2025 Best Practice Guide
Raising Standards

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2024 Innovation & Transformation Awards: Enhancing Efficiency and Engagement across 169 Branches at Bank of Ireland

2024 Innovation & Transformation Awards

Bank of Ireland has embarked on a transformative journey aimed at enhancing efficiency, transparency, and employee engagement across its branch network. Through the implementation of new systems and working practices, the bank is not only streamlining operations but also fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

2024 Innovation & Transformation Awards: Enhancing Operational Efficiency at Leeds Bradford Airport

2024 Innovation & Transformation Awards

In a bid to bolster operational efficiency and foster employee engagement, Leeds Bradford Airport undertook a transformative journey built on core planning principles and operational effectiveness. Through candid discussions and strategic foresight, the team navigated challenges and harnessed opportunities, heralding a new era of organisational resilience and employee empowerment.

2024 Partnership Awards: CMS and Student Loans

2024 Partnership Awards

This strong, responsive, and mature partnership has delivered the first ever integration of the OPX back-office system with NICE, and the first integration that NICE has had with a back-office system. Student Loans now has full visibility of staff across the estate, allowing for the dynamic allocation of staff to different roles based on changing needs and operational priorities. Frequent and transparent communication at many levels, and easy access for the SLC team with CMS developers really helped to deliver a solution that meets their customers’ needs. ROI is very impressive, with £925k in year one and savings of up to £3.6m per annum.

2024 Partnership Awards: Verint & Vitality Health

2024 Partnership Awards

This collaborative and professional partnership has revolutionised back office operations and enhanced customer experiences at Vitality Health. The deployment of Verint Operational Manager has given visibility, streamlined processes, improved data analytics, and facilitated better demand planning. The outcome was not only a substantial increase in operational efficiency but also a significant reduction in customer complaint resolution times, reduced from two months to 72 hours. A strong sense of professionalism and a governance framework has been key to delivering and demonstrating the success of this implementation.
 

2024 Planning Awards: Leeds Bradford Airport Planning Team

2024 Planning Awards

This team revolutionised operations by adopting data-driven planning, refining stakeholder engagement, and streamlining processes, planning for security operations. Customer satisfaction saw huge improvements following queue times plummeting from 24 to 6.5 minutes and improved communication internally optimised resource planning and reduced errors. They removed inefficiencies, boosted employee satisfaction, and were able to attract high-quality recruits as a result. Through a culture of innovation and collaboration, they set a new standard for excellence in the aviation industry.

2024 Planning Awards:Kat McCarron at Hiscox

2024 Planning Awards

Kat led initiatives to enhance planning for admin and outbound calling, improving efficiency and customer service. By scheduling dedicated admin time and implementing an outbound booking tool, agents experienced reduced pressure and increased productivity. Collaboration with the operations team streamlined referrals, while understanding underwriters’ workload improved processes and built stronger relationships.

25 Years of Innovation & Transformation Keynote

Originally broadcast Friday 28th March at 09:30

Celebrating 25 years of the Innovation & Transformation Awards, this keynote takes a look back from a finalist and judges perspective. Discussing key industry shifts, from workforce flexibility and real-time analytics to automation and omnichannel experiences. We will also explore what the next 25 years of Raising Standards could look like.

Best Practice Partnerships: Hear from the judges

Originally broadcast Wednesday 3rd July, 10:30

In this session our Partnership Awards Judges will share their highlights from this year's finalists stories. Sharing what has inspired them, and the learning that they have taken from the process

Community Learning Keynote

Originally broadcast Friday 18th November 2022, 12:30

Hear from a Forum Hero and organisations who have taken a team approach to learning.

Conference Endnote

Originally broadcast Friday 5th November 2021, 09:30

Learn how to invest your time wisely to help you spend time on the things that matter the most. Doing something different on a daily basis.

Conference Endnote

Originally broadcast Friday 4th December 2020, 09:15

Positive habits for a successful career With so much uncertainty in the world, it is important to take control of our conduct, behaviour and attitude. Developing simple positive habits can make a huge impact on how you learn, share ideas and ultimately transform yourself and our career. This endnote presentation will take a look at the role of professionalism, how to build positive habits and an opportunity to hear from members who have transformed themselves during 2020.

Endnote: Raising Standards

Originally broadcast Friday 28th March 2025 at 13:30

Closing the week with practical tips on how to use learning to drive action and raise standards. 

Endnote: Shaping the future: supporting your best next actions

Originally broadcast on Friday 17th May, 12:30.

Rounding off the virtual conference and first stage of this year's best practice programme with inspiration, ideas and clear next steps. This endnote will support your learning, and give you takeaway ideas on how to turn this into an action plan. 

Innovation Winners: Bank of Ireland & TSB

Originally broadcast Wednesday 3rd July, 09:30

Hear from Best Practice in Branch Planning winners Bank of Ireland and the Planning Team of the Year, TSB.

Interactive Keynote: Davies

Originally broadcast Monday 9th October, 12:30

Generative AI and the Contact Centre Experience
Join Mark Odlin from Davies as he delves into the transformative power of generative AI in the modern contact centre.

Keynote: Strength in Numbers

Hear from The Forum team on this year's theme - Strength in Numbers, The Value of Community and what this personally means to them.

Originally broadcast Monday 15th May 2023, 09:30

Hear from The Forum team on this year's theme - Strength in Numbers, The Value of Community and what this personally means to them. This thought provoking session will frame the week of learning that will be available through the rest of the Virtual Conference and challenge you to own your learning.

Keynote: The Value of Community

In this opening keynote, The Forum team members will discuss the importance of community.

Originally broadcast Monday 9th October, 09:30

In this opening keynote, The Forum team members will discuss the importance of community. They will provide practical advice to help you expand your connections within and beyond your organisation.

Keynote: Unlocking Opportunities

Originally broadcast Monday 1st November 2021, 09:30

How has our thinking changed during 2021? Phil Anderson and Dave Vernon, Directors at The Forum will explore the ever-changing business environment and the different approaches being taken to drive forward with improvements.

Keynote: Unlocking Opportunities

Originally broadcast Monday 26th April. 2021, 09:30

Hear from Phil Anderson, Director at The Forum with the conference opening keynote. Understand how disruption can pave the way for new opportunities and how you can become key to unlocking change and development.

Keynote: Your Moment of Truth

Originally broadcast Monday 4th April 2022, 09:30

Confident to Succeed Every day we practice living versus an ever-changing world and environment. Those who strive to learn and improve can adapt better. Those who are contempt with how they are or refuse to accept the changes around them will find it hard to catch-up as the change required to survive and thrive becomes bigger.

Learning & Development with The Forum

Originally broadcast Monday 14th October 2024, 13:30

Hear from Chris and Dave, Directors at The Forum as they take you through some of the learning journeys of our members and how our cloud-based Learning Management System is enhancing the learner experience. 

Liquorice Consistents – Does somebody at Bassetts not like me?

At our Customer Strategy & Planning Connections conference in Newcastle on 26th April ‘22 we explored probability using Liquorice Allsorts.

Membership Panel Discussion

Originally broadcast Monday 24th March 2025, 10:30

Membership – The Value of a Professional Community
Talking with members Anglian Water Services, Aviva UKGI and PTSB and discussing how they get value from being part of a professional community and the items that gives them the most value for their teams, organisation and personally

Moment of Truth: Confident to Succeed

Our actions, or inaction, will define us. We are the key to our own success. During 2021 we focused on unlocking opportunities and the part each of us can play in helping to shape the future. For 2022 we want to focus you on your Moment of Truth and being confident to succeed.

Opening Keynote - Raising Standards

Originally broadcast Monday 24th March 2025, 09:30

The Forum has spent 25 years building a vibrant, future-focused community that embraces change, disrupts complacency, and fuels innovation. As we look ahead to the next 25 years, the challenge isn’t just keeping up—it’s leading the way. Join us on this journey of continuous improvement, where we redefine what’s possible, break through limitations, and shape the future of business excellence.

Opening Keynote - Shaping the Future

Originally broadcast Monday 14th October 2024, 10:30

This year we challenged you to Shape Your Future, but is the future already here?

Opening Keynote: How to Learn

Originally broadcast Tuesday 2nd July 09:30

How you can use this week to learn from our members. 

Opening Keynote: Shaping the Future

Originally broadcast Monday 13th May, 09:30

How can we prepare ourselves for whatever happens? How can we think forward and be confident with our best next decisions?

Hear from The Forum’s team of Specialists as they each share their inspiration thoughts on how to Shape the Future.

Operational Readiness

This video is to accompany the article in the 2024 Best Practice Guide: Shaping the Future

Panel Discussion: Standards Benchmarking

Originally broadcast Monday 14th October 2024, 12:30

Hear from members who have completed the Standards Benchmarking process to understand how they approached the self-assessment process and implemented change from their learning. 45mins

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