Ansaback News

Ansaback, the Suffolk-based bureau contact centre, has just achieved a significant milestone by signing up their 60th telecoms client. Requiring 24/7 support, this new client is the latest addition to take advantage of the exceptional service that Ansaback is renowned for.

Providing communications companies with round the clock support, Ansaback encompasses a range of products from lines and broadband; to VOIP and mobile; to raising the fault with the relevant carrier or provider.

Matthew Taylor, Telecoms Manager at Ansaback, said: “Ansaback has been providing telecoms solutions for over six years now, and we are delighted that this venture has been so successful. We started off with just one solitary client raising line faults on eCo Repair, and this has steadily increased to our current total of 60 clients using more than 10 different portals. We continue to work extremely hard on behalf of our clients to ensure that we are providing a seamless experience to the caller; in many cases replicating the service that the client provides in-house.”

Ansaback agents have undergone telecoms training, to ensure that they are able to handle and report fault calls.  Thanks to our in-house software solutions provider, CallScripter™, agents are able to handle incoming and outbound calls in a friendly manner; proactively tracking a fault from start to finish to ensure that they are cleared as quickly as possible, whilst keeping the end user updated at all times.

All at Ansaback were very proud to present a cheque to EACH recently following a years fundraising on their behalf. The money was raised via a series of events including dress down days, coffee mornings, competitions, sweepstakes and a sale of unwanted christmas presents !  The more adventurous call centre staff took part in the very competitive Ransomes Olympics (who also won the event - go Team Ansaback !), and the Santa Fun Run round Christchurch Park in somewhat adverse weather conditions!. All of the events have been great fun and generously supported by all the staff which resulted in a total amount raised of £1090.00.  This is a tremendous achievement given the challenging climate and all staff are to be congratulated on their efforts.

This is a 120 mile bike ride, overnight from Hackney in London, to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast.

Christian Pawsey, Commercial Director of Ansaback contact centre, Ipswich took part in the Dunwich Dynamo on Saturday 24th July – Sunday 25th July.

Christain said 'It sounds extreme, but is an experience never to be forgotten. Bikes on the train from Ipswich to Liverpool St and then a short cycle to the start point by a park in Hackney. There were 1,400 cyclists at the start, wearing all manner of brightly coloured cycle clothing so it must have looked quite strange.. We were told it wasn’t a race and the organisation was relaxed as some cyclists drank a beer or two in preparation and the photocopied instructions were handed out. Bikes started drifting off North from around 8pm and we started soon after.

As soon as we thought there would be enough ahead to show us the way. And that is how it turned out; we followed each other out of congested, dirty and noisy London streets, over the M25 and into Essex as it grew darker. Lights on in Epping Forrest and we joined the endless stream of flashing red cycle lights as it got darker. I can’t remember all the villages and towns but through the Essex night and places like Finchingfield and Sible Headingham, (a nice village hall open for tea and sandwiches around half way) before Sudbury on the Suffolk border and onto Needham Market, Framlingham and finally, sign posts for Dunwich.

We arrived some time before 5am, a little weary but surprisingly fresh. The queue for breakfast was already getting longer as groups of new finishers joined the growing crowds. I’ve had many English breakfasts, but few so well-deserved as this and several cups of tea later we took a short walk on the beach before driving home to catch up on our sleep! We had left our car there on Saturday but many London cyclists were swimming in the sea whilst waiting for trucks and buses to take them and their bikes home. I thought the cycle ride was enough, but already looking forward to a repeat performance next year'.

New independent research by GfK Mystery Shopping, shows that smart companies are improving their customer service to beat the economic recession. The findings reveal that contact centre queues overall are getting shorter, with 96% of callers getting through the very first time compared with 93% last year and that 66% of customers speak to agent's in less than 1 minute compared to 58% in 2008.

The report looked at elements such as menu options, transfers between agents and follow up calls and finding that 92% of callers felt that contacting a contact centre was easier than it has been in the past. Agents remain very knowledgeable with 83% agreeing that contact centre representatives had good product knowledge and the ability to resolve customer queries effectively. 94% of customers enquires where resolved in the first call.

86% of callers were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their contact centre experience, with 43% of these being extremely satisfied. These happy customers are having a positive impact on brand perception; only 33% of callers had a high regard for the organisation prior to the call whereas after the call experience, 59% of callers said that they had an enhanced perception of the organisation.

The results are taken from the 2009 Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service benchmarking initiative, sponsored by Genesys and Noble Systems, which is one of the largest mystery shopping exercises in the UK. Over 17,000 mystery enquiries were made to the leading contact centres in the UK, in retail & distribution, financial services, telecoms & utilities, public sector and entertainment, leisure and travel. Each call was rated using over fifty criteria across five key areas: timeliness, ease of use, reliability, staff knowledge and personalised service and awarded a customer service rating in % terms.

The most improved sector was entertainment, leisure & travel which saw its score rise from 82% in 2008 to 86% in 2009. Telecoms and utilities also improved year on year, increasing their overall customer service rating by 3% to score 85%. The overall average score for the call centre industry increased from 83% in 2008 to 84% in 2009, with those contact centres taking part for the second year seeing an average 2% increase.

For the first time the study looked at email communications, which is becoming more important in this digital age. However the report shows that there is still room for improvement. With more and more contact centres realising that it is important to be able to communicate with customers effectively via their preferred method, they are working to improve the standards of their email communications.

“With overall consumer and business spending reduced, it is more important than ever for organisations to deliver outstanding customer service, this will help attract new customers and retain existing ones in these tough economic times. The results of this study clearly show that call centres are rising to the challenge and that smart companies are investing and encouraging outstanding customer service” commented Simon Thorpe, Programme Director, Top 50 Call Centres for Customer Service.

Source: Press Release (Top 50 Call centres) www.callcentre.co.uk

Ansaback (part of IPPLUS (UK) Ltd) has received The Investors In People accreditation, passing  with flying colours following their 3 year review.

Investors In People (IIP) is a prestigious award, and is gained by companies that can show that they invest in their staff and that the staff are involved in a big way in what the company is trying to achieve. Therefore we are extremely pleased to have been awarded this accreditation for a second consecutive time.

The feedback received by IIP from staff interviewed was extremely positive, with comments such as:

‘This is a great place to work’
‘I could earn more in town but its relaxed here and I prefer that’
‘I just love it here’
‘They try and offer you the hours you want’
‘It’s corny I know but it really does feel like a family’

Individuals confirmed they have the opportunity to develop their skills and strengths, with the company giving the opportunity where possible for them to move into a role they may feel more suited to. This not only retains key skills for the organisation but contributes towards individuals feeling their contribution is valued. Some 87% of promotions are internal, which also ensures that the culture and ethos of the organisation are retained.

The culture and values of our organisation are set and led from the top with a clear understanding about strategies that create a good working environment to make people feel valued.

William Catchpole, Managing Director of IPPlus PLC and Christian Pawsey, Commercial Director of Ipswich call centre, Ansaback, both completed the Woodbridge 10k on Sunday 16th May.

The local race is an annual event for both runners, with Christian competing for the 14th time in row this year and William also having run the race for many years.

Slight forecast showers threatened at the start but both spectators and runners enjoyed a warm and sunny race day, with Aaron Scott breaking the course record in 31 minutes 44 seconds.Both William and Christian were overtaken on the first lap by a man sporting a pink tutu with matching women’s underwear, but managed to complete the run with times of 44:44 for Christian and 53:45 for William, placed 95th and 276th respectively, out of 568 finishers.

 Whilst wild animals and birds frequent the grounds of Ansaback, from rabbits, magpies, robins, finches, (once upon a time we even had a cat with her litter of kittens) this was one guest we had never seen here before.

There were several suggestions as to what this bird may be, such as a Kestrel, a Goshawk and even a Peregrine Falcon. Having done some research we have concluded that with her piercing yellow eyes, light grey/brown colouring, it was in fact a female Sparrowhawk, which prey on small birds (although in this case it was a ‘not so small’ pigeon)!

Some years ago the Sparrowhawk was an extremely rare sight in Suffolk and Norfolk, the cause of their decline was found to be poisoning as a result of preying on grain-eating birds which had been feeding on seed covered in pesticides. The population has since recovered.

Take a look at the picture which was taken from the call centre, if you think we have got it wrong and this it is not a Sparrowhawk, please do let us know what you think this fierce looking bird is!

e-mail your suggestions to; toni.vincent@ansaback.co.uk

The last Friday of every month equals a dress down day for staff at Ansaback, who kindly donate money to our chosen charity of the year - EACH.

EACH is an amazing charity which supports families throughout their experience of caring for children with life-threatening conditions and complex healthcare needs.

Ansaback would like pass on a massive thank you to all of their call centre staff for contributing - even the ones who forgot it was dress down and came in their usual business attire still dug deep!

So thanks once again.

If you would like any further information about EACH, please visit their website: http://www.each.org.uk/

On Sunday 14th March, Zonja Bunn (Accounts Assistant at Ansaback) competed in a half marathon (13 mile) run! Having to get up at 6 a.m. on the Sunday morning Zonja made the 3 hour drive to Silverstone Racetrack in Northampton to compete in the race.

On arrival, nervous and cold Zonja queued up to start the run in the 10 minute a mile section! The first lap of the race was around the actual race track, then off through the pit lanes, round the car parks and then round the racetrack again for the final lap finishing under the famous Silverstone sign. Zonja said “It was really hard work but I loved every minute, I hit a block at around 8.5 miles (mainly due to hunger) so to get myself back on track I changed the music on my mp3, had a protein bar and a gel stick and then I was back on full charge ”

With a finishing time of just 2 hours 13 minutes it was a fantastic achievement and she now has yet another medal to add to her collection. Zonja is competing in the London Marathon next month, Sunday 25th April.

Zonja will not be running for fun on this event, she will be raising money for Sense, a leading national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. A very worthwhile cause and we wish her all the best for this race and look forward to hearing how she gets on.

Ansaback call centre agent Lora Caie is taking part in a sponsored bike ride in May. Lora is cycling from London to Paris to raise money for the Intensive Care Unit at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is a ward dedicated to caring for sick children who need very close observation from doctors, nurses and other members of the PICU team.

This is a cause that is close to Lora’s heart and she is aiming to raise £1,500.

Good luck Lora!