25 years of CCW – "Where you hear and see it first"

The 25th international congress trade fair for innovative customer dialogue took place as a hybrid congress and trade fair.

Offering the customer dialogue industry the best possible stage for 25 years was just one of the highlights of CCW 2024, with innovative technologies, strategies and trends presented at the congress and trade fair. Around 7,400 international visitors from 41 countries and 215 exhibitors from 20 countries met live in Berlin and digitally online. In addition to many long-standing CCW fans, a large number of newcomers and NextGen representatives with a high level of expertise and interest in solutions were on site. Organiser Management Circle AG was delighted to host the event again.

‘Our team and I are delighted that CCW Berlin has been ‘the place to be’ for the industry for 25 years. We will continue to put our heart and soul into organising a great event for everyone involved,’ said Jutta Wolf, Member of the Management Board at Management Circle AG.

The trends and topics of CCW 2024 in retrospect

The key theme in the congress and at the trade fair was ‘Unite human and artificial power!’ Thanks to generative AI, digitalisation in customer dialogue has reached a turning point and the industry is transforming faster than ever before. Companies can sustainably increase their ROI with excellent customer service using the latest technologies, but it all depends on the right orchestration of people and intelligent technology. Hyper-personalisation makes it possible to set new standards in customer experience. The issue of staff shortages can be counteracted across borders with voice technologies and instant translations. The workload of employees is changing for the better through the use of intelligent technologies, which will improve the employee experience in the long term.

Not only the increasing use of AI-supported, personalised experiences, but also data protection is becoming a central task in customer service. Access to optimally processed and personalised customer data without data silos from all departments is a matter of course. Work processes run smoothly and quickly thanks to the use of intelligent technologies at all relevant interfaces. This increases the speed of customer service and represents a further pillar of excellent service. The consumer side is also open to technologically inspired customer service.

Europe's largest congress trade fair for innovative customer dialogue helps to optimally combine the best of both worlds, people and AI, and brings together groundbreaking technologies, management thinkers, pioneers of new working environments and practitioners, as well as all the important trends relating to customer experience AND employee experience. 

Speakers such as Collin Croome, internet pioneer and expert on the metaverse and AI, Folker Hellmeyer, Chief Economist at Netfonds AG, Carsten Maschmeyer, investor and founder of the Maschmeyer Group, Cherno Jobatey, science journalist and presenter, and Ali Mahlodji, business mentor, futurist and UNICEF honorary ambassador of the European Union, also provided exciting insights into future opportunities and challenges for businesses.

At the trade fair, in addition to established formats such as the next experience design by HCD, the TeleTalk Demo Forum, Startup Visions (formerly Future Camp), and the exhibition forums, there were also several new concepts across four exhibition halls. These included the World of AI hosted by NTT DATA, showcasing how artificial intelligence can create sustainable value for customers, employees, and companies in customer dialogue, as well as the SQUT Dialogue Service Provider Challenge. On the third day of the trade fair, attendees were able to gain important insights into selecting dialogue service providers and compare them directly.

©Management Circle AG

For the fifth time, the winner of the Startup Visions Award was announced on the third day of the trade fair. A jury honored the startup with the most innovative project from the Startup Visions format. The award went to Johannes Raschpichler with sonocom.

The future belongs to the youth – in cooperation with the Customer Service & Call Center Association Germany (CCV) and the Alliance for Training in Dialogue Marketing, the winners of the dialogXplosion talent competition were recognized. Apprentices shared their most outstanding training moments with the entire industry.

For the third time, the European Customer Champions – EUROCC 2024 were honored.

The European Customer Champion (EUROCC) award was presented for the third time by Management Circle AG in collaboration with the specialist magazine cmm360.ch on February 27, 2024, during the CCW Congress.

Three inspiring customer service champions were recognized for their exceptional customer projects. Six nominees from across Europe made it to the finals, delivering five-minute pitches either live on the CCW Congress stage or via livestream. The audience voted live, and the results of this voting contributed to the jury’s final decision.

Here are the winners of the European Customer Champion 2024:

© Management Circle AG

EUROPEAN CUSTOMER CHAMPION 2024 

Project:"How can I help you?" – Voice AI explores new paths in customer service for media companies

Represented by:
Christin Wiekhoff
CRM & Growth Manager, Medien Hub Bremen-Nordwest GmbH

Fabian Rosekeit
Head of CRM & Growth, Medien Hub Bremen-Nordwest GmbH

The Medien Hub – a joint venture between Nordwest-Zeitung and WESER-KURIER – revolutionized its customer service in just six weeks with the AI voicebot from Parloa. Natural voice communication and the automated handling of complaints have significantly improved reachability and service quality, with 30% of all phone inquiries already successfully processed in the MVP stage.

EUROPEAN CUSTOMER CHAMPION 2024

Project:Optimizing the customer journey through digital services

Project:Optimizing the Customer Journey through Digital Services

Represented by:
Laura Haase
Project Manager After Sales Strategy & Digital Services, HERMA GmbH

HERMA is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of labeling machines and self-adhesive materials. To meet growing demands and increasing internationalization, the company developed the customer platform myHERMA. It features a training center, a detailed machine overview with extensive self-service options, and additional digital services such as visual support via AR video conferencing—enabling truly unique customer experiences.

EUROPEAN CUSTOMER CHAMPION 2024

Project:Typewise@DPD – Boosting Productivity Through AI

Project:Typewise@DPD – Boosting Productivity Through AI

Represented by:
Joshua Martic
Digital Services Specialist at DPD (Switzerland) AG

The implementation of the AI solution Typewise by DPD (Switzerland) AG led to an average time saving of 20 to 30% in customer service thanks to features such as sentence suggestions, spell-check and correction, and access to a knowledge base. The integration was smooth and widely accepted, as the AI had been trained on historical customer communications and successfully handled multiple languages.

CCW 2024 at a Glance:

• Monday, 26 February – Innovation Day (Pre-Congress)
• Tuesday, 27 February – First Congress and Trade Fair Day
• Wednesday, 28 February – Second Congress and Trade Fair Day
• Thursday, 29 February – Inspiration Day (Post-Congress) and Third Trade Fair Day

Next CCW Congress Fair: 24–27 February 2025
The next CCW Congress Fair will take place from 24 to 27 February 2025 at the ECC Berlin.

CCW 2025 at a Glance:

• Monday, 24 February – Innovation Day (Pre-Congress)
• Tuesday, 25 February – First Congress and Trade Fair Day
• Wednesday, 26 February – Second Congress and Trade Fair Day
• Thursday, 27 February – Inspiration Day (Post-Congress) and Third Trade Fair Day

About the CCW
CCW is the international congress fair for innovative customer dialogue. Each year, it invites decision-makers from customer service management to the ECC (Estrel Congress Center) in Berlin. It is an event organized by Management Circle AG. Further information is available online at www.ccw.eu.

Press Contact:
Jutta Wolf, Press Office Management Circle AG
Phone: +49 61 96-47 22 645
presse@managementcircle.de