New Zealand Certificate in Contact Centres (Level 3)

Contact centres play a huge role in the way clients and stakeholders perceive an organisation. The way staff deal with queries, disputes and various personalities has an immense influence on the relationships your organisation has with its clients. Ignite can work with you to equip your team with the key competencies needed to improve contact centre performance, as well as help you build career pathways for staff and improve staff attraction and retention.

Lift customer engagement and improve business performance

What qualification is available?

The New Zealand Certificate in Contact Centres (Level 3) version 2 is suitable for those who are new or more experienced contact centre agents. The purpose of the qualification is to provide the contact centre industry with individuals who have the technical and soft skills to process and respond to business-as-usual enquiries and complex customer enquiries in contact centres.

A programme designed specifically to support the unique challenges of the Contact Centre industry.

Ignite Colleges Contact Centre programme is designed to consolidate the training that you are doing in your workplace. Throughout the learning subjects are workplace activities that provide opportunities to refresh and contextualise the subject matter to your organisation’s processes and practices.

The programme offers flexible learning options to help your team achieve a qualification, with online learning and assessment modules designed specifically for those working in contact centres. Learners access the online learning platform from the office or home, and work through modules in a way that suits them.

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Recent global research confirms just what’s at stake:

85% of organisations say customer experience is a key competitive differentiator.

63% of organisations are planning to invest in the expansion of their training programs.

– Deloitte, Global Contact Center Survey 2019

The numbers speak volumes. Your contact centre has the potential to increase conversion, dramatically improve service perceptions and really make your clients and customers feel valued.

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What are the benefits?

For the learner

• Increased confidence in day-to-day work practice
• Access to wider qualification pathways and better career opportunities
• Work at your own pace and access learning from anywhere via the internet

For the team leader

• Engaged and motivated staff
• Consistency in performance across the team

For the business

• Improved customer engagement and customer service
• Engaged and motivated staff, resulting in lower staff turnover
• Consolidates the training already in place and measures against a national standard

How’s it done?

There are three online modules. Each module has short learning topics and assessments for the different subjects in the programme.

Module 1:

• Mental Health and wellbeing
• Health and safety
• Building effective relationships

Module 2:

• Technology, systems and equipment
• Product and service knowledge
• Legislation

Module 3:

• Quality framework
• Your role as CSR
• Communicate with customers and resolve enquiries

The learner completes the modules which are auto assessed and downloads any relevant verification documents. Learner’s manager completes verifications and learner uploads completed verification to Skills Bank for assessment.

Partnering with Ignite Colleges

Building high performing teams is what it’s all about. Ignite Colleges partners with organisations to create programmes that recognise their needs, fill gaps in skill sets and meet their industry requirements and timelines.

We’re the only facilitator of a Contact Centre programme with an alignment assessment model. This means we can align your staff’s roles, core tasks, and day-to-day skills and knowledge to a nationally recognised NZQA qualification.

We can work with you to review your current practices (including induction, in-house, on-the-job and external training programmes) to map where your training systems and national requirements overlap.

Ready to get started?

The team at Ignite Colleges are happy to discuss your needs, the wide range of solutions we have available and how we can empower you to reach your business goals.

Give us a call at 0800 200 345 or email us at support@ignitecolleges.ac.nz for more information.

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Important update: Contact Centres training moving to Ignite

As you will be aware the Reform of Vocational Education (ROVE) is well underway. This means that Skills is transitioning arranging training activity to a variety of organisations called ‘Receiving Organisations’. Arranging Training means the provision of on-job and off-job training and support. We can now confirm that as of 1 September 2022, the arranging training activities related to Real Estate will move to Ignite.

What does this mean for you?

From 1 September 2022, the arranging, supporting and assessing work-based learning (apprenticeships, traineeships and micro-credentials) in respect of the programme you are registered to assess will transfer from Skills to Ignite.

Changes we are making behind the scenes

From 26 - 31 August 2022, we are implementing ‘read only’ to our systems. This means that no changes can be made to these systems during that period. Learners won’t be able to access learning materials or assessments. You can still send through any completed assessments / credits to credits@skills.org.nz up until 30 September 2022. Ignite will be in touch with you before then to provide you their contact details.

What happens to my information that Skills holds

Your status as a Registered Assessor and assessing scope will automatically be transferred as part of the arrangement agreed between Ignite and Skills. To ensure a smooth transition for everyone involved, the information Skills holds about you will be transferred to Ignite.

What will I learn?

The NZ Certificate in Contact Centres (Level 3) version 2 is delivered online with three modules covering 11 topics. Each topic is assessed within the online environment and graduates will be capable of working within organisational parameters with limited supervision.

• Module 1:
  • Mental Health and wellbeing
  • Health and safety
  • Building effective relationships
• Module 2:
  • Technology, systems and equipment
  • Product and service knowledge
  • Legislation
• Module 3:
  • Quality framework
  • Your role as CSR
  • Communicate with customers and resolve enquiries

Who is this programme for?

This qualification is suitable for contact centre agents with some experience.

Key learning outcomes

This programme covers the soft and technical skills to be able to process and respond to business as usual and complex customer enquiries. Graduates will learn techniques for listening, customer-centric communication, how to gather information and apply product knowledge effectively.

How is the programme delivered?

• Step 1: Ignite Colleges Account Manager supports employer and learner to complete and submit training agreement.
• Step 2: Once enrolment is confirmed, Ignite Colleges will send the learner log-in instructions to access the first module via Skills Bank.
• Step 3: Learner completes the modules which are auto-assessed. Learner’s manager completes verifications and learner uploads completed verification and any other evidence required to Skills Bank for assessment.
• Step 4: Qualification is awarded.

How does training with Ignite Colleges work?

We work with businesses like yours to map out where weaknesses in skill sets lie, and how training can be used strengthen them. Our account managers will then work with you to select the right training programmes (and if required, customise them) to suit your needs.

Once a programme is chosen our team helps you to set up and embed the training programmes in your organisation, so that they work seamlessly with the daily activities of your staff, and with minimal disruption.

Ignite Colleges training programmes and course materials are developed in consultation with industry representatives to ensure they are relevant and can drive consistent performance and growth in your organisation.

What are alignments and how do they work?

If your company already has strong internal training, alignment could be a great option. An alignment involves an assessment specialist looking at a company’s induction programmes, training and structured learning and mapping this to the competencies needed to gain a National/New Zealand qualification.

The assessment specialist may then recommend a supplementary assessment resource to fill any specific assessment gaps needed to ensure that staff can obtain the formal recognition they deserve. This tool relies on great support by managers/team leaders through verification (they would be fully supported by Ignite Colleges through training to obtain the necessary skills to do this).

What are the differences between unit standards, credits, qualifications and certificates?

Nationally recognised qualifications are made up by a number of unit standards, which are set at different levels. The level of the unit standard indicates its degree of difficulty. This allows people entering into a qualification to start at a lower level, with easier to achieve unit standards, and work their way up to the higher levels as their knowledge grows with training.

When a trainee completes a unit standard, they earn credits for that particular unit. Once all the required credits have been achieved for that qualification, the trainee will be awarded either a National Certificate or a New Zealand Certificate.

Note: NZQA has reviewed its qualification systems and decided to update it to meet changing industry and technology needs. As a result the old National Certificates are being phased out and replaced with New Zealand Certificates which are the updated versions of the old qualifications.

How do assessments work?

Learners are assessed towards the end of their training to make sure they’ve gained the key knowledge/competencies they need to meet the nationally recognised standards.

Assessments can be carried out in the workplace by trained and registered workplace assessors, or through accredited training providers. Ignite Colleges can assist with sourcing registered assessors or in training up your internal staff so that they can carry out the assessments in-house.

What support is available once we’ve signed up?

The support from Ignite Colleges doesn’t just stop once your company is setup with a training programme or aligned to a national standard. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and dedicated staff to advise and support you on a continuing basis.

What are the benefits of training staff to national standards?

Helping your staff to receive national recognition for the skills and training they do in their everyday work is something that pays for itself in no time at all. Here’s why:

• It ensures consistency in training, so that regardless of the trainer, your staff are learning the key information they need to succeed in their roles.
• It ensures consistency in performance as everyone receives the same level of training and ends up with a similar level of expert knowledge.
• It reduces error rates and re-work, which saves your business money and protects your brand name.
• It reduces staff turnover rates as staff feel more valued and are more engaged. Lower turnover rates protect organisational knowledge and reduce recruitment and training costs. It also helps to boost morale and improve company culture.