This month, Philippa Bindley, Head of Customer Experience at Norfolk Chamber of Commerce met with Fiona Brown, CEO of OpenContact to find out their exciting plans for the year ahead.
Norwich-based outsource contact centre business OpenContact formed in 2000 and have been members of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce from day one. They boast an impressive client list of both national and local brands including; The View from The Shard, Go Ape, & The Cotswold Company to name just a few.
This year they are embarking on an exciting new chapter after an eventful, and at times challenging, 2018.
A fresh start to 2019 for OpenContact follows a year which saw them move from their previous premises on Rountree Way to Norfolk Tower on Surrey Street in a bid to attract and secure the best talent for the future. In addition, the new premises has allowed the business to design an attractive working environment with a future-proof technical infrastructure.
CEO Fiona Temple said “Being located in the city centre will give us access to a greater talent pool so we can develop our service offering to clients and respond to the evolving needs of consumers. As self-service and AI gain a larger share of the customer service space, when customers do need to interact with humans the issues tend to be more complex, and as an outsourcer we need to react to this by employing the best skills to deliver a great customer experience.”
2018 also brought tragedy to OpenContact when their founder and former Chairman Ron Pollin sadly passed away after a short battle with cancer. Ron, who was also Fiona Temple’s father, was a prominent businessman in Norwich for over 25 years, having previously been a partner in advertising firm Barlett Jones Pollin before founding OpenContact in 2000.
Fiona says “Last year was challenging and eventful and I am incredibly proud of the team for building some strong foundations upon which we can achieve our ambitious growth plans and continue my Dad’s legacy of delivering excellent service for our clients and their customers.”
As part of moving on and making a fresh start OpenContact has recently completed a full rebrand including a new logo and imaging as well as a full redesign of the company’s website in line with their values and purpose of “making people smile”.
The rebrand and new website was designed by former EDP Small business of the year winners, Naked Marketing who are based in Hingham, Norfolk.
On the rebrand Fiona said “Contact Centres don’t normally make people smile but we set ourselves apart from the rest of the industry by ensuring every interaction we have with our client’s customers is positive and reassuring, creating a great customer experience which builds brand loyalty and sales.”
OpenContact provides outsourced customer contact solutions for call handling, email, web chat and social media across a number of industry sectors including travel, leisure, retail and financial services, and this was a key part of the rebranding brief. OpenContact hold being chameleonic as one of their core values which means that they can adapt to the various different environments of clients’ industries and deliver solutions that meet their needs. Their branding uses the colours of the chameleon to reflect their flexibility and adaptability.
To find out more information about OpenContact visit their website: https://www.opencontact.co.uk
