Contact centre environments have come a long way. From merely being an optional business model for companies heavily engaged in sales, they have now become one of the most integral parts of business operations in many industries across the globe.
They’re becoming more complicated, to say the least. Nowadays, contact centres need to not just be customer-centric but also employee-centric. The technologies being implemented in operations floors are becoming more robust, while the ability to recruit and train agents is moving at lightning speed.
Although this may be dizzying for industry players, the future looks bright. Read on to find out what to watch out for in the fast-paced world of contact centres.
A shift to cloud-based call centres
The cloud is poised to become the default choice for companies seeking communications options to power their contact centres. Larger telcos and emerging communications providers alike will be able to provide software and equipment at ultra-competitive costs.
Trusted analyst firms Gartner and Forrester agree that contact centres will be moving to the cloud. Forrester says 16% of contact centre buyers indicate they will move their contact centre systems to the cloud in the future. Gartner, meanwhile, claims that
“The emerging contact centre as a service (CCaaS) model — involving hosted, multi-tenant systems — is gaining attention as cloud approaches increase.”
Multi-channel and cross-channel operations
There will come a time when it won’t matter whether customers contact companies via the telephone, email, chat, or social media. Soon, businesses will be able to track customer journeys that span multiple channels. For instance, technology insights company CEB Global found that 58% of customers have visited the web before calling while 34% of callers are on the web while talking to a rep. This means that customers are looking at several things – using different devices and messaging formats – to reach companies and understand brands better.
The new contact centre is designed to provide consistent, context-appropriate customer experiences (CX) regardless of the channel used to initiate contact. The time-consuming, disconnected CX that often result to frustration among customers and missed sales opportunities for companies will eventually be gone, while the competition among providers will start shifting from who can execute unified CX towards who can help companies execute CX seamlessly.
Voice will always be here to stay (but customers will demand more)
While modern digital channels like email, chat, and social media are gaining traction as a means of reaching businesses, customers still end up interacting via the traditional voice channel. In a survey by ContactBabel, 63% of the respondents composed of contact centre managers believe that the good old telephone is still the best channel to use for complaints. It seems like telephony still remains the preferred way of solving complex issues or getting things done.
This, however, doesn’t mean that there’s no more room to improve the voice channel. Most customers who are eager to contact live agents are, more often than not, already frustrated about the complex issues they are facing, and will therefore require more from a call centre agent. To remain relevant, companies should keep up by assigning specialists or intensively training agents so that they may able to help clients on the spot with quality and precision.
Metrics and measurement will have their moment
It’s a known fact that we live in the time of data. It’s not difficult to collect data, but knowing what to do with the available data can spell the difference for many businesses. As such, companies need to be able to pinpoint which metrics can be useful – they could range from voice metrics, customer satisfaction ratings, performance on other challenge, first call resolution (FCR) rates, and the like – so that decision makers can draw insight from them.
In line with this, companies will start to rely on platforms that will allow them to gather and analyse every bit of information that will make it easier for them to understand agent performance and client behaviour. Expect that more contact centres will focus on quality and quantity benchmarks in order to optimise operations towards meeting more goals.
The contact centre space is becoming more exciting as new trends and technologies continue to emerge. With the right talent, the right tools, and the proper insight, both businesses and customers can win.
Guest blog by Klaris Chua. Klaris is a passionate content creator who has written a lot about cloud communications, particularly in the fields of web meetings and team collaboration. She has a trained eye in digital design and print magazine layout. Connect with her through LinkedIn or Twitter.
