The second edition of the National Customer Contact Sector Survey (NSK) is currently underway. With the NSK, the KIRC Foundation and KSF together collect a large number of relevant key figures from Dutch contact centers. Ziptone spoke with Geeske te Gussinklo (KSF) and Cris Donze (KIRC Foundation) about the set-up and expectations.

It is apparently considered important to map and share figures and best practices (and you could take that as a compliment to the sector) because the KSF study is not the only study in the customer contact sector. In the meantime, the KSF has also carried out smaller investigations. KIRC has been mapping various things for years: think of the benchmark and trend studies, the strategic decision monitor studies and last year the quarterly corona index. And in addition came Inspire at the end of 2020 with a sector study and launched Ziptone at the end of April the Customer Contact Partnership Study.

“The previous (and first) sector survey dates from 2017, so it is high time for the KSF to map out the customer contact sector again,” says Geeske te Gussinklo. “Although we want to shorten the interim period somewhat, we also want to avoid asking too much of contact center managers. The sector research is quite large in scope.”

Extra attention for the coming year and 2025

Compared to four years ago, the new study pays more attention to the future, explains Te Gussinklo. First of all, by asking about plans for the coming year, but respondents are also asked about the medium term. “This not only provides insight, but also offers the KSF the opportunity to adjust its activities accordingly on the basis of early signals. Think of the balance between unburdening and self-service. Are companies going to support their customers in solving problems themselves - think of offering remote assistance with minor repairs (something that VanMoof, for example, pursues, ed.) – or are companies completely taking the problem solving out of their hands? Both cases have consequences for the profession of customer contact employee.”

“Politicians and media are counting on us”

The set-up of the sector inquiry remains otherwise unchanged compared to the first edition, so that benchmarking is possible. “In addition, it is also essential that we have sector figures, such as questions that are asked by the media or that we need when we approach the media ourselves. That is why you can see it as a kind of civic duty of the KSF members to cooperate in the investigation. Politicians are also counting on us. There is a lot going on in telemarketing, data and AI. Both politicians and the media can appeal to the KSF and then we must be able to substantiate the state of affairs in our industry,” says Te Gussinklo.

Technology Choices

“Of course we map out the most important key figures: number of seats, use of and volumes in new and traditional channels, KPIs and performance on these, but also, for example, the part of customer contact that is handled from home,” explains Cris Donze. “We deliberately chose to avoid questions that were also addressed in the previous Inspire study. We also ask for HRM figures such as vacancies, absenteeism and turnover and recruitment channels. We also pay attention to technology choices and allocation of budgets to customer contact. For many questions, we also inventory what the expectations are for 2025. That makes this research quite a challenge. That is precisely why respondents have the option of 'forwarding' part of the questionnaire to a specialist, such as someone from HR, if necessary.”

What are the expectations?

“Previous studies about corona already made it clear that thinking about working from home in customer contact has necessarily changed considerably. Working from home fully or partially is here to stay,” expects Donze. “That requires adjustments in the organization: how do you ensure that employees remain involved, what do you have to arrange in terms of data security? I expect that we will gain more insight in this area. We are also extremely curious about the plans for technology applications. And finally, we are curious whether the positioning of the contact center within the organization has changed recently.”

Tip of the veil

“We want during it KSF HR Congress on June 22 already pay attention to the first results,” says Te Gussinklo. “Participating in the research will also have access to the results. Respondents can also have themselves benchmarked against other contact centers upon request. That is a gift for your effort as a participant.” (Ziptone/Erik Bouwer)

Participate in the National Customer Contact Sector Survey (NSK)?

You can participate in the survey until June 1. Members of the KSF and members of the KIRC customer interaction panel have now received an invitation to participate in the study. Do you fall within the target group (managers of in-house contact centers and facility contact centers) and do you want to participate in the research?

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. This link allows interested parties to leave their details; they will then receive a personal invitation to participate in the study.

If you would like to know more about the content and design of the study, request the 2017 report.

Customer Experience KIRC, KSF