In business, customer communication is about as important as it gets.
Regardless of size or vertical, organisations must provide a slick and satisfying experience if they are to retain their base and grow.
Today, customers have their own preferred way of reaching out: calling, emailing, messaging; or using chatbots, webchat or social media.
It means many businesses are now ready to deploy communication software and platforms that respond to those challenges.
So, how do you build a modern contact center?
Here, in an insightful step-by-step guide, Mike Kraybill, US Sales Executive at leading provider ComputerTalk, provides the answers…
Setting budget and timeline
Deploying a contact center of any size or level of complexity is a significant undertaking so understanding cost and delivery timeframes is critical. It’s a decision that normally involves multiple people who won’t always agrees on a particular approach. Decide how much you want to spend and be clear about how much time you are prepared for the process to take. Can you deploy in stages, or does the totality of the deployment have to be all at once? Also, be aware that the actual build and deployment is not everything. Connectivity and telephony will require testing beforehand and customer and partner phone numbers and email addresses will have to be verified. Are you looking for something fast and turnkey that can grow as you do, or do you want rich and complex functionality right from the start? Making decisions on all of that before you begin will set you up for a good outcome.
Picking a provider
Due diligence is crucial. How long has your potential partner been providing Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions? What does the average tenure look like for that company’s employees? What information on their financials can they provide? What about client tenure? How long does the average client stay a client? It’s also important to understand their innovation capabilities and whether they are up to date with newer industry trends. For example, how frequently do they release new updates or upgrades. ComputerTalk, for example, provides reference clients that are more than happy to speak with organisations who are considering first-time contact center deployment.
Functionality
Start by surveying your own employees. They will know best how your customers like to get in touch. We all now live in an omnichannel world where everybody makes contact in their own preferred way, so you will need to ensure you have every communication channel covered. Your type of organisation, the type of industry, and the demographics of your customers will also be a pretty good indicator of what channels will be most popular. For example, there are some industries that are still dependent on being able to communicate via fax. Consider consultative research services that can help you understand your customer behaviours and how they would benefit most from your specific contact center functionality. Importantly, reflect on the type of staff that you have. Some folks may be fantastic on the phone but may not have a lot of experience with emails or written chat. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm them with new technology. You will be changing the behaviour of the way they currently handle your communications, so it’s important to make that transition as easy as possible. You may want some staff to be able to manage calls remotely or to work from home, so that functionality is essential. Have your communication handlers involved in the conversation from the start – they are the people for whom the functionality matters most. Most importantly, be aware that you can start with basic functionality and grow into something more complex when the time is right.
Integration capability
The contact center magic can really start to happen when it works in harmony with your other key applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms. Data and information captured during an omnichannel customer interaction can be automatically applied to those business systems in ways which drive increased productivity and efficiencies. It’s therefore important that your contact center application supports that kind of integration.
Support
When leveraged to its full potential, the contact center is much more than simply the front door to your business. Integration with other key systems, data capture and analysis, efficiency-driving automation via chatbots and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) – it has the power to truly transform. That is why post-sale support is so important. What does that support package look like? Where is your support team located? Is the Standard Support offering 24×7, or does that cost extra? Ensure you ask all those questions, and that the answers match your requirements.
In conclusion
Providing your customers with a satisfying communication experience is more than simply that. It creates positive first impressions, contributes more than you think to revenue generation, instils confidence in those with whom you interact, and supports the swift resolution of any issues. Deploy the right contact center technology – in partnership with the right provider – and the gains are everywhere.
To learn more about how ComputerTalk can help your and your customers’ build a modern contact center, click here.
