?

Absenteeism due to work stress is a growing problem. What are possible causes of stress within contact centers?

Acoustic shock can lead to hearing damage, but also to long-term absenteeism due to illness with various physical and psychological complaints.

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is also relevant for large and small suppliers in customer contact. Ziptone explains why. 

Burnout is a growing problem in the Netherlands. Contact centers are often in double danger in terms of work structure and employee population.

The code of conduct and the standard of the trade association include requirements for sales conversations.

With the advent of AI, you can also use 'synthetic customers' in addition to - or instead of - personas. CX specialist Annette Franz explains.

Anyone who wants to deploy a custom GPT for customers or employees can have a basic version up and running in less than an hour. But is it a good idea?

Micha Groeneveld (BDO) explains what customer contact professionals need to know about NIS2 and DORA, legislation and regulations for the digital domain.

What should you do as a contact center manager or as a supplier with the Digital Services Act? “Chain responsibility becomes essential.”

“It would be nice if the chatbot was no longer a source of annoyance in the future, as is currently the case with the rules-based chatbot.”

Forecasting is an essential part of the WFM process: how do you get a good idea of ​​what you can expect in terms of contact volumes?

You and your company will have to show that you are loyal to your customer. But what do you actually expect from your employees?

Voice training for agents is often neglected, while their performance can only be heard thanks to the use of their voice.

The button should allow consumers to quickly and easily cancel the online (purchase) agreement they have entered into.

In 2025, Generation Z will make up 27 percent of the working population in our country. How do you increase the chance of successful deployment of Gen Z in the workplace?

What is CX and what is EX and what do they have to do with each other? A Ziptone wrap-up with some Frankwatching best practices.

How well is the contact center prepared for disasters or emergencies? Mark Pereira gives tips for setting up a disaster plan.

If the chatbot is to replace employee conversations, can you use similar KPIs?

In the research program 'Smooth Operators', researchers from three universities look at the functioning and properties of chatbots.

Who does what in Suriname? Ziptone mapped out which parties in Suriname are active with outsourcing of customer contact.

Everything you want to know about CES: what can you do with it, what are the advantages and disadvantages, what is the predictive value and which tools can you use.

Working with a 360-degree customer view is beneficial for those who want to improve the quality of customer service processes.

Despite a turnover rate of 44% and an absenteeism rate of 9%, the British facilities sector manages to achieve cost savings of 5 to 20 percent.

Contradictoryly, improving First Call Resolution is often easier than accurately measuring FCR.

What can generative AI add to customer-facing organizations? This question was the focus of an online PvKO round table discussion.

The most commonly used KPIs are internally focused, while the added value lies outside the contact center: in customer value and customer loyalty.

In addition to helping customers, customer service employees can provide extra added value through retention, cross- and upselling.

For in-house contact centers, the new ABU collective labor agreement leads to changes that have an impact on the costs and rights of temporary workers.

With an above-average turnover, there is plenty of training and education in customer contact. What do trainers and educators actually aim for?

Relevant for the future of customer contact: what is the 'empathy capacity' of artificial intelligence?

In this knowledge article you can read everything about what Quality Monitoring is, what you can do with it, how to implement it and what the pitfalls and legal rules are.

The number of customer service jobs will decrease net between 2023 and 2027, according to respondents from an international survey.

We fill new customer contact employees with knowledge, but we pay relatively little attention to conversational skills. Impression of the CC Café of THoCC.

Now that hybrid working in customer contact seems to be the standard, team leaders see challenges in terms of binding, information provision, knowledge and quality.

Messaging apps are on billions of smartphones; on the other hand, chatbots are on the rise. How will the two developments reinforce each other?

Annoying for the customer and promising for companies: the chatbot has an important role in customer contact, according to the National Voice Monitor 2023.

Only when you know how your staff turnover is built up, do you know which buttons you can turn if you want to reduce it.

The reliability of voice biometrics for customer identification has not yet been questioned by voice cloning, possibly with VALL-E.

Due to the acceleration in technological innovation, it is time to recalibrate the 'customer contact employee' profession.

If you do not sufficiently involve end users in the development and implementation of new customer contact applications, the end result may be disappointing.

Training and working with client referral protocols: KCCs can play an important role in keeping debt manageable. 

What are the reasons for using software that the IT department is unaware of? And what can you do about it?

What can banks do to limit the negative impact of their Know Your Customer (KYC) policy on the customer experience?

During the 'The future of work' event, Randstad listed the most important expectations regarding future regulations.

With a well-thought-out customer contact strategy, the contact center contributes to the turnover or profitability of your organization.