There’s barely a day goes by without a negative consumer article in the media. As a population we are fed up with excuses as to why we can’t access services and get resolution; shouldn’t everything be back to ‘normal’ by now?


The answers are of course varied and subject to the ‘it depends’ default by way of explanation.

Looking through the lens of organisations, the plates have shifted and continue to do so; issues like recruitment and retention, which sound so retro, are back in vogue with a vengeance. Put simply these issues are front and centre stage for just about every organisation in our network. And of course, it’s not just the issue of recruiting new starts in new structures but the huge shift in senior management, many of whom have decided on different life choices.

The need to sift what automation, robotics and support technologies can do versus what needs to be human has never been more important. Technology has a bigger than ever role in resolution. As consumers, our needs have changed to be more digital in our everyday lives and thus more discerning as we benchmark our individual experiences.

Looking through the lens of the consumer, we are most certainly in the age of anxiety; barely no one has been untouched by the recent disruption. The correlation between vulnerability and anger is complicated, and organisations have a delicate balance to strike between ensuring their workforce wellbeing is optimised, whilst working out how to identify and appropriately serve vulnerable customers.

These issues and many more have been the key strands of collaboration in the CCA network over the past year and a half and the passion for improvement and progress has been incredible. In retrospect the ‘easy part’ was in fact sending workforces home with laptops although it felt like a Herculean feat.

The bigger challenge is to synthesise learnings from all the live experiments and put these into practice real-time, so that the rebuild is agile enough to withstand future unknown shocks whilst adapting to our changing world of work and altered customer expectations. As an analogy I like ‘the roof is off the house,’ in other words before you reroof, make sure that the foundation is what you need it to be.

We are really excited to host our first in person event on 1st December to celebrate the dedication of those organisations who have completed accreditation to CCA Global Standard© during pandemic. Some of these organisations are listed below. In committing to an annual review, they demonstrate they care deeply about customers, workforce and stakeholders in unison.

1st December is not Convention as we know it (that’s for next year!) but a really special and timely one day Leaders’ Summit and dinner in a specially adapted, safe environment. We are so excited to welcome dedicated advocates of continuous improvement from around the UK and globally to Glasgow to share the very best of the best our industry has to offer, and to be in good company.

The outputs of this event will add a layer of knowledge to ‘what good looks like’ for the future.

Surely a balance of professionally trained and empowered individuals supported by intuitive and seamless technology; all led by trusted leaders who understand their purpose in removing barriers and creating a future vision which provides confidence in WHY individuals should work for or be a customer of their brand. This is the purpose and aspiration of what the CCA network is working towards. If you share this passion then please get in touch to learn more.

Best regards

Anne Marie Forsyth

CEO, CCA