The question put by an adviser at Brightmere's Filton centre is a practical one: if software writes the notes, what happens to the time a person previously spent writing them? The adviser welcomes less typing, but wants to know whether that means more time with a customer or another call arriving sooner.
Brightmere has begun work on Clarity, a programme of customer-service technology that it says will assist advisers and improve digital help. The company has described an introduction in stages rather than a single change to every customer contact. Assisted call notes are among the functions announced.
Chief Executive Gareth Linley has given an explicit assurance about the purpose of the investment. He said the tools were 'about helping our people, not replacing them' and that efficiencies would come 'through natural changes in the team, not redundancies'. Those words will be watched closely in a business where customer service is a substantial part of the work.
The Energy and Customer Services Union, ECSU, says it supports technology that removes repetitive administration. Regional officer Maxine Doyle said staff also needed a meaningful opportunity to discuss changes to their jobs. 'A statement about redundancies is important, but it does not answer every question about the working day,' she said.
Doyle said representatives wanted to understand how advisers would learn to use the tools and what information would be produced about their work. She declined to speculate about functions that had not been introduced. 'We want the people doing the work involved while decisions are still being made, not simply given instructions when a system appears.'
The Filton adviser, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak for the company, said they were interested in anything that reduced the need to listen and type at the same time. 'You can finish a difficult call and still have a lot to record. If it helps with that, I want to see it work.'
The same employee was less certain about the promise of efficiency. 'When you hear that word, you think about what will be expected of you afterwards. I would rather be shown an ordinary shift with it than another presentation about the future.' The adviser said colleagues' reactions ranged from curiosity to caution.
Asked about those concerns, a Brightmere spokesperson said the programme was being developed by its customer operations and technology teams and would be introduced with support for colleagues. The spokesperson reiterated Linley's assurance about jobs and said advisers would remain important where customers needed explanation, investigation or personal attention.
There are no results from a live rollout in the announcement made this week. For staff, the first test will be how the new tools fit around conversations they already handle. For the company, the public promise now sits alongside the practical task of introducing the software into that work.