How we work

In regulatory environments where customer outcome requirements and supervisor scrutiny continue to evolve, our hybrid approach to oversight allows us to give confidence that risks are identified early, and a continuous improvement mentality remains at the forefront of our team. Our First Line of Defence team gives every client an extra layer of specialist support, looking at operations through the eyes of a client, helping us look beyond day-to-day performance and spot risks or gaps that may not be immediately visible.

Made up of specialists from the UK and South Africa, the team works alongside account leaders across governance, complaints handling, operational quality and support for vulnerable customers. They spend time with teams, see how the service works in practice and use data and insight to identify where changes could strengthen performance. The team then use this analysis to provide hands on support where needed, strengthening customer outcomes.

This support is built into the way we work. It means we don’t wait for risks to become concerns / issues before acting and gives clients greater confidence that their service is being regularly tested, challenged and improved. The approach we take ensures that meaningful change occurs and isn’t just an observation on a report.

Managing and validating the conversations advisors hold with customers daily is a vital and challenging element of running a contact centre. We weave quality monitoring into everything we do, enabling us to continuously improve service quality and customer experience.

Sigma has an experienced and independent Quality Assurance team that carries out quality assessments, not only within our own customer contact centres, but also yours, if you would like.

The Quality Assurance team link their findings with our dedicated training and development team, ensuring all our advisors’ skills are constantly developed and improved.

Vulnerability, including financial hardship, can be permanent or temporary and can affect anyone from time to time. Many factors can make a customer vulnerable, ranging from physical or mental illness to personal circumstances.

We believe it is crucial that our customer advisors are trained to effectively identify your vulnerable customers so they can proactively engage with them and offer the necessary support.

Our strong belief in supporting vulnerable customers has led to the creation of ReachOut,a dedicated service that you can use to engage with those customers who are struggling.

To constantly grow and evolve is in our DNA as a company, and our strong learning and development programme is central to that approach. This programme ensures new front-line customer advisors have a comprehensive and engaging induction process, as well as a longer-term career development programme.

We also deliver ongoing quality assurance and assessment on all customer conversations we carry out on behalf of your organisation to make sure we’re delivering the best customer experience we can.

When you sign up for our customer services solution, we don’t just settle back and keep delivering the same. Even if we’re consistently hitting our KPIs, we’re always reviewing what we’re delivering and how we can make the service even better for your customers.

On top of regular quality monitoring and assurance, we have an in-house specialist quality coaching team. Using trend analysis, the team looks at all the data across a client campaign and picks out trends and issues that might otherwise fly under the radar. We can then pinpoint the issue and step in quickly with a targeted group coaching session designed to resolve it. The coaching team then works alongside our training team to revisit the induction programme and identify improvements that would prevent that issue happening again.

This continuous feedback loop between quality and training ensures that our staff are always learning and the service to our clients is always improving.

Our clients put their trust in us to take care of their customers and we work hard to ensure we deliver above and beyond.

Relying on our flexibility and agility, we’re able to give our full attention to every client and every contract, throughout the duration of that partnership.

We are driven to provide the same energy and effort to current, long-standing clients as we do to winning new ones, and we believe a ‘good’ customer experience can always be made better.

Ensuring a process of continuous improvement, we rely on our Measure, Feedback, Improve, Act approach.

• Measure
  Using data analytics we monitor and quality assess our service for anomalies, weaknesses and/or opportunities to improve.
• Feedback
  We design solutions to address these and share with our clients to put them into action.
• Improve
  The solutions are tested and piloted to determine success.
• Act
  The solutions are rolled out, backed by real time analytics for ongoing monitoring.

Our offshore operation in South Africa was established in 2009, extending our geographic ability, and it continues to go from strength to strength with over 1500 customer advisers.

Find out more about our offshoring solutions

Our technology keeps us connected, responsive, and ready to adapt – so we can focus on what matters most: great conversations and strong customer relationships.
Omnichannel customer experience

• MaxContact– our default dialler, but clients can also use their own. It connects all communication channels, so customers can reach us however they prefer without repeating themselves.
• Helpwise – a shared digital inbox that keeps messages organised across teams.
• HIYA – branded calling that makes our numbers easy to recognise, improving answer rates.

Smarter systems for agents

• Salesforce CRM – a central hub for managing customer relationships and tracking interactions. It streamlines key parts of the customer journey.
• NICE IEX – agent scheduling and resource planning.
• LLM (Large Language Model) – allows us to build AI applications to support agents.
• IRIS Clarity – AI background noise cancelling software.

Intelligent routing and automation

• Smart Routing is part of MaxContact, our default dialler and directs contacts to the best advisor based on experience and expertise.
• Sigma ServiceOne – AI tool currently being developed and piloted by Sigma Connected – it automates workflows to reduce manual tasks and improve efficiency.
• Parloa – GenAI conversational tool for voice, handling queries naturally and effectively. Hands over to human agent if necessary/ appropriate.

Real-time insights

• Mojo CX – software that analyses voice and digital conversations to provide insights into customer interactions and agent performance.
• Power BI – combined with our data warehouse and insights team, it delivers real-time CX insights, uncovering trends and streamlining decision-making.

Self-serve options

• Webio – chat bot for quick and convenient customer support that hands over to human agent if necessary/ appropriate.
• Orca Portal – a self-service platform for collections, giving customers more control.
• Encoded – PCI-secure payments for safe and compliant transactions. We can also use clients’ own payment system.

Resilient infrastructure and security

• All our systems are based in the UK, with IT teams split between the UK and South Africa.
• We run on Microsoft 365 for productivity, with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services providing our cloud servers and database technology.
• Our network architecture is built on leading UK and South African providers, ensuring reliable connectivity.
• We can connect to client networks in various ways, from simple VPNs to redundant MPLS connections.
• Amazon Workspace allows homeworkers to use their own laptops and connect safely to our network if necessary.
• Our information security team has developed a robust defence-in-depth strategy, including multiple top-tier firewall vendors, advanced malware and email protection, continuous monitoring, and a world-class security operations centre.
• We have physical disaster recovery centres in both the UK and South Africa, alongside a business resilience team that works with clients to create tailored continuity plans.

Support for customers and agents

• Zendesk – manages customer queries and support tickets.
• Freshworks – manages customer queries and support tickets.
• Cognexo (formerly Cognito) – helps advisors retain and apply key knowledge.
• Guru – a knowledge management tool with instant, AI-powered answers delivered to agents during customer conversations.
• AgentTrak – supports remote teams with performance tracking.
• Sigma Flow – a range of tools, developed in-house, that make everyday tasks easier.

We meet the highest standards for security, data protection, and regulatory compliance, giving our clients confidence that their customers’ data is in safe hands.

• FCA authorised– operating within strict financial standards
• ISO 27001 certified – recognised information security management
• Cyber Essentials Plus – UK government-backed cybersecurity certification
• PCI DSS compliant – certified service provider through a Report on Compliance (RoC)
• ISO 9001 certified – quality management systems that drive continuous improvement

Our security infrastructure is built on a defence-in-depth strategy, with multiple top-tier firewalls, advanced malware and email protection, and 24/7 monitoring. Our security operations centre and incident management solutions ensure rapid response to emerging threats.

With data centres in the UK and South Africa, we provide secure, resilient operations with built-in disaster recovery. Our business resilience team works closely with clients to develop tailored continuity plans.