From Mapping the Wreckage to Charting the Course: Why Workforce Planning is the New Boardroom Compass

David Preece, WFM Consultant at Route 101

I want to talk to you today about ancient maps, but I promise this isn't a geography or a history lesson.

I want you to think back to the ancient explorers. For centuries, cartographers could only map the world after someone had already sailed the oceans, hit a rock, sunk and lived to write about it. The mapmakers were, effectively, journalists and historians. They sat in dusty rooms, took the wreckage of past voyages, and drew lines to show where things used to be. It was entirely reactive.

Endnote

Originally broadcasted on Friday 16th October 2026, 12:30

As the virtual conference draws to a close, join us for a final reflective discussion that brings together the key themes, conversations and challenges explored throughout the week. We'll look beyond the notes, slides and presentations to ask a more important question: what will you do differently because of what you've heard? From AI and innovation to planning, leadership, customer experience and continuous improvement, this session will explore the ideas that stood out, the lessons worth taking forward and the opportunities to turn learning into action. We'll challenge delegates to think about their own commitment to raising standards. What is the one thing you'll take away, apply and act on when you return to work? Because learning only creates value when it leads to change. A practical, thought-provoking and engaging close to the week that will leave you inspired to turn ideas into action and continue raising standards across your organisation.

Key Planning Assumptions

Originally broadcasted on Thursday 15th October 2026, 15:00

Every forecast, schedule and operational decision is built upon assumptions. Yet many organisations rarely review whether those assumptions remain valid. This session explores the planning assumptions that matter most, drawing on our latest benchmarking research together with examples from leading. We'll examine how high-performing planning teams validate assumptions, respond to changing demand and create decision-making processes that improve confidence across the business. 

Operational Improvement Keynote

Originally broadcasted on Thursday 15th October 2026, 09:30

From Busy to Valuable 
How to create more impact with less effort. This keynote explores the growing gap between being busy and making a difference. We'll challenge some of the habits, processes and expectations that consume time without improving outcomes, and look at practical ways to focus effort where it has the greatest impact.

QStory Technology Showcase

Originally broadcasted on Wednesday 14th October 2026, 12:30

How Enova Redefined Automation and Flexibility, Empowering Strategic Analysts to do more
Join Enova’s Jodi Maffitt and QStory's Barry Jones, to discover how replacing manual WFM processes with QStory's real-time automation empowered agents with schedule autonomy, eliminated planner burnout, and delivered real operational efficiency. Learn how Enova transformed daily workflows, plus get an exclusive sneak peek at next-generation tools shaping the future of contact centre agility.

Positive Tension Keynote

Originally broadcasted on Wednesday 14th October 2026, 10:30

Positive tension is the hidden engine of high‑performing teams, and this session allows you to understand how you can utilise this tension effectively in teams/operations and organisations. Drawing on Kate Manton’s global leadership and operations background, we will explore how differences in thinking aren’t conflicts to avoid but the gap that drives better teamwork, decisions, stronger collaboration, and smarter customer operations. 
 

Planning Keynote

Originally broadcasted on Wednesday 14th October 2026, 09:30

Best-in-Class Planning: From Best Practice to Better Decisions
The pace of change in customer operations has never been greater. AI, automation, flexible working and rising customer expectations are changing how organisations plan, allocate resources and make operational decisions. Drawing on the latest Standards Benchmarking Assessments, this keynote explores what genuinely differentiates best-in-class planning teams from the rest. 
 

Verint Technology Showcase

Originally broadcasted on Tuesday 13th October 2026, 12:30

Move Your Shift, Keep Your Coverage
What if an agent could move a 9 a.m. start to noon and make up the hours on Thursday, without sending a single approval request? What happens to service levels when hundreds of agents make changes like that every month? And how do you reward the people who pick up the shifts nobody wants? Verint TimeFlex answers all three with a bot that runs on top of your existing WFM system. It checks every requested change against forecasted volume, capacity and performance in real time, and only lets through the changes the business can absorb.
 

Insight Keynote

Originally broadcasted on Tuesday 13th October 2026, 09:30

Turning Data into Decisions
Data alone does not improve performance. Better decisions do. In this keynote, we further explore the concept of decision systems and explore how people, data and processes work together to turn information into meaningful action and better operational outcomes. 

#RaisingStandards Keynote

Originally broadcasted on Monday 12th October 2026, 10:30

Be Ready to Learn: Turning Learning into Lasting Impact
Learning is about far more than attending a conference, completing a module or gaining new knowledge. The real value comes from creating the time and space to reflect, challenge existing assumptions, apply ideas in practice and share what we discover with others. In this keynote, we explore what it means to be prepared to learn, from understanding how we learn and protecting time for development, to creating the structure, support and momentum that turns learning into action.

2026 Awards Case Study: Resetting Flexibility with a Colleague-Led System with BT Group

Flexibility has long been part of the story BT Group tells about working in customer operations. Colleagues could earn time back. Managers wanted to support work–life balance. The intent was right. The experience, however, was less so.

2026 Awards Case Study: Learning from Expressions of Dissatisfaction at AXA

Across customer operations, organisations are surrounded by signals of customer experience. Many are rich. Few are fully understood. At AXA Insurance, one of the most underused signals was Expressions of Dissatisfaction — moments where customers expressed frustration or disappointment, but where the interaction did not meet the formal definition of a complaint.

These moments were captured manually by frontline advisors. The process added complexity at the end of demanding calls. Decisions relied on individual interpretation. And while the data existed, it rarely translated into learning or meaningful change. Dissatisfaction was recorded, but not truly understood.

Partnership Perfection 2026: Co‑Creation at the Heart of Success

Over the past three years, our Partnership Awards have shown a clear evolution in how organisations work with their technology and service partners. In 2024, we highlighted the foundations of great collaboration: trust, shared goals, honest communication, and a focus on people over products. As our 2024 Partnership article noted, “the best partnerships invest in relationships… it’s about working together to make sure [technology] is used in the best way”.

In 2025, we saw partnerships becoming more strategic and culturally aligned. We described how successful collaborations “transcend traditional transactional dynamics” and how deeply integrated teams create a unified force working toward shared outcomes.

Twelve Months In: Leading with Intent, Engagement and Culture

Stepping into a senior leadership role in a new organisation is rarely a clean slate. It is more often like joining a story already in full flow. For Hannah Will, her first year in post felt exactly like that.

“It was like being dropped into the middle of a very complex story halfway through the book, with no glossary or terms of reference.”

Despite a warm welcome, Hannah quickly realised that success would not come from imposing solutions, but from listening deeply, understanding unspoken dynamics, and earning trust through authenticity.

Complaints: Fix It, Face It or F**k It

What The Muppets can teach us about complaints handling

Breaking Patterns to Find Purpose

The Moment I Noticed the Disconnect
The time was 3pm. Somewhere around my seventh Zoom of the day, I realized I had missed lunch and misplaced any clear sense of what I was even trying to accomplish that day. All I knew is that I had to be on time for my next meeting. Lately, I’ve been in a position of covering for multiple leaders in my organization. While I feel grateful to be able to do so, my calendar has been filled with back-to-back meetings, and entire days pass where I feel like I’m just bouncing from one task to the next without a moment to pause. Somewhere in the rush, that sense of clarity and direction – the “why” behind the work, started to blur.

It’s not that the work itself changed. It’s that I became so consumed with reacting and moving fast that I stopped feeling grounded in purpose. And ironically, it’s in these moments, when I’m most stretched and overwhelmed, that the need for purpose becomes even more urgent. Without it, the work seems heavier, and I feel more disconnected from myself and others. Accepting this disconnect as the norm can be a risk to any organization. What sets a true leader apart in these moments is turning that awareness into action. For me, it always begins with understanding what enables me to thrive.

Engagement: The Golden Nugget

In a year where we are calling for a Reset | Redefining of Customer Strategy, Planning and Leadership, it is easy to focus on frameworks, technology and governance. But none of these deliver value unless people understand them, trust them, and choose to use them. Engagement is the often-overlooked multiplier that determines whether insight becomes action, whether change is embraced or resisted, and whether best practice is truly embedded or quietly ignored.

This article explores engagement not as a “soft” capability, but as a practical force that shapes performance, learning and impact. Through real examples from across our community, it shows how listening, collaboration and shared ownership transform models, metrics and plans into outcomes that matter for customers, colleagues and organisations alike. In the context of 2026, engagement is not optional, it is the mechanism through which strategy becomes reality.

Resetting How We Care: Protecting Compassion in Customer Operations

Caring for customers has always been central to frontline work, but the emotional landscape has changed. People are arriving with heavier stories and more complex needs, and those supporting them are often carrying just as much privately. At the same time, the focus on how we identify and respond to vulnerability is increasing across sectors. This creates a tension between the level of compassion we want to offer and the emotional capacity we actually have available. The goal is not to care less. The goal is to protect our ability to care well. That begins with resetting how we think about emotional labour and redefining the systems that are meant to support it.

Coaching That Builds Capability

Picture an advisor mid-call: the customer is anxious, systems are slow, and decisions must be made fast. In that moment, confidence matters more than compliance. Coaching earns its value not by fixing mistakes later, but by building judgement, resilience, and ownership when it counts.

Is This the AI You’re Thinking Of?

We talk about “Artificial Intelligence” constantly, yet we rarely mean the same thing. That mismatch creates false expectations, limits innovation and makes good ideas harder to deliver. As in many areas of customer operations, the biggest challenge isn’t the kit, it’s the assumptions surrounding it. Resetting how we think is essential if we want clearer conversations, better decisions and more grounded expectations.

Operational Improvement with Purpose

Operational improvement is most powerful when it has purpose behind it. Drawing on the stories of last year’s Awards finalists, this article explores how culture, knowledge, coaching and capability became the foundations for sustainable change and what we can learn from the organisations who raised standards by design, not by accident.