Closing the conduct risk remediation gap: the missing pathway from insight to action
David McQueen David McQueen

Closing the conduct risk remediation gap: the missing pathway from insight to action

Detection of conduct risk breaches is faster than ever, but turning insights into lasting behaviour change remains a challenge. As 100% monitoring becomes standard, the pressure to act is rising. Learn how organisations can close the gap between detection and remediation, with actionable strategies that turn insights into habits, and habits into measurable change. Discover the smarter pathway to closing the loop on conduct risk.

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Scaling performance, not cost: Smarter pathways to grow capability without growing overhead
Peter Grist Peter Grist

Scaling performance, not cost: Smarter pathways to grow capability without growing overhead

Growth is always on the agenda - but for contact centres in regulated industries, it often comes with a catch.

Leaders are being asked to scale operations, meet higher service expectations, and maintain strict compliance - all while holding the line on budget and resources. The challenge? Traditional development doesn’t scale easily.

From our work with contact centre leaders, one truth keeps surfacing: you can’t scale performance by just asking your team leaders to work harder. But you can scale smarter.

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Smarter, faster coaching: How to scale what your best leaders do naturally
Peter Grist Peter Grist

Smarter, faster coaching: How to scale what your best leaders do naturally

Every contact centre has a handful of leaders who just “get it.”

They can hear one call and know exactly what’s going wrong - and what to coach. They focus their energy on the behaviours that matter, and performance lifts. They build trust, create progress, and keep things moving without burning out their team.

But for most centres, that kind of clarity is the exception, not the norm. Many team leaders do not have the skills and experience to coach effectively. And with onboarding, compliance, people issues and performance all competing for attention, it’s hard to know where to focus.

That’s where smarter systems come in.

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Faster, smarter pathways — now more connected than ever
Kate Goldby Kate Goldby

Faster, smarter pathways — now more connected than ever

At our recent YakTrak + GRIST conference, one question guided every conversation: how do we deliver faster, smarter pathways that truly help people excel at work? Over two days, we explored what that looks like in practice — from inclusive learning design to AI-enhanced coaching tools — and reconnected as one team, aligned in purpose and direction.

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The new QA mandate: Why remediation - not detection - defines compliance success
David McQueen David McQueen

The new QA mandate: Why remediation - not detection - defines compliance success

Contact centres are entering a new QA era.

With AI, CCaaS integrations, and growing regulatory expectations, quality assurance is no longer just about sample checks and compliance scores. 100% QA is on the horizon - and with it, an entirely different kind of pressure:

It’s no longer enough to find the problem. You need to prove you’ve addressed it.

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From reports to results: Why data alone won’t move the metrics that matter
Kate Goldby Kate Goldby

From reports to results: Why data alone won’t move the metrics that matter

If you’re seeing all the right data - but still not seeing improvement - you’re not alone.

Leaders today have more access to performance data than ever before - QA scores, AHT, CSAT, FCR, conversion, adherence. But data alone doesn’t drive improvement. The challenge is no longer visibility - it’s knowing what to do next.

In our work with contact centres, YakTrak and GRIST see a common pattern: leaders are flooded with metrics, but still unsure how to respond with confidence. Dashboards tell you what’s happening - but not why it’s happening or what to do to change it.

So the real question is: how do we help leaders move from data to action?

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Personalised coaching at scale: What most centres get wrong - and how to fix it
Brad Thomas Brad Thomas

Personalised coaching at scale: What most centres get wrong - and how to fix it

Most contact centres have a coaching rhythm - but that rhythm is often rigid.
The same cadence. The same template. The same goals - regardless of the agent’s experience, strengths, or development needs.

It’s well-intentioned. It’s efficient. But it doesn’t deliver the development outcomes leaders are looking for.

In this blog, we’ll unpack the biggest misconception about personalisation at scale - and show how smarter systems make it not only possible, but easier.

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Why your AI QA won’t improve CX - unless you define the right behaviours
David McQueen David McQueen

Why your AI QA won’t improve CX - unless you define the right behaviours

AI is reshaping contact centre QA. Whether it’s monitoring for compliance or evaluating customer experience, the volume and speed of insight is increasing fast. Disclaimers can be tracked automatically. Tone can be flagged in real time. Whole interactions can be scored in seconds, not hours.

But if you’ve started using AI for QA and your customer experience metrics still aren’t improving, you’re not alone.

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How YakTrak's Goal Setting AI Makes Goals Smarter
Brad Thomas Brad Thomas

How YakTrak's Goal Setting AI Makes Goals Smarter

Setting goals is an essential component of success, whether in personal development, education, or business. However, simply having a goal is not enough. The quality of that goal can determine whether it drives success or becomes an unfulfilled aspiration. YakTrak’s Goal Setting Feedback AI takes goal setting to the next level by offering real-time feedback, ensuring that users craft goals that are clear, achievable, and strategically aligned with their objectives.

When a user inputs a goal into YakTrak, the AI evaluates it against the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) framework, offering immediate insights and suggestions for refinement. This dynamic feedback mechanism enhances the likelihood of goal attainment by eliminating ambiguity and fostering clarity. In industries like contact centres, where performance targets are crucial, YakTrak’s AI-driven approach ensures that employees set and pursue meaningful goals that drive better outcomes.

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Proven Strategies to Improve AHT with Smarter Pathways
Caitlin Ziegler Caitlin Ziegler

Proven Strategies to Improve AHT with Smarter Pathways

Average Handle Time (AHT) is a core metric in most contact centres. It measures how long, on average, an agent spends handling a customer interaction, including talk time and after-call work. Keeping AHT low is important—it helps with efficiency, reduces queue times, and ensures customers get quick resolutions.

But here’s the challenge. Focusing on the number alone can do more harm than good. If agents feel pressured to reduce AHT without clear guidance on how to do so effectively, customer satisfaction can take a hit. Calls might be rushed, key details missed, and First Call Resolution (FCR) could drop—leading to frustrated customers who need to call back.

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The future of AI-enhanced people development and performance: a YakTrak perspective
David McQueen David McQueen

The future of AI-enhanced people development and performance: a YakTrak perspective

In the contact centre industry, there’s a common belief that more coaching automatically leads to better performance. However, our experience at YakTrak has shown that it’s not just about coaching frequency, but about integrating QA, compliance, and development efforts to drive holistic performance improvements.

Many contact centres still focus on individual coaching or QA programs, rather than embedding these efforts into a broader ecosystem for continuous learning and people development. As Seb Cox, Head of Customer Experience at YakTrak, noted: "Without visibility into development quality and its impact on performance, leaders risk focusing on isolated interventions rather than driving meaningful improvements."

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Why QA + coaching integration has been slow - and what needs to change
David McQueen David McQueen

Why QA + coaching integration has been slow - and what needs to change

For decades, contact centres have relied on QA and coaching to improve performance. But despite heavy investment in these areas, many centres still struggle with bridging the gap between the two.

GRIST's experience shows that treating QA and coaching as separate functions means frontline teams often receive performance scores without structured development.

As Peter Grist noted, "Coaching needs to be the bridge between QA and real performance improvement." This highlights how QA has traditionally been treated as a compliance function rather than a development enabler.

YakTrak + GRIST are changing that.

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Why most contact centre coaching fails - and how to fix it
David McQueen David McQueen

Why most contact centre coaching fails - and how to fix it

Have you ever walked out of a coaching session wondering if it actually made a difference? Many contact centre leaders think they’re coaching, but what if they’re just giving feedback?

Coaching is one of the most powerful tools a contact centre leader has to improve performance, yet in many organisations, it’s inconsistent, ineffective, or treated as an afterthought.

The problem? Many leaders think they are coaching when they’re actually just giving feedback or managing day-to-day performance. Without structured, high-quality coaching, frontline teams struggle to develop the skills they need to handle increasingly complex customer interactions.

YakTrak + GRIST are fixing this.

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How an operating rhythm creates predictability and focus in metrics-driven contact centres
David McQueen David McQueen

How an operating rhythm creates predictability and focus in metrics-driven contact centres

What’s on your dashboard today? FCR? CSAT? AHT? For many contact centre leaders, these metrics are more than numbers—they’re the pulse of your operations, shaping every decision, every huddle, and every strategy session. The relentless pressure to keep these metrics in the green often leaves teams in a constant state of reaction. But ask yourself: are your teams truly in control, or are they stuck in a cycle of firefighting?

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The QA problem no one talks about and how AI is fixing it
David McQueen David McQueen

The QA problem no one talks about and how AI is fixing it

Quality Assurance (QA) is supposed to drive better customer experiences, help leaders coach effectively, and identify risks. But in many organisations, QA is outdated, inconsistent, and too often disconnected from meaningful performance improvement.

The problem? Most QA processes rely on small sample sizes, subjective evaluations, and compliance-driven checklists rather than focusing on agent capability and behavioural development.

YakTrak + GRIST are fixing this.

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The foundation of contact centre success: building an operating rhythm that works
David McQueen David McQueen

The foundation of contact centre success: building an operating rhythm that works

A strong operating rhythm (OR) is the heartbeat of leadership—a structured cadence of huddles, coaching, feedback, and reviews that keeps teams aligned and engaged. Without it, contact centres fall into reactive cycles of high turnover and inconsistent performance. An effective OR brings clarity, consistency, and focus, driving real results. As YakTrak’s Caitlin Ziegler says, “With disciplined focus, an OR becomes the backbone of a high-performing contact centre.” What rhythms are shaping your team today?

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Faster, Smarter Capability Growth: Why Leadership Holds the Key in Contact Centres
David McQueen David McQueen

Faster, Smarter Capability Growth: Why Leadership Holds the Key in Contact Centres

Contact centres have long been measured by efficiency—how quickly agents resolve calls, how accurately they follow scripts, and how well they adhere to workflows. But the future of contact centres isn’t about managing tasks; it’s about developing capability through structured leadership and behavioural change. As customer interactions become more complex, leaders must enable their teams to handle high-value conversations by embedding learning into daily operations and reinforcing the right behaviours.

GRIST + YakTrak are enabling this shift.

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Creating an effective operating rhythm: the best practices for success
David McQueen David McQueen

Creating an effective operating rhythm: the best practices for success

An operating rhythm creates stability in fast-moving contact centres, aligning daily actions with long-term goals. For nib’s contact centre leaders, maintaining this rhythm was critical as they adapted to virtual work. With structured coaching sessions, short high-impact interactions, and unified priorities, they kept teams focused and engaged despite uncertainty. GRIST’s behavioural insights and YakTrak’s tracking tools provided the visibility needed to sustain performance. The result? Faster skill development, stronger alignment, and consistent results. nib’s story proves that a purposeful operating rhythm isn’t just a process—it’s the foundation for resilience, engagement, and success in dynamic environments.

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