

Get Connected: Go Beyond – Discover your path to success
Customer service has reached a new frontier. Valleys of possibility lie ahead.
To achieve success in 2021, contact centres must advance beyond the mountains climbed in 2020 and chart a new way forward.
This year, Puzzel’s annual Get Connected conference brings together some of the best minds from across the customer service and contact centre industries to help you plot your path to success in 2021 and look ahead to the future.
Discover the latest trends influencing the sector, what some of the biggest brands have planned for this year, and what experts are predicting for the next decade. Learn how you can support, motivate and retain your agents as you navigate the new normal of remote and agile working. See how technology and AI has evolved to help you work smarter, gain new perspectives and reach new heights. And finally, network with other organisations in your industry to benchmark your service, share advice, and build a neighbourhood that can support you during these unprecedented times.
Guest speakers

Martin Hill-Wilson
Director, Brainfood Consulting
Martin was CEO of one of the first BPOs and CX consultancies in the UK. He then spent a decade in the systems integration industry positioning the value of new technology and the associated change agenda. He is now in his tenth year as Brainfood Consulting, offering a mix of services.

Mike Havard
Customer Management, Channels and Technology Industry Leader, Ember Group
Mike is a founding director of Ember, a business services group focused on service strategies, CX and performance transformation for champion brands. Over his career he’s advised many UK and global brands, including John Lewis, M&S, Toyota, Microsoft, Barclays, RSA, Lego, IKEA and Virgin Group.

Amy Scott
Director, Sedulous
Amy is a Director at Sedulous, a customer insight-driven consultancy that has worked for a wide variety of international blue-chip organisations and brands. She’s worked as a service design, customer experience and user experience consultant to leading UK, Australian and Japanese companies.

Stephen Yap
Director of Research, CCMA
Stephen is the Research Director for the Call Centre Management Association and also runs his own consultancy. At the CCMA, he delivers bespoke research on topics of interest to the contact centre sector. Prior to this, he spent almost 20 years with two blue-chip research firms: Kantar and Ipsos.
Also speaking at the event

Symren Malhi
Business Manager, Puzzel

Thomas Rødseth
CTO, Puzzel

James Dodkins
Customer Experience, Rockstar CX

Espen Knutsen
CISO, Puzzel
Time | Event | Speaker |
---|---|---|
8.30 – 8.45 | Achieving Success in 2021 Goodbye 2020, hello 2021! Join Puzzel CEO Frederic Laziou as he reviews Puzzel’s key achievements in 2020 and shares his vision for the year ahead. Find out how Puzzel plans to grow and challenge the CCaaS industry with its new customer-centric approach, what technologies and products lie on the horizon, and the vital role our Neighbourhood will play in helping to achieve success. In this session, Frederic Laziou will cover: |
![]() Frederic LaziouCEO, Puzzel |
8.45 – 9.30 | Emotive CX for Customer Interaction Tuning in to the emotive needs and expectations of customers has incredible commercial value. Not only must we recognise how customers are feeling during a service or sales interaction, we should also seek to influence how their needs are resolved and remembered. Their ongoing loyalty depends on it, especially in times of heightened anxiety. In this session, Martin Hill-Wilson from Brainfood Consulting will cover: |
![]() Martin Hill-WilsonDirector, Brainfood Consulting |
8.45 – 9.30 | Showcasing the Puzzel Contact Centre Find out why more than 1,000 customers worldwide choose to work with Puzzel and our cloud-based customer service solutions from our experienced business and support experts. We’ll show you our flagship omnichannel Contact Centre solution, starting with our sleek and fully customisable Agent Application. Then we’ll journey deeper into the engine room – our Administration Portal – where you’ll see how contact centre managers can use real-time monitoring and detailed statistics to make critical service changes on demand. Finally, we’ll share how our customers have been able to take advantage of our cloud-based technology to adapt, support their teams and boost productivity during these unusual times. In this session, Adam Green and Henry Stapley from Puzzel will cover: |
![]() Adam GreenSales, Puzzel ![]() Henry StapleySolution Architect, Puzzel |
9.30 – 10.00 | Securing your Contact Centre How can you boost security, maintain data protection and safeguard your employees from fraud during these exceptional times? In this session, Puzzel’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Espen Knutsen will discuss the many privacy, data and security challenges that have arisen during the pandemic and how you can overcome them. He’ll explore the latest developments in GDPR and how Puzzel is ensuring its customers can safely work from home with a secure and compliant contact centre. In this session, Espen Knutsen will cover: |
![]() Espen KnutsenCISO, Puzzel |
9.30 – 10.00 | AIEd: Artificial Intelligence in Education and Training Artificial Intelligence has generated major breakthroughs in the last decade. Already the world of learning has seen the use of AI in areas such as automating grades, automated AI tutors, and tailored and personalised learning. In this session, Scott Maryan from Puzzel will cover: |
![]() Scott MaryanAgent Care, Puzzel |
10.00 – 10.30 | Break | |
10.10 – 10.30 | Outsourcing customer success Customer success is, at its core, about keeping your customers happy. The happier your customers, the lower your churn rate and the more your business can grow. As contact centre outsourcers, TieTa has worked with a range of businesses to help them improve their customer service, boost satisfaction scores, and ultimately drive customer success. In this session, Operations Director Risto Proosa will share some of their greatest success stories and bust some outsourcing myths. In this session, Risto Proosa from TieTa will cover: |
![]() Risto ProosaOperations Director, TieTa |
10.30 – 11.00 | Ticketing: Smarter email management for your contact centre Has your contact centre experienced a surge in email demand during Covid-19? Ticketing could help bring order to your cluttered inbox by automatically prioritising, tagging and routing customer enquiries to the most appropriate agent. Learn how ticketing and case management can help you boost efficiency, maintain service levels and stop critical customer communications falling through the cracks. In this session, Tracy Hendy from Puzzel will cover: • Introduction to Ticketing |
Tracy HendySolution Architect, Puzzel |
11.15 – 12.00 | The Evolution of the Contact Centre 2020 was a year of extraordinary change for the customer service industry. As Covid-19 spread across the world and businesses went into lockdown, Puzzel partnered with the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) to study the pandemic’s impact on contact centre operations, service levels and staff. The research programme, which comprised of three waves in July 2020, October 2020 and January 2021, brought together a panel of senior contact centre leaders from a broad range of sectors to examine their experiences and identify key trends for the future. In this session, Jonathan Allan from Puzzel and Stephen Yap from the CCMA will cover: |
![]() Jonathan AllanCMO, Puzzel ![]() Stephen YapDirector of Research, CCMA |
11.30 – 12.00 | Employee Engagement: It’s all about people ProffCom is one of Norway’s leading players in customer service and sales, offering overflow solutions, outsourcing of customer service and development of chatbots and robot trainers. Find out how they addressed the challenges of Covid-19, solving them with a focus on employee engagement and technology. By using a new way of measuring and working with employee engagement, ProffCom succeeded in its transition from on-site work to work from home. In this session, Rune Lonkemoen from ProffCom will cover: |
![]() Rune LonkemoenProffcom |
12.00 – 12.30 | Designing for User Experience User Experience (UX) is not just usability – it’s the way your product or service looks and feels, its functionality, adoptability, desirability and value. It’s one of the four key pillars of Total Experience (TX) and can be the maker or breaker of brands. So what does Puzzel have planned this year? Join Matt Hughes, Puzzel’s Director of User Experience, as he explains the importance of UX in today’s increasingly virtual and mobile world, how it contributes to TX, and what exciting developments Puzzel has planned for 2021. In this session, Matt Hughes will cover: |
![]() Matt HughesHead of UX, Puzzel |
12.00 – 12.30 | Salesforce Best Practice for Contact Centres Want to get the most out of your Salesforce solution? Join Symren Malhi from Puzzel as she explains the benefits of integrating your contact centre software with your CRM. Learn how agents can take advantage of time-saving features such as click-to-call to reduce handle time, and use CRM data to deliver more personalised customer service and improve first-call resolution. You’ll see Puzzel’s Salesforce integration in action and gain practical tips for ensuring a seamless configuration. In this session, Symren will cover: |
![]() Symren MalhiBusiness Manager, Puzzel |
12.30 – 13.15 | Lunch | |
13.15 – 14.00 | Customer Behaviour Trends in 2021 & beyond Over the past year, we’ve seen huge shifts in customer behaviours. What would have taken years took place in a matter of months and contact centres needed to adapt to these changes at lightning speed. Customers’ willingness to self-serve increased exponentially, while voice-assisted service also grew significantly. This was driven by the type of customer journey, the nature of the query and who was making it. So what do you need to do to ensure you’re providing the type of support your customers will value? In this session, Amy Scott from Sedulous will cover: |
![]() Amy ScottDirector, Sedulous |
13.15 – 14.00 | Creating a Gamification Culture Gamification has become a bit of a buzzword over the past few years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has now led to a forced popularisation of the concept, of working from home and of virtual online learning for employees and children. There is huge demand for gamification to drive engagement, increase motivation and maintain participation in both work and learning. In this session, Scott Maryan from Puzzel will cover: |
![]() Scott MaryanLearning and Development Manager, Puzzel |
14.00 – 14.30 | Innovating for Service Excellence Technical and product innovations in customer service – what is new, what is coming and what can we learn from champion service brands and the way they manage their customers? In this session, Mike Havard from Ember Group, will share some of the latest innovations in customer service from the major brands his company advises. He’ll also share his insight into how customer needs and expectations of service are evolving, and how organisations are adapting to their own ‘new normal’ at this challenging time. Mike will also allow time for questions. In this session, Mike Havard will cover: |
![]() Mike HavardCustomer Management, Channels and Technology Industry Leader, Ember Group |
14.00 – 14.30 | The power of Workforce Management Covid-19 has made it harder than ever for contact centres to accurately forecast demand and schedule their agents accordingly. Last-minute lockdowns, restrictions and absences, combined with new remote working models, have made it difficult for leaders to coordinate teams and maintain service levels. Workforce Management (WFM) solutions can help you tackle these problems, using data captured from your contact centre to help you predict peaks and troughs in demand and build schedules that can be edited in real-time. Join Puzzel’s Consulting Manager, Timothy Wharfe, as he explores the benefits of WFM (no more spreadsheets!) and shares real-world examples of how companies have been able to drive efficiency and improve their CX. He’ll also explain the key features to look out for when hunting for the right solution. In this session, Tim Wharfe will cover: |
![]() Tim WharfePuzzel |
14.30 – 14.45 | Break | |
14.45 – 15.30 | Total Experience: How to unify your customer, employee and user experiences Total Experience (TX) has emerged as one of the top technology trends for 2021. So what is it and how can you incorporate it into your technology and customer service strategy? In this session, Puzzel’s Chief Technology Officer Thomas Rødseth will explore the concept of TX and the benefits of unifying your user experience (UX), multi-experience (MX), customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX). Research shows while most customer-facing employees want to provide outstanding customer experiences, many do not feel enabled to do so. Incorporating TX into your business strategy can therefore help you design a 360-degree experience that reduces effort, empowers your employees and improves your customer service. In this session, Thomas Rødseth will cover: |
![]() Thomas RødsethCTO, Puzzel |
14.45 – 15.30 | Puzzel’s latest product releases At Puzzel, we’ve been busy putting the final touches on a new set of products, integrations and functions for our customers. Now we’re ready to show them off! Watch our Director of Product, Christian Thorsrud, and Product Owners, Andreas Wallin and Paal Kongshaug, as they introduce the latest developments from Puzzel. You’ll get an inside look at our innovative new Web Chat solution, Teams integration, voice transcripts and more. Agenda: • Introducing our new end-user chat |
![]() Christian ThorsrudDirector of Product, Puzzel ![]() Andreas WallinProduct Owner, Puzzel ![]() Paal KongshaugProduct Owner, Puzzel |
15.30 – 15.40 | Closing Keynote |
![]() Jonathan AllanCMO, Puzzel |
15.30 | Afterparty – CX quiz |
![]() James DodkinsCustomer Experience, Rockstar CX |
Time | Event | Speaker |
---|---|---|
8.30 – 8.45 | Achieving Success in 2021 Goodbye 2020, hello 2021! Join Puzzel CEO Frederic Laziou as he reviews Puzzel’s key achievements in 2020 and shares his vision for the year ahead. Find out how Puzzel plans to grow and challenge the CCaaS industry with its new customer-centric approach, what technologies and products lie on the horizon, and the vital role our Neighbourhood will play in helping to achieve success. In this session, Frederic Laziou will cover: |
![]() Frederic LaziouCEO, Puzzel |
8.45 – 9.30 | Emotive CX for Customer Interaction Tuning in to the emotive needs and expectations of customers has incredible commercial value. Not only must we recognise how customers are feeling during a service or sales interaction, we should also seek to influence how their needs are resolved and remembered. Their ongoing loyalty depends on it, especially in times of heightened anxiety. In this session, Martin Hill-Wilson from Brainfood Consulting will cover: |
![]() Martin Hill-WilsonDirector, Brainfood Consulting |
8.45 – 9.30 | Showcasing the Puzzel Contact Centre Find out why more than 1,000 customers worldwide choose to work with Puzzel and our cloud-based customer service solutions from our experienced business and support experts. We’ll show you our flagship omnichannel Contact Centre solution, starting with our sleek and fully customisable Agent Application. Then we’ll journey deeper into the engine room – our Administration Portal – where you’ll see how contact centre managers can use real-time monitoring and detailed statistics to make critical service changes on demand. Finally, we’ll share how our customers have been able to take advantage of our cloud-based technology to adapt, support their teams and boost productivity during these unusual times. In this session, Adam Green and Henry Stapley from Puzzel will cover: |
![]() Adam GreenSales, Puzzel ![]() Henry StapleySolution Architect, Puzzel |
9.30 – 10.00 | Securing your Contact Centre How can you boost security, maintain data protection and safeguard your employees from fraud during these exceptional times? In this session, Puzzel’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Espen Knutsen will discuss the many privacy, data and security challenges that have arisen during the pandemic and how you can overcome them. He’ll explore the latest developments in GDPR and how Puzzel is ensuring its customers can safely work from home with a secure and compliant contact centre. In this session, Espen Knutsen will cover: |
![]() Espen KnutsenCISO, Puzzel |
9.30 – 10.00 | AIEd: Artificial Intelligence in Education and Training Artificial Intelligence has generated major breakthroughs in the last decade. Already the world of learning has seen the use of AI in areas such as automating grades, automated AI tutors, and tailored and personalised learning. In this session, Scott Maryan from Puzzel will cover: |
![]() Scott MaryanAgent Care, Puzzel |
10.00 – 10.30 | Break | |
10.30 – 11.00 | Ticketing: Smarter email management for your contact centre Has your contact centre experienced a surge in email demand during Covid-19? Ticketing could help bring order to your cluttered inbox by automatically prioritising, tagging and routing customer enquiries to the most appropriate agent. Learn how ticketing and case management can help you boost efficiency, maintain service levels and stop critical customer communications falling through the cracks. In this session, Tracy Hendy from Puzzel will cover: • Introduction to Ticketing |
Tracy HendySolution Architect, Puzzel |
11.15 – 12.00 | The Evolution of the Contact Centre 2020 was a year of extraordinary change for the customer service industry. As Covid-19 spread across the world and businesses went into lockdown, Puzzel partnered with the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) to study the pandemic’s impact on contact centre operations, service levels and staff. The research programme, which comprised of three waves in July 2020, October 2020 and January 2021, brought together a panel of senior contact centre leaders from a broad range of sectors to examine their experiences and identify key trends for the future. In this session, Jonathan Allan from Puzzel and Stephen Yap from the CCMA will cover: |
![]() Jonathan AllanCMO, Puzzel ![]() Stephen YapDirector of Research, CCMA |
11.30 – 12.00 | Employee Engagement: It’s all about people ProffCom is one of Norway’s leading players in customer service and sales, offering overflow solutions, outsourcing of customer service and development of chatbots and robot trainers. Find out how they addressed the challenges of Covid-19, solving them with a focus on employee engagement and technology. By using a new way of measuring and working with employee engagement, ProffCom succeeded in its transition from on-site work to work from home. In this session, Rune Lonkemoen from ProffCom will cover: |
![]() Rune LonkemoenProffcom |
12.00 – 12.30 | Designing for User Experience User Experience (UX) is not just usability – it’s the way your product or service looks and feels, its functionality, adoptability, desirability and value. It’s one of the four key pillars of Total Experience (TX) and can be the maker or breaker of brands. So what does Puzzel have planned this year? Join Matt Hughes, Puzzel’s Director of User Experience, as he explains the importance of UX in today’s increasingly virtual and mobile world, how it contributes to TX, and what exciting developments Puzzel has planned for 2021. In this session, Matt Hughes will cover: |
![]() Matt HughesHead of UX, Puzzel |
12.00 – 12.30 | Salesforce Best Practice for Contact Centres Want to get the most out of your Salesforce solution? Join Symren Malhi from Puzzel as she explains the benefits of integrating your contact centre software with your CRM. Learn how agents can take advantage of time-saving features such as click-to-call to reduce handle time, and use CRM data to deliver more personalised customer service and improve first-call resolution. You’ll see Puzzel’s Salesforce integration in action and gain practical tips for ensuring a seamless configuration. In this session, Symren will cover: |
![]() Symren MalhiBusiness Manager, Puzzel |
12.30 – 13.15 | Lunch | |
13.15 – 14.00 | Customer Behaviour Trends in 2021 & beyond Over the past year, we’ve seen huge shifts in customer behaviours. What would have taken years took place in a matter of months and contact centres needed to adapt to these changes at lightning speed. Customers’ willingness to self-serve increased exponentially, while voice-assisted service also grew significantly. This was driven by the type of customer journey, the nature of the query and who was making it. So what do you need to do to ensure you’re providing the type of support your customers will value? In this session, Amy Scott from Sedulous will cover: |
![]() Amy ScottDirector, Sedulous |
13.15 – 14.00 | Creating a Gamification Culture Gamification has become a bit of a buzzword over the past few years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has now led to a forced popularisation of the concept, of working from home and of virtual online learning for employees and children. There is huge demand for gamification to drive engagement, increase motivation and maintain participation in both work and learning. In this session, Scott Maryan from Puzzel will cover: |
![]() Scott MaryanLearning and Development Manager, Puzzel |
14.00 – 14.30 | Innovating for Service Excellence Technical and product innovations in customer service – what is new, what is coming and what can we learn from champion service brands and the way they manage their customers? In this session, Mike Havard from Ember Group, will share some of the latest innovations in customer service from the major brands his company advises. He’ll also share his insight into how customer needs and expectations of service are evolving, and how organisations are adapting to their own ‘new normal’ at this challenging time. Mike will also allow time for questions. In this session, Mike Havard will cover: |
![]() Mike HavardCustomer Management, Channels and Technology Industry Leader, Ember Group |
14.00 – 14.30 | The power of Workforce Management Covid-19 has made it harder than ever for contact centres to accurately forecast demand and schedule their agents accordingly. Last-minute lockdowns, restrictions and absences, combined with new remote working models, have made it difficult for leaders to coordinate teams and maintain service levels. Workforce Management (WFM) solutions can help you tackle these problems, using data captured from your contact centre to help you predict peaks and troughs in demand and build schedules that can be edited in real-time. Join Puzzel’s Consulting Manager, Timothy Wharfe, as he explores the benefits of WFM (no more spreadsheets!) and shares real-world examples of how companies have been able to drive efficiency and improve their CX. He’ll also explain the key features to look out for when hunting for the right solution. In this session, Tim Wharfe will cover: |
![]() Tim WharfePuzzel |
14.30 – 14.45 | Break | |
14.45 – 15.30 | Total Experience: How to unify your customer, employee and user experiences Total Experience (TX) has emerged as one of the top technology trends for 2021. So what is it and how can you incorporate it into your technology and customer service strategy? In this session, Puzzel’s Chief Technology Officer Thomas Rødseth will explore the concept of TX and the benefits of unifying your user experience (UX), multi-experience (MX), customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX). Research shows while most customer-facing employees want to provide outstanding customer experiences, many do not feel enabled to do so. Incorporating TX into your business strategy can therefore help you design a 360-degree experience that reduces effort, empowers your employees and improves your customer service. In this session, Thomas Rødseth will cover: |
![]() Thomas RødsethCTO, Puzzel |
15.15 – 15.45 | UK: Far and near – how to maintain company culture with remote teams (English Subtitles) Puzzel’s strong company culture and our focus on our employees are two of our biggest strengths. But how do we maintain a common culture across seven different countries? And how do you prepare your company to survive a pandemic when employees cannot meet in person, not even in local offices? In this session, Puzzel’s HR Director Anna Oom Lindroos will take a deep dive into how Puzzel actively works to become one Puzzel – a company with a common culture, engaged employees, active managers and tools to follow up staff and their performance. In this session, Anna Oom Lindroos will cover: |
![]() Anna Oom LindroosHR Director, Puzzel |
15.30 – 15.40 | Closing Keynote |
![]() Jonathan AllanCMO, Puzzel |
15.30 | Afterparty – CX quiz |
![]() James DodkinsCustomer Experience, Rockstar CX |