NEWS
Customer engagement saw dramatic
decline across economy during COVID-19
Content Guru, a leading cloud contact
centre and customer engagement
provider, has released data revealing
the dramatic impact of COVID-19 and
lockdown on customer engagement across
the economy. The transport, hospitality,
distribution and estate agency sectors saw
the most significant impact, with the most
severe drop seen in the transportation
sector, where customer engagement
declined by 92% between January and
May 2020.
The research, which collated trends
from more than 44 million customer
service calls before and during lockdown,
revealed customer engagement variations
across 13 industry sectors, ranging from
manufacturing, banking and insurance to
health, hospitality and the public sector.
Among the most heavily affected industries,
the hospitality and distribution sectors each
saw engagement fall by more than 90%.
Despite falling by 81% from pre-lockdown
levels in April, customer call volumes for
estate agents rebounded again in May,
with an increase in excess of 200%
compared to April’s low. With government
restrictions on estate agent activity lifted,
customer contact to estate agents then
continued to increase, reaching a new high
for the year in June, with engagement 63%
above levels recorded in January.
While organisations in all industries
anticipated significant increases in contact
volumes amid growing consumer uncertainty,
the supermarket retail sector stood out, with
contact volumes surging by 115% between
January and March, before dropping back
in May and June to sit 28% below levels
experienced at the start of the year.
“This data offers stark insight into the
severity of COVID-19 lockdown on
customer engagement across some of the
biggest and most important sectors of the
economy,” said Martin Taylor, Deputy CEO
and Co-founder at Content Guru.
Three-day innovation celebration tackles post-
COVID reality for BAME people
Alongside this, BTF will celebrate the
diversity in tech that we do have, featuring
executives from Microsoft, WPP, Adobe,
DeepMind and Box.
Black Tech Fest (BTF) is a first-of-its-kind
digital conference and movement
aiming to help Black professionals
expand their network and influence, while
celebrating the boldest innovations created
by the Black community.
The event will run from October 13–15. As a
matter of necessity, the Black Lives Matter
movement has proliferated in 2020, while
COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting
BAME (black and minority ethnic) people.
BAME people are twice as likely to be
unemployed or live in poverty as a result of
the pandemic.
BTF is a platform for Black people in the UK
to voice their concerns to executives from
some of the world’s leading companies.
Diversity in tech has a long way to go: only
3% of the UK’s tech industry are Black and
minority ethnic. They are three-times less
likely to be employed after graduating from
university. It is this and more that BTF will
discuss, with no holds barred, over three days.
It is built around three main pillars: a summit
for young people to explore a career in
tech; an awards ceremony celebrating
technologists and diversity champions; and
a conference for leaders to explore inclusion
through technology.
BTF will host roundtables with government, HR
Leaders and Venture Capital firms to discuss
how the entire tech space can go beyond
advocacy and commitment and instead, use
its collective platforms and brand to drive a
wider discussion and meaningful, tangible,
long-term action that makes a difference to
the lives of Black people in the UK.
The event is brought to you by Colorintech,
one of Europe’s leading non-profits.
www.intelligentcio.com
INTELLIGENTCIO
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