summit report
HAILED AS
YEE ENGAGEMENT EVENT EVER’
The Summit was effectively a ‘mash-up’ - and much, much more of the content of our hugely successful series of Directors Forums that have run over the past three years.
Ryanair bad – Easyjet good Conference chair Mike Havard opened proceedings by instancing the falling fortunes of Ryanair who have issued two profits warnings and contrasting this with the rising fortunes of EasyJet who have reported a 50 per cent increase in profits as an example of how an organisation who concentrates on customer service is winning out against one that has - until now at least - put customer service at the bottom of its priorities. Mike was followed by Anthony Hilton senior business commentator at the Evening Standard and Independent who made an excellent opening keynote. The importance of connecting employee and customer engagement throughout the organisation to enhance performance and profitability was pivotal to the whole Summit. The message was clear - our customers and employees for the first time in history have access to better technology than the organisations that they connect with. The trick now is what are we doing to do to catch up with them? Yes HR has to be talking to marketing.
The case studies just kept coming Underpinning the whole Summit was a mouth-watering raft of world class case studies which kept delegates engrossed and engaged throughout the day from organisations including Lego, Lloyds Banking Group, Argos, BT Retail, Carnival UK, Nationwide, Boots UK, Lebara, o2,BSkyB, Norfolk County Council and Siemens. Conference chair Mike Havard commented that the content at the Summit was among the strongest he had ever seen and this was echoed by delegate after delegate and Sponsor after Sponsor. Summing up Engage Customer editorial director Steve Hurst who put the Summit programme together said: “It has been fantastic to hear our Sponsors and our delegates’ response to this year’s Summit. It is absolute proof that content is king at this kind of event and the willingness among delegates to learn from best practice and great employee and customer engagement initiatives is hugely encouraging. “The chief aim of the Summit was for delegates to go back to their organisations armed with all the tools, strategies and techniques they need to deliver successful employee and customer engagement strategies over the long term for sustainable competitive advantage and the feedback we are receiving suggests that we have more than achieved just that end.”
“Underpinning the whole Summit was a mouth-watering raft of world class case studies which kept delegates engrossed and engaged throughout the day from organisations including Lego, Lloyds Banking Group, Argos, BT Retail, Carnival UK, Nationwide, Boots UK, Lebara, o2,BSkyB, Norfolk County Council and Siemens”
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ISSUE THIRTEEN • FEBRUARY 2014