From our recent Kiwi CX Collective Podcast Episode with Kelly Brickley (COPC), Ramon Szeitszam (Spark), & Richard Winterburn (CCNNZ).
Right now, contact centre leaders across Aotearoa are caught in a pincer movement. On one side, budgets are tightening; on the other, customer expectations for frictionless, multi-channel service are hitting an all-time high.
But as the latest data reveals, there is a massive and often painful difference between simply “offering a channel” and actually “resolving an issue.”
In the latest episode of The Kiwi CX Collective, host Richard Winterburn sat down with two of the industry’s heaviest hitters: Kelly Brickley (Principal Consultant at COPC) and Ramon Szeitszam (Head of Voice and Collaboration at Spark). Together, they pulled apart the “Process” pillar of the 2025 CCNZ Industry Research Report to find out what’s working, what’s failing, and where we need to pivot.
What You’ll Hear:
The “Window of Tolerance”
The Rise of “Persistent” Conversations
The data doesn’t lie: New Zealand is moving toward asynchronous service. We’ve seen a 67% surge in messaging (think WhatsApp and Apple Business Chat) and a staggering 82% increase in mobile app adoption.
But this isn’t just about “chatting.” It’s about persistence. This shift fundamentally changes staffing models from “live sessions” to ongoing conversations. The challenge for 2025 isn’t just being “on” these channels, it’s ensuring the conversation flows seamlessly without the customer having to repeat themselves.
FCR is Dead—Long Live “Issue Resolution”
For years, First Contact Resolution (FCR) was the holy grail. But as Kelly Brickley explains, looking at a single transaction is no longer enough.
In 2025, we must master the entire service journey. Whether it’s an insurance claim from the initial car crash to the final payment, or a technical fault from the first report to the fix customers don’t care about “one-call-fixes” if the overall issue is still dragging on. It’s time to measure the journey, not just the touchpoint.
Smashing the “Bot Barrier”
We’ve all felt it: that moment you feel like you have to “fight” a robot just to speak to a human. Ramon Szeitszam highlights this growing friction point.
The goal for 2025 isn’t to build a wall of automation to deflect calls. It’s to use conversation design to make self-service an open door. If your bot isn’t helping the customer reach a resolution faster, it’s not a tool, it’s a barrier.
The 19% Problem: Closing the AI Reporting Gap
Perhaps the most shocking stat from the 2025 report: Only 19% of organisations actually track whether their AI is resolving problems.
That means 81% of operators are essentially flying blind. We are implementing AI at record speeds, yet we aren’t measuring its effectiveness. To lead smarter in 2026, we have to move past the “hype” phase and start demanding hard data on AI resolution rates.
The “AI Team-Mate” and the Expertise Gap
The narrative that “robots are replacing humans” is fading. Instead, we are seeing the rise of the AI Team-Mate. AI is best used to handle the “heavy lifting” summaries, checklists, and data entry leaving our kaimahi free to focus on what humans do best: high-value empathy and complex problem-solving.
However, with technical challenge ratings rising to 29%, this transition requires more than just new software. It requires strategic partnerships. The era of managing “on-premise tin” is over; the era of blueprinting human-centric journeys has begun.
The Bottom Line:
2025 isn’t about doing more with less. It’s about doing better with what we have. It’s time to move beyond the “Three Ps” and start looking at the outcomes that truly build customer loyalty: clarity, ease, and genuine resolution.
Watch the full episode now:
Connect with our Guest:
- Kelly Brickly (COPC)
- Ramon Szeitszam (Spark)
- Richard Winterburn (CCNNZ)
