Effective data purchasing strategies are an essential component of any outbound campaign. Here's our top 10 tips for getting the most from your data supplier.

Just like launching a mission to the moon, launching new call centre campaigns is exciting and nerve-wracking in equal measures. Here's our 5 systems checks we recommend for a successful campaign launch.

Receiving voice broadcast messages has become an everyday feature of owning a telephone. Is this a technology that you, or we, should embrace?

Cloud-based VoIP call centres have revolutionised the process of setting up a call centre within your business. We delve into the world of broadband technology, translate the jargon and explore the requirements of running a call centre over the Internet.

Transferring best practices from your top performers to the rest of your team can be frustrating at the best of times. Call levelling sessions are a great method for raising performance and conversion rates across your whole call centre.

Any outbound campaigns that use a predictive dialler are legally required to have an abandoned call message in place. Fortunately, this is quick, straightforward and could be the easiest £2m you ever saved.

Dialler technology is one of those areas of IT that’s got more jargon, TLAs and regulations than is reasonable for a call centre manager to keep track of. In this article, we delve into the options available and examine what makes predictive diallers so special.

The Agent Activity screen is an amazingly useful part of the Greenlight call centre system that gives you real-time insight into how your agents and predictive dialler are performing, and is accessible from anywhere.

With Ofcom introducing new legislation all the time to clamp down on unscrupulous call centre bosses, call centre managers need to carry out regular checks to ensure they’re operating on the right side of the law.

Forget choosing between soothing classical or funky pop. If you’re worrying about whether customers will enjoy your choice of hold music then unfortunately you’re completely missing the point.

Effective queue management is at the core of a successful inbound contact centre. In this post we examine whether intentionally overstating expected wait times could actually increase customer satisfaction.

In Spring 2017 the ICO will gain new powers that mean it's no longer going to just be taking companies out of business, directors will also be personally in the firing line.

Different outbound campaigns need different approaches to dialling to achieve optimal results. Here we look at the three types of automated dialling commonly available and how to deploy them to best effect within your contact centre.

As of 1st March 2017, Ofcom will regard any level of abandoned calls as misuse and potentially subject to action. As predictive dialling is essential to many outbound calling business' feasibility, where does this change leave those involved in outbound dialling? We take a deep dive into the revised guidelines and look for clues in the midst of uncertainty.

In order to stay on the right side of Ofcom and the ICO, call centres have an increasing amount of regulation to keep up to date with and implement within the business. Calling at acceptable times of the day and appropriate days of the year is something most business recognise as good practice, but unfortunately the rules around this, at least in the UK, aren't as clear as you might expect.

When the GDPR becomes law next year, call centres will face substantial changes to how they access, process and store consumer data. In this first article discussing these new regulations, we look at how opt-in consent will change and what you can do now to minimise the impact on your business when the GDPR hits in May 2018.

Once the GDPR comes into force, cold calling will still be permitted. There are, however, new responsibilities being placed on businesses to ensure responsible use of people’s personal data. In this article, we look at some of the checks and balances that organisations will need to get on board with by May 2018 if they’re to continue placing cold calls as part of their marketing activities.

The GDPR not only gives people many new rights regarding their personal data, it also gives companies many new responsibilities. These include telling individuals all about these rights and informing them how their data is being used, sourced and retained. In this article we consider the new statements that you will need to provide whenever using data to contact consumers.

Along with many new requirements that the GDPR places on call centres, the need for a Data Protection Officer (DPO) is one of the most original. This role involves a huge amount of responsibility and expertise and it won’t be easy for every call centre business to recruit one. Fortunately, not every business will need a DPO. In this article we take a detailed look at what a DPO does, and where the dividing line is that means your business needs one or not.

Unlike previous data protection laws, the GDPR requires companies to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) in certain situations. In this article, we look at when and how you conduct a DPIA and also the reasons you might want to conduct one regardless of whether you need to.

While it won’t be ready to be rolled out at the same time as the GDPR on 25th May, the new ePrivacy Regulation has some serious implications for direct marketers. In this article we take an in-depth look at the impact that the changes to ePrivacy could have on cold calling once they come into force.

Many call centre operations are facing the prospect of quickly moving to a home worker strategy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. But what are the technical, data security and managerial challenges that need to be addressed in order to make home workers a success?

PCI compliance is nothing new, but with more companies looking to take card payments over the phone, it's never been more important. In this blog post we provide a quick overview of what's involved in becoming PCI-DSS compliant, the technologies available to call centres to help them achieve this, and the potential consequences for getting it wrong.

After 18 months, most businesses have now adjusted to the necessities of working alongside Covid-19. It's not all bad news though as we look at the advantages to be gained from the option to have members of your team able to work from home long-term.

With the 2022 fast approaching and COP26 not far behind us, taking whatever action we can to reduce global heating has never been more important. In this post we consider the opportunities we have to make a difference over the coming year.

It’s been a few years since the ICO announced they would be changing the enforcement rules to ensure directors could be held liable for the penalties issued for any breaches. But how has this change impacted the industry?

Lots of businesses are getting involved in making positive contributions to the environment in order to reduce their impact on the environment to "Net Zero". But where to begin?

With the first update to The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) since 2015 imminent, we take a broad look at the changes that companies processing card payments will need to make in order to remain compliant.

Whether you're running an inbound, outbound or blended contact centre, at some point you'll likely need to set up Direct Debits over the phone. While most of the actual payment processing is handled by third parties, understanding the regulations related to setting up and taking payments via Direct Debit is essential to keeping your operation compliant.

Health and Safety in a contact centre environment might seem like there's little to worry about in an office environment with little movement let alone heavy lifting. There are more risks to consider than you might expect, and addressing them effectively can improve productivity as well as making your contact centre floor a more enjoyable place to work.

The average fine issued by the ICO is down 30% from Q1 last year, but what's behind this trend? In this post we take a close look at each individual penalty notice and what action you can take to ensure your business remains penalty free.

Agent attrition rates are notoriously high across the call and contact centre industry. There are, however, many things you can do to make your agents feel valued and motivated in their job. In this article we look at the hidden costs of agent attrition and six areas you can address to reduce it.

Commission packages are a common feature for those working in the call and contact centre industries. Done well they motivate your team and incentivise the behaviours that make your business a success. In this article we look at how well meaning incentives can go wrong, and end up having the exact opposite effect from what was intended.

Average fines issues by the ICO continue to reduce with one notable exception. What lessons can we take from the companies that have been fined to ensure you don't end up on the sharp end of an enforcement notice?

One of the best ways to waste your staff's time is to have them doing jobs manually that should really be getting done by a computer. In this article we discuss the opportunities that technology solutions can provide businesses to streamline their call centre environment and the benefits this can bring.

It's been a quiet three months at the ICO, but there are still lessons to be learned from the action that has been taken. Here we take a look a two cases that were prosecuted and the reasoning behind the fines that were issued.

The UK Information Commissioner, John Edwards, recently gave a speech that offered real insight into their new approach to enforcement. What does this tell us about what to expect in the coming months and years from the ICO?

New regulations are being introduced in France and Spain which will have significant impacts on how inbound and outbound contact centre operations can work. If successful, will we see similar rules introduced elsewhere?

With the UK Government's recent announcement that it will be taking unprecedented action to crack down on cold calls related to financial products, we take a closer look at what this means for legitimate businesses working in the sector and how it could impact their business.

With a new focus on issuing fines that are in the public interest, the ICO has moved to a guidance first, penalties later approach, especially where government bodies are concerned. In this post we review the ICO's actions in the first three months of this year and see what lessons can be learned.