720160CirrusClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKIn the public mind, telephone call centres and exasperation go hand in hand. Long hold times, ill-informed agents and multiple instances of “I’m just going to pass you on to my colleague” have given the industry a terrible reputation. On the industry side, companies are frustrated: high capital investment costs and inflexible infrastructure make it expensive and difficult to respond to peaks and troughs in demand; those peaks and troughs are not a comfortable fit with viable shift patterns for employees who have to commute to centralised offices. Cirrus is a response to industry and consumer demand. It will be the only flexible, modular, hardware-independent platform to manage telephone-based customer interaction. By giving companies real-time, flexible control over how calls are routed, it will ensure that calls are answered quickly even at peak times. By tying into customer relationship management systems, it will make sure the agent answering the phone knows exactly who is calling. By monitoring agent performance, it will enable companies to prioritise calls in new ways, connecting the customer with the best person to resolve their enquiry, rather than just the next available person. Contact centres will become virtual: agents will be able to work from home, using their laptop, iPad or mobile phone. Anyone with access to a fast data connection can become a contact centre operator. This will allow new groups of people to enter or re-enter the labour force, and bring employment opportunities to deprived and isolated areas. Cirrus will bring real economic benefits to the UK. Better-run contact centres will free up investment and resources for companies to concentrate on their core business, and more efficient contact centres will enable companies to meet growing consumer demand for UKbased telephone support. Call centres – they’ll no longer be centralised, and they’ll be about more than just phone calls. We’re going to need a new name for them.