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MECC ’17 Countdown Newsletter #1

1. You Won’t Want To Miss This One – MECC’17 – May 16-17, Dubai.

The dates for this year’s MECC ’17 event have been set as May 16/17 and, with preparations and planning now in full swing, participants can rest assured that this year’s MECC ’17 show will be both different and more impactful than any other previous MECC event held to date.  Without giving too much away (that is, until the next newsletter and in the other notes below 🙂 ) collaboration and reinvention are two of this year’s main themes.  These aspects, plus multiple, upbeat others, will be particularly aimed at helping participants solve some of the region’s most pressing problems and practices.

If you only plan on attending one paid conference this year then you need to pencil in the dates of May 16-17 now – you will not be disappointed!

PS.  As always the MECC ’17 pre – and post event days, in this case May 15 & 18, will also be extremely valuable learning & networking opportunities.  And as with the main MECC ’17 event, expect some outstanding options to choose from here.

2. MECC ’17 Conference, May 16-17 – Different But In A More Effective, Key Problem-Solving Way.

The annual MECC ’17 conference has always been regarded as the seminal call centre learning opportunity in the region, and the highlight of the year for many of the region’s top call centre professionals.  MECC ’17 will continue this tradition through both interacting closely with the market before the event (to ensure content and issue relevance) and redesigning the conference format itself to make it more interactive and collaborative.  (In stark contrast to the other talking heads/sales-pitch-driven “conferences” that have sprouted up in the region over the last few years).

As such, MECC ’17 delegates can expect an impactful, more useful and results-oriented experience.  This will not only include more involvement in the main conference itself (as mentioned above) but also a unique set of pre – and post event activities that only INSIGHTS can provide.  More details on these will be available over the next few weeks but do pencil in the May 15 – 18 dates into your calendar (yes, lots of option for May 15 & 18 also) and watch out for our next newsletter as we redefine the definition of a “conference”.

In the meantime you might like to help things along by taking our 1 min survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ccpriorities  Your input will help to ensure we tackle the most relevant topics at the event and, as a “thank you”, we will send you the insightful “17 in ’17” supplement an amazing collection of industry leaders discussing key trends impacting contact centres in 2017 – it’s guaranteed to influence your thinking and planning.

3. INSIGHTS Call Centre Awards ’17 Competition – Free-to-Attend Awards Awareness Day, Jan 26.

Yes, the 2017 version of the 12 year-old INSIGHTS Middle East Call Centre Awards Competition is up and running and, as usual, participants have until March 31 to make their submissions.  As in previous years we are offering multiple options to help participants produce a better submission.  The first of these is the free-to-attend Awards Awareness Day on Jan 26 in Dubai.  To register and for more details here go to http://www.insights-me.com/awards/aaday

This year, for the first time, we are also offering another set of options in order to simultaneously foster call centre improvement and produce a better Awards submission. It’s the ultimate Awards Assistance Aid, and is called the “INSIGHTS Call Centre Awards Preparation Excellence Package”. Included are a host of support and development options including Strategy Guidance, Live Awards form-filling tips and techniques, audits, customised analysis and more.  For more details see http://www.insights-me.com/awards/awardspep or contact us on Dubai + 971-4-3329211.  (Do note however that only a limited number of these corporate packages will be available so please revert quickly here to avoid disappointment.)

4. Outsourcing Done Right To Be A Key Theme Of MECC ’17

In monitoring the number, size and growth rates of call centres in the region, it has become clear to us that many of the largest call centres are Outsourcers (OSPs).  This confirms the clear demand for this type of service in the region (and, most probably, the success of teams of marauding, highly paid consultants over the years preaching the mantra of outsourcing non-core competencies!)   In many cases an organisation has recognised that it does not have the core competency that it needs to represent it’s brand adequately and so it makes sense to outsource to someone who has these skills (unfortunately this latter assumption is not always the case).  Unfortunately also, the market evidence (i.e. such as lack of fit-for-purpose SLAs and non-existent OLAs) suggests that this decision is based more on cost costing than brand support.  The stage is now set for an ongoing battle of mistrust, arguments about who is responsible for what, and, most unfortunately, customer confusion and dissatisfaction.  A lot of this can be put down to a relatively young market feeling its way; but, given that outsourcing services have been available in the region for almost 20 years now, its time to raise the bar on both how OSPs operate and how clients go about defining their needs and managing the OSP.  Welcome to the major topics for Middle East Call Centre ’17 Outsourcing Conference – Transformative Outsourcing done right.  As with the main MECC ’17 Conference, more details will be available shortly, but prepare yourself for what could well be for the most useful contact centre outsourcing event held in the region to date.

5. New Vendor Awards Competition At MECC ’17

Regional vendors have always been a key component of the MECC events in the past and, despite their sometimes not-to-well-hidden agendas :-), most are valuable sources of information, ideas and guidance.

In recognition of this, we thought it was time we highlighted their achievements and success stories.  So, we have decided to initiate the INSIGHTS Middle East Call Centre Vendor Awards ’17 competition.  The format of the judging process will be available shortly but you will not be surprised to learn that a large proportion of the scoring will depend on customer feedback and the results that are being achieved.  Yes, having a comprehensive and impressive list of features will count for something but success in the market is more about helping the customer get the most out of his investment and generate a positive RoI as quickly as possible.  As such vendor educational and support practices will come under the spotlight in the Vendor Awards evaluation process as much as anything.

For more details call Dubai 3329211

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