Connect Assist
Connect Assist is an established UK-wide 24/7 contact centre based in Nantgarw, near Cardiff. Specialising in outsourced call centre services, they combine a uniquely human approach with technology, consultancy and industry expertise. Their work focuses on delivering positive customer outcomes for the public sector, charities and socially-focused organisations.
We spoke with Stephen Pickett, IT Director, who oversees the teams responsible for implementing and supporting new services, managing projects and change requests, and maintaining security and standards across the business. When the Connect Assist team recognised that more could be done to support people who are deaf or have a hearing loss, Stephen was tasked with conducting a feasibility study and developing a proposal for the board. This work ultimately led to the creation of a new service: Sign Assist.
Connect Assist had identified a gap: many contact centre providers were not meeting the needs of the Deaf community. They recognised that to build an inclusive service, they needed to understand what people who are deaf or have a hearing loss actually required rather than assuming what might be helpful.
Stephen explained the importance of this:
“We had identified that the Deaf community is not well supported by many businesses offering services like ours, and we wanted to fix that by implementing Sign Assist. It was important to us that we addressed what Deaf people did need rather than what we thought they needed from the service we were proposing, and we felt we didn’t know enough about the specific needs of the Deaf community. It was, therefore, essential that we increased our knowledge in this area.”
They needed guidance, expertise and a trusted partner who understood the Deaf community and its communication needs.
Victoria played a pivotal role in shaping the Sign Assist service from its earliest stages of development.
Their support included:
- Providing insight into the lived experience and needs of Deaf customers
- Educating the team on the differences between British Sign Language and written English
- Highlighting why subtitles are not a replacement for a BSL interpreter
- Advising on service design and customer communication
- Supporting Connect Assist’s Solutions Delivery team once the first Sign Assist customer was onboarded
This expertise ensured Sign Assist was built on a foundation of real knowledge, not assumptions. It also gave the team the confidence to implement meaningful changes across the organisation.
As Stephen reflected:
“Yes, we are a business, and we need to make money, but we have social aims at our core and what we’ve achieved with this project goes hand-in-hand with that.”
He also highlighted the dual success of the project:
“To be honest, it’s hard to single one out! Both achievements, the new service launch and employing Deaf team members, make us incredibly proud.”
“Victoria has been extremely helpful and easy to work with, and I have no hesitation in recommending her.”
— Stephen Pickett, IT Director, Connect Assist
“I was introduced to Victoria by our MD Ron Moody, who met Victoria when both our companies were part a business accelerator scheme, working with the fastest growing small businesses across the UK.”
— Stephen Pickett
“Once we had completed each stage of the project and taken on our first Sign Assist customer (The Royal British Legion), I could then hand the service to our Solutions Delivery team, who also benefitted from Victoria’s guidance.”
— Stephen Pickett
“Victoria has taken a passion and turned it into a business, and that’s what we’re trying to do, working with her has inspired us to continue to do so.”
— Stephen Pickett
“She was pivotal to the whole Sign Assist project. She guided us on what we would need, where to go, who to speak to, and how to understand the Deaf community.”
— Stephen Pickett
“Alongside the launch of that service and meeting the needs of the Deaf community is the additional benefit of learning enough from Victoria to build our knowledge, confidence and sufficient infrastructure to employ Deaf colleagues (we now have three).”
— Stephen Pickett
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