Calabrio, a company committed to customer experience intelligence solutions, recently published some interesting information about the COVID-19 pandemic. Calabrio empowers today’s businesses to support human interactions, whether employees are working remotely, or from within the office.
Recently, the Calabrio team conducted a study highlighting the changing nature of customer service organisations. According to Calabrio, contact centres are evolving due to the changes imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a survey of leaders in the contact centre landscape, the findings indicate a dramatic evolution in our companies are interacting with customers.
Although it’s true that changes in the workplace driven by crisis can lead to a negative impact, recent events are having a positive impact on the contact centre. Contact centre environments were in desperate need of modernization before the crisis. The pandemic forced leaders to take the leap into the new era of customer communication.
An Important Shift in the Contact Centre
Calabrio’s latest study revealed that the majority of contact centre managers say that the changes they initially needed to make due to COVID-19 as positive. Companies now feel as though they’re building better customer and employee experiences as a result.
President and CEO of Calabrio, Tom Goodmanson, said that during the pandemic, contact centres became increasingly essential to company success. Businesses needed to prepare to meet the challenges coming from this new landscape. The positive news is that the pandemic has offered valuable visibility into the strength of each company’s operations.
Embracing the new processes and tools that emerged during the pandemic will be crucial for companies going forward. According to Tom, a digital transformation will lead to more flexibility for agents, better service for customers, and more agile operations in the future.
The study looked at contact centre managers from the UK and US to discover perceptions about the changes in the landscape that COVID helped to accelerate. The study offers information from leaders across the utilities, financial services, distribution, and retail environments, as well as healthcare.
According to Calabrio, one crucial takeaway from this study is that managers are expecting customer service systems to change for the better after COVID-19.
Most people are seeing an increase in customer expectations during the pandemic. Business leaders believe these new expectations will continue, with around 68% saying clients will have a greater desire for empathy in the years ahead.
Driving Changes in the Contact Centre
According to the latest findings from Calabrio, around 87% of managers feel that the pandemic has placed more strain on the contact centre. This means that managers are anticipating a permanent shift in the way operations are handled.
For instance, most companies believe that remote agents will become more crucial. Around 89% of contact centres have around half of their agents working remotely right now. Most managers are pleased with the changes that have occurred. Around 70% say they’re satisfied with remote employee productivity. These team leaders say that agents are happier working remotely.
A rise in mission critical analytics is likely too. 90% of managers say that they’re confident their use of analytics technology will increase, as will a demand for contact centre intelligence. Customer expectations will make it absolutely essential to understand their behaviours and consumer journeys. This will lead to an increased reliance on AI insights and analytics on voice of the customer.
The rise of the cloud will be another major trend going forward. The prospect of analytics-driven virtual contact centres will be dependent on the processing power and flexibility of the cloud. Around 89% of contact centres are planning on increasing their cloud-based software or are already in the cloud.
According to Saddletree Research chief analyst, Paul Stockford, contact centre leaders have been dragging their heels up until now. However, now contact centres find themselves in a situation where they need to catch up quickly. The industry needs to modernise fast, and the cloud is no longer a novelty in this environment.
A full version of the report is available from Calabrio now for those who want to learn more about new strategies for transforming the workplace following COVID 19.
