Report Back from APCCAL Expo in China
By Kathryn Starr
I recently represented CCiNZ at the APCCAL Expo in China, joining the other nine nations who form the Asia Pacific Contact Centre Association Leaders (APCCAL) group. It was definitely a culture shock, leaving my peaceful home town in the Bay of Islands and landing in the colourful, busy and humid environment of China.I left Auckland on Monday 21st November, heading to Hong Kong via Singapore and then I travelled to China by boat. So it was a bit ‘planes, trains and automobiles’ for a while there.
I based myself in Nansha, an area of Guangzhou city designated 5 years ago as a growth hub for the region that has excellent facilities. It is now known as the new economic hub of Guangzhou, which is the third largest city in China and located about 120km from Hong Kong in southern China and located on the Pearl River Delta.
To put things into perspective, Guangzhou has around 13 million people - compared to our tiny 4.4 million people in New Zealand. There was an obvious energy about the place and the people (all 13 million of them it seems) are travelling in all directions, with great purpose and at great pace - a pace that I found challenging to keep up with!
The climate in China at the moment is similar to the Far North of New Zealand over summer. Temperatures range from around 17 to 25 degrees and humidity is currently in the high 60s. It felt hotter though, and the air seemed thicker to breath. It was definitely a change of scene from Kerikeri.
Now, I wasn’t there on holiday – it was definitely business.
APCCAL is a wide-reaching network of Contact Centre industry professionals from around the world and being a member allows CCiNZ to tap into a vast network of expertise and best-practice.
At the Expo, New Zealand was mentioned in all formal introductions and many of the people in the APCCAL group are very keen to come to New Zealand and be hosted around our contact centres. I was also amazed at the coverage that activities in New Zealand have received here on China’s television news.
The Expo featured presentations on:
- Trends and development of outsourcing in Guangzhou
- Delivering superior service
- Multi-channel integration from Interactive Intelligence
- British Telecom’s take on clouds, crowds and anonymous users
- Presentation from APCCAL winners (Indonesia, Australia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore)
- Customer satisfaction through performance management
- Case studies and best practice from the UK
It was a very busy schedule, with a lot of formal meetings with trade representatives of the regional Government. It is very good for CCiNZ to be involved and I have received great insights into industry trends:
- Indonesia sent 24 delegates to the APCCAL Expo
- 10 nations are represented at the APCCAL Committee meeting
- Close to 100,000 seats operate on a hosted platform (cloud) in Asia Pacific region
- APCCAL speaker Kathy Horigan of Sydney Water said they employ 3 social workers in their CC to offer support to customers with bill payment problems
- Huawei launched their cloud contact centre solution 'eSpace' at a press conference held during the Expo in Nansha, China
- 550 delegates attended APCCAL Expo
Conference attendees were treated to wonderful local hospitality and at times ‘adventurous’ local cuisine (I struggled a bit with the seahorse soup). We reciprocated by offering a spot prize of an All Blacks jersey, which was very popular.
It was a rewarding trip and I have identified a lot of opportunities for CCiNZ. If you have any questions or comments, please drop me an email through info@ccinz.org.nz.
