Author: Jurgen Hekkink
Jurgen Hekkink
Jurgen Hekkink,Head of Product Marketing, AnywhereNow: Jurgen joined AnywhereNow in November 2024 as Head of Product Marketings. He has over 25 years’ experience in the telecoms business, with a specialisation in contact centers and customer experience. In various roles he has been working with customers, partners and global carriers and service providers, including BT, Orange Business, Telefonica, ePDLT and Telus. Before joining AnywhereNow Jurgen had roles as EMEA partner manager for Playvox, product director CCaaS for Enghouse Interactive, solutions marketing manager for the UK carrier KCOM and product management roles for Siemens Communications. Original from Holland Jurgen has been living in the UK since 2000 with his family. He has a degree in computer engineering and an MBA from the Open University. He loves travelling and speaks English, Dutch and German.
As we head into 2026, the contact centre is about to take a major leap forward. Customer expectations are rising, digital channels continue to multiply, and companies are waking up to something we’ve been saying for years: service isn’t a cost centre but a strategic differentiator and a genuine driver of growth. From our vantage point at AnywhereNow, and working with organisations navigating this shift every day, five themes stand out as indicators of what’s next. Here’s how we see 2026 reshaping the industry. AI becomes the rule, not the exception AI has been quietly building momentum in contact centres,…
Contact centre agents play an essential role in ensuring the smooth operation of your organisation. Maintaining their motivation, productivity, and satisfaction is fundamental to the success of any contact centre. This article examines how recent technological advancements can support agents and enhance both their workplace environment and job satisfaction. Challenges facing contact centre agents Contact centre agents frequently experience low job satisfaction and heightened stress due to a combination of challenging workplace factors. They are regularly exposed to high call volumes and are expected to resolve complex issues for customers who may be angry or upset, which can be emotionally…
The shift to cloud-based Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) aimed to modernise operations. While this has introduced new front office capabilities, it has also resulted in a separation between the contact centre and other areas of the business. Customers now find themselves trapped in a front-end office optimised for speed of answering calls. Frustration grows with every transfer, as each representative lacks the context to help quickly. This fragmented approach has eroded the seamless experience customers expect. The service model now feels distant from both the business and the people it’s meant to serve. While organisations adopted standalone CCaaS…
Contact centres have long been the heart of customer service, essential for maintaining customer satisfaction. Traditional call centres relied heavily on human agents for all interactions. Now, AI adoption is revolutionising this landscape, transforming roles and seamlessly integrating front and back office operations for a more efficient and connected customer experience. How adaptation of AI is slowly changing contact centre operations Contact centres are starting to rely heavily on AI functions acting as intelligent co-pilots to the organisation, handling routine inquiries, automating administrative tasks such as data entry and summarisation, and delivering real-time insights like sentiment analysis and “next-best actions”. …
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the customer experience landscape, enabling brands to deliver faster, smarter, and more personalised interactions at every touchpoint. AI assists organisations in quickly resolving issues through virtual agents, providing dynamic recommendations, and delivering highly targeted communications. AI technology helps organisations anticipate needs, provide support in real time, and enhance personalisation in their customer service. Customers’ expectations are higher than ever, and the best way to meet these expectations is by combining human interaction with artificial intelligence. This isn’t about replacing people, it’s about equipping them with the tools to deliver smarter, more meaningful interactions. Likewise, this…
Today, customer experience (CX) is a crucial differentiator across industries, prompting businesses to continuously seek service improvements. AI technology is playing a pivotal role in transforming organisations across various sectors, with significant growth anticipated in AI-driven customer service through 2025 and beyond. According to Gartner, by 2025, 85% of customer service leaders will explore or pilot conversational generative AI (GenAI) solutions. Transforming call centres with Agentic AI Agentic AI encompasses GenAI-powered tools that can understand objectives, make decisions, and take action. These tools streamline processes, automate tasks, and provide intelligent insights to aid in quick decision making. The integration of…