As technological innovation continues to reshape the contact centre landscape, the role of the live agent is actually becoming more important that ever, especially when it comes to building and maintaining customer relationships. As a result, it’s vital that agents are well trained and develop excellent ‘soft skills’.

One of the main changes that will be introduced by the upcoming Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, (MiFID II), and the accompanying Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) will be a requirement for financial services companies and individuals to record all fixed and mobile calls, and other electronic communications intended to bring about a transaction, and store them for 5 years. Failure to comply will mean hefty fines.

Today, businesses are likely to use multiple channels for communicating with each other, and with customers, partners and clients. Employees rely on a multitude of communications channels, including fixed and mobile phones, laptops and devices that support not only voice calls, but also email, SMS, VoIP and enterprise-based chat solutions, such as Skype for Business, in order to perform their daily tasks efficiently and smartly.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, known as MiFID II, and the accompanying Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) took effect, with a zero-tolerance policy, on January 3, 2018.