We built the adviser we wished we'd had
Independent CX, contact centre and AI specialists for regulated, high volume organisations. Over 20 years in customer contact, brought together as Fortay in Manchester in 2019.
A letter from our founders
Why we built the consultancy we wished had existed.
For years we watched the same thing happen. A business gets sold a platform that was never right for it, by someone whose job is to sell that platform. The result is wasted spend, stalled rollouts and teams stuck with tools that fight the way they actually work.
We lived it. Harriet built a career in service and customer roles, including Google and AWS, making complex technology simple and useful for customers. Mark spent 15 years architecting communications at Vodafone and Mitel. The gap between what was promised and what businesses needed kept growing, and nobody independent was standing in it.
So in 2019 we built what we wished had existed: an independent consultancy that puts your outcomes first. The name comes from our surnames, Forrest and Taylor, and it stands for our commitment to getting it right.
Since then we have delivered more than 150 projects, from global law firms to healthcare recruiters cutting response times during critical shortages. If you are facing a change that has to succeed, we would love to help.
Harriet Forrest and Mark TaylorThe last 12 months changed customer contact more than the last ten years
AI has made independent advice matter more, not less. When every platform promises the same thing, someone has to test what actually works for your customers.
AI moved from pilot to the front line
Voice and chat agents now handle real customer conversations, not just demos. The question is no longer whether to use AI, but where it is safe to.
Every platform now claims to do AI
Nearly every contact centre and CRM platform has added AI features. Telling real capability from a roadmap slide has never been harder.
Regulators are watching how AI is used
Consumer Duty and data protection rules apply to AI decisions too. Firms need to show what the AI said, why, and when a person stepped in.
Boards want results, not experiments
Budgets are tighter and patience is shorter. AI has to prove a saving on a real journey before it earns a wider rollout.
We have sat on both sides of the table
Harriet Forrest
Runs the business and makes sure every project delivers for customers.A career in service and customer roles, including Google and AWS, built around one skill: making complex technology simple, easy to access and genuinely useful for customers.
Service, customer experience and cloudMark Taylor
Leads advisory, and the first conversation with every new client.Fifteen years architecting communications at Vodafone and Mitel, so he knows how these platforms are built, sold and, too often, oversold.
Previously Vodafone and MitelOne team, from the first question to running it
Consultants, architects and engineers who know every platform we recommend, so your team does not have to upskill and nothing is lost in a handover.
Consultants
Map how contact really flows, build the business case and run the selection.
Solution architects
Design how every channel, system and AI agent joins up, across every platform we recommend.
Deployment engineers
Build, integrate and test it, with the controls your risk team needs from day one.
Customer success
Run it with you after go live, and keep improving it against agreed targets.
Four things we will always tell you straight
Fix the foundations before adding AI
AI on top of a broken journey just gets you faster problems. We start with what customers actually experience.
Sometimes the right answer is to change nothing
If your current platform can do the job, we will tell you, and show you how to get more from it.
Every conversation answered well, and on record
Customers get the right answer first time, and you can show the regulator what happened and why.
Advice should come from the people who deliver it
The team that recommends it builds it and runs it, so someone is always accountable.
They were completely impartial and focused on finding what we actually needed. The expertise probably saved us from making a very expensive mistake.
Justine LongHead of Operations, CA Auto FinanceFirst steps that meet you where you are
The conversation scorecard
3 minutes, freeTen questions on how customers reach you, what gets recorded and what you could evidence tomorrow.
- Your score out of 100, on screen
- Your two weakest areas, straight away
- No call unless you ask for one
AI proof of concept
One journey, freeOne AI agent on one of your real journeys, measured against your own numbers before you commit to anything.
- Human handover with the full context
- Every decision logged for audit
- Results measured against your baseline
Customer Conversation Review
3 weeks, fixed feeWe measure it rather than asking you to describe it, then take your board through what we found.
- Cost per contact and per resolution
- Evidence gaps named and sized
- A 90 day plan, with us or anyone else
Rather talk it through? Mark Taylor, founder, will give you 30 minutes, no sales pitch.Book a call or email us