Connect Powers StepChange’s Expansion of Financial Support Services

WHY THIS MATTERS

The operational transformation of StepChange by global communications expert Connect addresses a critical bottleneck in the UK non-profit sector: the severe friction found in legacy, manual contact center frameworks. Individuals reaching out to a major debt charity are often facing extreme financial, practical, and emotional stress, meaning any system failure or long wait time can have severe real-world consequences. Historically, StepChange managed client data across disconnected systems and isolated Outlook mailboxes, which forced distressed callers to repeatedly explain their sensitive financial situations to different agents. By integrating telephone channels, workforce management, and tracking tools into a unified, cloud-based platform, the charity has successfully removed these operational hurdles. This upgrade ensures that individuals in financial difficulty receive fast, empathetic, and coordinated support at the exact moment they need it most.

Over the past three years, Connect, a global business communications expert with over 35 years’ experience, has supported StepChange, one of the UK’s largest debt advice charities, in completely modernising its contact centre operation, improving access to support for people facing financial difficulty.

The challenge:

Before Connect, StepChange’s systems were fragmented and heavily manual. Client correspondence was split across Outlook inboxes and siloed processes, meaning clients sometimes had to repeat their situation, and advisors lacked the insight needed at the outset of interactions.

With StepChange’s existing telephone, call recording and assessment tool platforms about to reach end of life, the charity seized the opportunity to modernise its service model, expand digital channels, empower advisors with better tools, and move toward a future of orchestrated, connected journeys.

“The people who come to us for help are often under intense pressure, financially, emotionally and practically. Many are facing eviction, going without essentials, or dealing with the stress of constant creditor contact. Timely, accessible support can make all the difference,” explained Chris Lovell, Contact Centre Service Delivery Manager at StepChange. 

“Before working with Connect, growing demand and outdated systems were making it hard for us to deliver that support effectively. We were investing a lot of time in manually processing actions and correspondence was split across Outlook inboxes and siloed processes, meaning clients sometimes had to repeat their situation, and advisors lacked the insight needed at the outset of interactions.

The solution:

Following a comprehensive evaluation, StepChange selected Connect to implement the first phase of its modernisation project. The early stages of the partnership saw StepChange undergo a digital transformation programme with Connect implementing a Genesys Cloud Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) platform, which allowed telephone, call recording, WFM and analytics to be combined into a single, scalable cloud based solution. 

Jack Godfrey, Vice President of Global Sales at Connect said, “By deploying a Genesys Cloud Contact Centre as a Service solution, we enabled the StepChange team to improve call routing, reduce wait times and create a better match between client needs and available support. The initial migration was delivered in just four weeks, integrating telephony, call recording, workforce management and analytics into a single cloud-based platform. Since the launch in 2023, the platform has delivered 100% uptime for staff and the people StepChange are supporting – a fantastic result, and even better when you consider the impact it’s having on people’s lives.” 

The transformation:

This initial solution helped provide a scalable, future-ready foundation for the next stage of StepChange’s modernisation journey, enabling the charity to enhance its digital channels and unlock the full capabilities of the platform by setting up a dedicated CX Value Stream, with agile teams working alongside frontline colleagues to improve journeys based on real feedback and data. This phase included the introduction of IVR-triggered SMS journeys, which enabled clients to move from voice to digital self-service during a call. This not only reduced friction but also drove an increase in clients choosing digital channels, with higher registration completion rates.

“Our advisors now have access to real-time knowledge, automated call summaries and suggested wrap codes, ensuring advisors begin interactions with more insight and less manual effort, supporting more confident and empathetic conversations,” explained Chris. 

StepChange are also now benefiting from features like Text-to-speech IVR, which allow same-day updates without technical dependencies. This helps the team respond faster to emerging needs and improve the caller experience without delay. Skills-based routing also ensures people are matched with the advisor best equipped to handle and resolve the interaction as quickly as possible, improving both efficiency and care.

The results: 

As a result, StepChange’s online advice provision increased from 83% to 87% between 2024 and 2025, while telephone advice fell from 17% to 13%, enabling the team to deliver a more scalable and emotionally supportive service for over 25,000 people in financial distress. For those who call in, StepChange has experienced a 60% reduction in misrouted calls into one of the busiest teams following IVR changes informed by wrap code data, while improved regional call handling capacity helped one area manage 1,600 more calls per month through better routing and scheduling.

“From a management perspective, the likes of integrated WFM has given advisors live access to schedules, quality monitoring and performance dashboards, which support more consistent coaching, schedule transparency, and feedback across teams. Real-time dashboards and daily management information (MI) provide greater visibility across all roles. On top of this, flow outcomes, milestones, participant data, and wrap code insights all feed into an optimisation loop that helps identify friction points and test changes more effectively to support continual improvement,” said Chris. 

The impact: 

“Each of these projects supports our internal ‘Transform Digitally’ strategic pillar, with a focus on access, responsiveness, and experience quality. By reducing cost-to-serve and improving productivity, these outcomes demonstrate meaningful progress toward a more scalable and emotionally supportive service, enabling StepChange to help more people with the same resources,” said Chris. 

“Optimising the experience for both clients and colleagues is now an ongoing focus for us. Genesys Cloud has given the team the flexibility to make regular, meaningful changes based on real feedback and data. Since implementing Genesys Cloud, StepChange has become a truly digital-first organisation, where technology and empathy work together to ensure that no one is left without support at the moment they need it most,” Chris concluded.

FF NEWS TAKE

Connect is helping StepChange successfully transition into a digital-first organization by deploying a comprehensive Genesys Cloud Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) network. The infrastructure shift has driven a significant change in how the charity operates, helping push digital and online advice usage up to eighty-seven percent while optimizing critical internal workflows. By replacing manual processes with automated features like text-to-speech interactive voice responses, skills-based call routing, and automated summary generators, the platform has cut misrouted calls by sixty percent. Led by StepChange Service Delivery Manager Chris Lovell and Connect Vice President Jack Godfrey, this modern cloud framework allows the charity to efficiently handle thousands of additional monthly interactions. This enables StepChange to comfortably scale its critical support operations to help over twenty-five thousand people in financial distress without increasing its administrative overhead.