Conferences

The Forum holds key conferences through out the year including our flagship Spring Customer Strategy and Planning, Summer Best Practice Showcase and Autumn #RaisingStandards conferences that offer a great opportunity to learn, share and network.

2026 Best Practice Showcase (Virtual)

Summer 2026

Learn WHAT our award finalists are doing to continue “Raising Standards in Customer Operations”
This conference offers a unique chance for you to learn directly from our Awards winners. You will hear from the teams and individuals who are making a difference in their business, powerful partnerships whether that is with a technology provider or an outsource partnership. Finally, you can discover how large transformation projects have made massive changes in any business.

2026 Best Practice Showcase (In-person)

Thursday 25th June 2026, Queens Hotel, Leeds

Learn WHAT our award finalists are doing to continue “Raising Standards in Customer Operations”
This conference offers a unique chance for you to learn directly from our Awards winners. You will hear from the teams and individuals who are making a difference in their business, powerful partnerships whether that is with a technology provider or an outsource partnership. Finally, you can discover how large transformation projects have made massive changes in any business.

2026: #RaisingStandards (Virtual)

12th - 16th October 2025

Learn HOW you can apply "Best Practice"
Designed specifically for Planning, Insight and Quality & Customer Experience Professionals. Learn first-hand from practitioners and business leaders who are delivering successful change whilst having the opportunity to collaborate with others. Bring new ideas and techniques back that will raise standards within your “Customer Operation”.

2026 Conference #RaisingStandards (In-Person)

Tuesday 3rd November 2026, Park Hall Hotel & Spa, Wolverhampton

Learn HOW our community is applying “Best Practice”
This conference is designed specifically for Planning, Insight and Quality & Customer Experience Professionals. Learn first-hand from practitioners and business leaders who are delivering successful change whilst having the opportunity to collaborate with others. Bring new ideas and techniques back that will raise standards within your “Customer Operation”.

2027 Customer Strategy & Planning Conference (Virtual)

15th - 19th March 2026

Learn WHY we need to keep “Raising Standards in Customer Operations" 
Our flagship Conference, this highly rated event is far more than just a conference. Designed specifically to focus on the hot topics within the industry and thought leadership whilst also delivering practical skills with new ways of thinking that will enhance you as a person. 

2027 Customer Strategy & Planning Conference (In-person)

Tuesday 27th April 2027, Grand Hotel Gosforth Park, Newcastle

Learn WHY we need to keep “Raising Standards in Customer Operations" 
Our flagship Conference, this highly rated event is far more than just a conference. Designed specifically to focus on the hot topics within the industry and thought leadership whilst also delivering practical skills with new ways of thinking that will enhance you as a person. 

On-Demand Conferences

Catch up on the presentations from our previous conferences.
Agentic AI in Practice: Transforming Contact Centres and Beyond

Agentic AI in Practice: Transforming Contact Centres and Beyond

Agentic AI marks a new era in enterprise automation. Unlike traditional bots or scripted workflows, Agentic AI introduces autonomous digital agents that can reason, adapt and act independently within defined boundaries. These agents are not just reactive tools; they are proactive collaborators, capable of navigating complex tasks, learning from interactions and driving measurable outcomes.

This article explores how Agentic AI is reshaping contact centres, from customer experience and service delivery to planning and operational improvement. It will also highlight broader applications across sectors.

RESET | REDEFINING

RESET | REDEFINING

Across Customer Operations and Resource Planning, there is a growing realisation: we are still relying on outdated assumptions, legacy habits, and inherited “best practices” that no longer fit the complexity of today, let alone the volatility of tomorrow. To prepare for 2026 and beyond, organisations need more than incremental  improvement.
 
Benchmarking Sickness: Resetting How We Read the Numbers

Benchmarking Sickness: Resetting How We Read the Numbers

Our latest shrinkage benchmarking survey shows average sickness absence at around 8%. At first glance, this appears higher than last year’s 7.6%, suggesting an upward trend. That conclusion would be misleading.

Reset | Redefining Outsourcing

Reset | Redefining Outsourcing

For many organisations, outsourcing customer operations has historically been treated as a commercial transaction rather than a professional capability. Contracts are negotiated, suppliers are appointed, and governance frameworks are established to monitor performance. Yet despite the scale, complexity and strategic importance of these relationships, outsourcing is rarely managed with the same discipline applied to areas such as workforce planning, customer experience design or operational transformation. This gap is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Workshop: Why a ‘reset’ in vulnerability customer service is necessary now

Workshop: Why a ‘reset’ in vulnerability customer service is necessary now

Orginally broadcasted on Thursday 19th March, 14:30

In this session, Helen Pettifer 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.

Workshop: Opensource Tooling & Methods

Workshop: Opensource Tooling & Methods

Originally broadcasted on Thursday 19th March, 13:30

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. This session will feature expert input from Phil Stubbs from Atlantic insight.

Workshop: Data Principles in a CCaaS World

Workshop: Data Principles in a CCaaS World

Originally broadcasted on Thursday 19th March, 10:30

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. 

Keynote: Redefining Data, Analytics & Insight

Keynote: Redefining Data, Analytics & Insight

Originally broadcasted on Thursday 19th March, 09:30

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.

Workshop: Automated Quality

Workshop: Automated Quality

Originally broadcasted on Wednesday 18th March, 15:30

Automated Quality gives us the chance to reset what QA exists to do. This session looks beyond automation as efficiency, and instead explores how redefining the QA role can unlock greater value, shifting focus from checking interactions to shaping performance, insight and outcomes.

Technology Showcase

Technology Showcase

Originally broadcasted on Wednesday 18th March, 12:30

Join QStory's David Preece for a tech showcase of our Back Office solution, Work Item Manager. This session will demonstrate how the system acts as a "Back Office ACD'" to accurately capture true handling times, measure agent productivity, and replace gut-feel planning with reliable, data-driven metrics.

Keynote: Redefining Operational Improvement

Keynote: Redefining Operational Improvement

Originally broadcasted on Wednesday 18th March, 09:30

Resetting Improvement explores how Quality, Learning, Knowledge and Continuous Improvement must evolve for a new era of customer operations, moving beyond legacy habits and outdated metrics toward adaptive frameworks, evidence‑based readiness and human‑centred performance that can thrive in the complexity of 2026 and beyond. 

Workshop: Redefining Real-Time

Workshop: Redefining Real-Time

Originally broadcast on Tuesday 17th March, 15:30

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.

Workshop: Redefining Scheduling

Workshop: Redefining Scheduling

Originally broadcast on Tuesday 17th March, 13:30

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

Aspect Technology Showcase

Aspect Technology Showcase

Originally broadcast on Tuesday 17th March, 12:30

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.

Keynote: Redefining Workforce Planning

Keynote: Redefining Workforce Planning

Originally broadcast on Tuesday 17th March, 09:30

This keynote challenges outdated thinking in Resource Planning and redefines forecasting, insight, scheduling and Real-Time as a single system of strategic intelligence.

Hiya Technology Showcase

Hiya Technology Showcase

Originally broadcast on Monday 16th March, 13:30

Join Hiya for a focused session on Branded Calling and how verified, identifiable outbound calls are transforming customer communication. As trust becomes critical to engagement, branded calling helps organizations improve answer rates, reduce call hesitation, and build confidence at the moment of contact. We’ll explore why it matters, how it aligns with evolving customer expectations, and practical ways to strengthen voice engagement.

Verint Technology Showcase

Verint Technology Showcase

Originally broadcast on Monday 16th March, 12:30

The Real-Time Workforce, Realign the Moment: How Real-Time Insights Reshape Performance
Our Gold Sponsors Verint explore how moving beyond traditional WFM unlocks a new era of performance and employee experience. We’ll walk through the journey to Reset, Redefine and Realign—resetting long‑held assumptions about coaching, redefining performance through real‑time behavioural insight, and empowering agents to realign instantly with live coaching, instant EX scoring, and flexible scheduling tools. 

BPG26: Commercial Metrics

BPG26: Commercial Metrics

Lastly, we come to the commercial metrics. These are largely financial measures and, in the private sector, they help us understand whether the business is succeeding.
BPG26: Employee Metrics

BPG26: Employee Metrics

Next, we turn to employee metrics. Vince Lombardi, one of the most successful American football coaches of all time, once said, “Happy employees lead to happy customers, which in turn leads to a successful business.”
BPG26: Customer Metrics

BPG26: Customer Metrics

Next come the customer metrics, the measures we use to understand whether we are meeting customer expectations.
BPG26: Planning Metrics

BPG26: Planning Metrics

The first group of measures and targets we will look at are planning metrics.
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Book for one of our events to experience our exceptional community or get in touch to talk about how we can help you and your teams to be fully effective in adding value to your business. Email advice@theforum.social, call 0333 123 5960 or contact any of The Forum Team