John Lewis Direct outsources call centres

John Lewis has announced it is to outsource 250 call centre jobs from its Direct customer service and fulfilment function.

John Lewis Direct (JLD) has signed a three-year, multi-million pound deal with contact centre operator, beCogent.

The deal will see the outsourcer take over all customer contact enquiries and the management of order processes for the web and catalogue division of the department store retailer.

This latest deal follows an original agreement with beCogent, signed two years ago to add to its outsourced Direct call centre capacity.

John Lewis was not available for comment at the time of writing, but at the announcement of the original engagement Vicky Lovell, JLD customer services operations manager said the move would help the multichannel retailer better deal with surges in demand and improve customer service processes and procedures.

A 25-year veteran enterprise technology expert, Miya Knights applies her deep understanding of technology gained through her journalism career to both her role as a consultant and as director at Retail Technology Magazine, which she helped shape over the past 17 years. Miya was educated at Oxford University, earning a master’s degree in English.

Her role as a journalist has seen her write for many of the leading technology publishers in the UK such as ITPro, TechWeekEurope, CIO UK, Computer Weekly, and also a number of national newspapers including The Times, Independent, and Financial Times.