Loneliness costs the Australian economy $2.7 billion annually in healthcare, social services and lost productivity. A whitepaper released by the QUT Centre for Future Enterprise highlights the hidden power of contact centres to address it.
Titled More than a phone call: Using everyday interactions to detect and respond to loneliness, the paper explores how call centres can evolve their service models to meet rising consumer expectations, reduce churn, and unlock new value through digital innovation and human-centred design.
Dr Nadine Ostern, Cisco Chair in Trusted Retail at QUT and lead author of the paper, said the research highlighted how everyday organisational touchpoints can become critical sites for reducing loneliness and fostering belonging.
"This whitepaper encourages us to see loneliness differently: not as a marginal issue, but as a challenge that organisations can play a role in addressing," Dr Ostern said.
"It shows how businesses, service providers, and technology partners are uniquely positioned to intervene, not by replacing human connection, but by enabling it where it matters.
"Customers want seamless, personalised support across channels, and they want to feel understood. This paper shows how contact centres can build trust and loyalty by designing care around real human needs.
"Loneliness is a systemic blind spot. Our research shows everyday service interactions - especially in contact centres - hold untapped potential to detect and respond to loneliness early and empathetically."
Developed in collaboration with Anglicare Southern Queensland, which handles more than 30,000 calls each month, mostly from elderly Queenslanders, and supported by Cisco's National Industry Innovation Network (NIIN), the whitepaper reflects a multidisciplinary approach to reimagining customer care as a tool for both business transformation and social impact.
It identifies five key shifts for contact centres to embrace, including moving from reactive problem-solving to proactive engagement, and from siloed operations to integrated, data-driven platforms. It also showcases global case studies and practical frameworks for implementation.
Dr Ostern said the key findings of the whitepaper included:
- Women and Australians aged 55+ are disproportionately affected by loneliness.
- Loneliness often manifests subtly - through frequent, prolonged, or low-need calls.
- These behaviours, typically seen as inefficiencies, are signals of unmet emotional needs.
- Without protocols, frontline staff are left emotionally burdened, and trust erodes.
- Organisations that act can unlock deeper customer trust, improved operational resilience, and responsible digital transformation.
The paper introduces a flexible intervention spectrum - human, augmented, and automated - designed to support scalable, empathetic responses without overwhelming staff. It also outlines six actionable recommendations for embedding early detection and relational care into service delivery, from staff training to impact measurement.
"At the heart of this work lies a question that also drives our research: how do we ensure that technology serves human good? In addressing loneliness, this means designing systems that are not only efficient but also attentive to human needs - systems that create trust, enable social connection, and respect the dignity of those they serve," said Dr Ostern.
"When organisations respond to customers' subtle emotional cues, they signal a deeper commitment to human connection. This builds relational care, where customers feel genuinely seen and valued.
"In a world increasingly dominated by automation, trust becomes a defining advantage. Contact centres, when reimagined as hubs of empathy, offer a scalable and stigma-free way to foster that trust, turning everyday service interactions into moments of meaningful connection."
Dr Ostern's co-authors on the whitepaper are Dr Shannon Colville, Associate Professor Wasana Bandara, Dr Sophie Coulon from QUT, Professor Catherine Haslam from UQ and with contributions from Anglicare stakeholders.
The whitepaper is available now online at QUT ePrints or via the Centre for Future Enterprise at QUT.
