As more contact centres move to Contact Centres as a Service (CCaaS), data becomes the backbone of every customer interaction. This session highlights the essential principles needed to manage, govern, and activate data in a cloud‑native environment and discussed the differences from how data is presented from on premise platforms.
To prepare for the future of AI-driven scheduling, organisations must shift from control to design, from discretion to governance, and from firefighting to readiness, developing planners as system stewards, leaders as culture architects, and employees as responsible participants in a shared, transparent workforce ecosystem.
This workshop discussion, will look at how we redefine the purpose of Resource Planer and Scheduler from administrator of fairness to steward of wellbeing and resilience.
From Excel to Execution: A New Way to Plan Capacity
Most contact centres still rely on spreadsheets to plan capacity and staffing, even though the pace of change has outgrown static models. In this 45-minute joint technology workshop, Aspect and Cinareo will show why moving beyond Excel is no longer optional, and what good capacity planning discipline looks like in practice.
We will start with the key principles that separate reactive staffing from confident, repeatable capacity planning. Then we will demonstrate Cinareo’s planning workflow and how it feeds directly into Aspect’s What If capability, turning assumptions into clear scenarios you can stress-test in minutes. We will close with an open Q&A so you can bring your real-world challenges.
Walk away with a practical view of the future: faster planning cycles, clearer decisions, and workforce plans built for volatility, not just averages.
This keynote will bring our latest benchmarking to life, not as a set of “industry standards,” but as a catalyst for insight, challenge and learning. We will explore what the numbers really mean by unpacking the context behind them—why organisations differ, what drives those differences, and where blind comparison can mislead. Most importantly, we will focus on shared knowledge: how understanding both similarities and differences helps leaders move beyond averages and apply what matters most to their own organisations.
Strategic, long-term, budget and near-term forecasts are not separate activities. They are layers of the same thinking system. AI, analytics and language models amplify that system. Human leadership gives it meaning, ethics and direction.
Redefining forecasting, capacity planning and budgeting is therefore not about better numbers. It is about better judgement.
This workshop discussion will look at the redefined Planning Cycle for an AI-Enabled, Human-Led Future along with the changing role of the Analyst.
Resetting Insight explores how data, analytics and AI are moving from reporting to responsible, autonomous decision-making, and how organisations can embed insight directly into the systems that shape customer and colleague experiences. It challenges the risks of misused automation, opaque models and decision-making without accountability, while showing how strong governance, explainability and better questions turn uncertainty into confident action. Attendees will leave with a clear strategic vision for the future of insight, alongside practical guidance on how to redesign roles, culture and operating models to deliver better decisions, faster, and more responsibly.
Keynote: Customer Strategy & Planning, Reset | Redefining
This keynote challenges leaders to press reset on outdated planning, metrics, and behaviours, and to start redefining what excellence in customer operations truly means. You’ll see how breaking the Failure Loop, aligning strategy with day-to-day execution, and embedding continuous learning can transform firefighting into foresight. Whether you shape enterprise strategy or run operational delivery, this session offers clear direction and practical thinking for building resilience, performance, and readiness for 2026 and beyond.
Whilst Excel remains the original example of “Open Source Tooling” in our industry it does come with its limitations. In this session we will discuss how tools such as “Python” “R” and “Shiny” can be utilised within planning and insight and the benefits they can bring. We will also discuss what planning disciplines they can deliver the best value. After this session delegates should understand how to leverage open‑source methods to accelerate delivery and empower teams to innovate with these tools. This session will feature expert input from Phil Stubbs from Atlantic insight.
Organisations that invest only in automation will create faster operations. Organisations that invest in people + AI + learning cultures will create smarter, fairer, and more resilient systems.
The future of Real-Time is not about better dashboards. It is about better judgement, deeper insight, and human leadership at the moment performance is decided.
This workshop discussion, will look at the key objectives for now and how these need to evolve to support human leadership.
This keynote challenges outdated thinking in Resource Planning and redefines forecasting, insight, scheduling and Real-Time as a single system of strategic intelligence. It shows how organisations can move from firefighting and fragile plans to readiness, resilience and better on-the-day performance. You’ll leave with a clear blueprint for turning planning from an operational function into a leadership capability that shapes customer outcomes, colleague experience and long-term success.
Why Emotional Intelligence & Feedback Are the Missing Links in Call Centre Leadership
In many call centres, people are promoted because they are technically good at the job. They understand the systems, they hit targets, and they perform well under pressure. But when they step into leadership, they are rarely supported to develop the skills they need to lead people effectively. Development around emotional intelligence - the ability to understand their own emotions, manage pressure, and recognise the impact they have on others is never a priority.
At the other end of the leadership spectrum, are seasoned senior leaders who have been leading for years. They get results and are trusted to deliver, but because of where they sit in the hierarchy feedback stops. Behaviour that hurts people, often unintentionally, goes unchallenged because performance looks good on paper. The emotional cost to teams builds quietly, while the longer-term impact on engagement, retention, and wellbeing is destructive.
This workshop is for call centre leaders at every stage of leadership, from newly promoted managers to experienced senior leaders and CEOs.
By the end of this workshop, you will:
Making Vision Meaningful for Team Leaders
Strategic vision only works when it translates into meaningful action at team level.
In this keynote, Martin Teasdale explores the gap between organisational strategy and the day-to-day reality of team leaders and their teams. He will address why many people across the business struggle to understand the company’s strategy or how their roles contribute to it, and why this disconnect becomes a barrier to engagement and change.
The session focuses on how team leaders can bridge this gap by turning strategic language into clear, practical guidance their teams can relate to and act on. Martin will also challenge reliance on outdated KPIs, introducing alternative success measures that prioritise learning, adaptability, and readiness for ongoing change.
This session is ideal for leaders looking to improve clarity, communication, and alignment between strategy and frontline delivery.
Why a ‘reset’ in vulnerability customer service is necessary now
In this session, Helen will explore why traditional approaches to vulnerability are no longer fit for today’s customer landscape. Vulnerability has not simply increased — it has changed in nature, complexity and visibility.
Drawing on real customer conversations, the session examines the realities facing customer service teams as they navigate more emotionally complex interactions and rising expectations for empathy and understanding.
Many existing service models, policies and processes were not designed for this environment, creating risk for both customers and organisations.
The session also highlights the human cost of this shift. Customer-facing staff are carrying increasing emotional labour, often without the confidence, capability or support they need, leading to burnout and disengagement.
Helen will provide a clear, human-centred case for resetting vulnerability customer service design — to better support vulnerable customers while protecting the wellbeing and effectiveness of frontline teams.
Helen will explore these 4 key areas: