For any organisation looking to step from legacy, operations-only contact centre to driving genuine value, data is key.
2020 research found that the majority of companies regularly share their contact centre data with the C-Suite in order to drive high-level business decisions. The advent of analytics on the one hand and sophisticated automation on the other make it possible to gain from the ongoing “explosion” of customer data and unlock better customer experiences, more efficient contact centre operations, and happier agents.
Here is a quick to all you need to know about data-driven contact centres and why this trend is so critical for business leaders in 2021 and beyond.
Research Highlights the Role of Data in Contact Centres
Contact centres have always measured select data metrics like CSAT, first-time resolution (FTR) and average handling time, in a bid to improve agent performance. But research suggests that the impacts of data can be even more far-reaching.
- 90% believe deriving data insights on the customer journey is a central contact centre function
- 90% also agree that it is vital to generate real-time and historical data reports
- According to 70%, the inability to track customer data is a major problem for contact centres
- 74% are also struggling to analyse data and achieve the insights they require
As you can see, data poses both an opportunity and a challenge for the modern contact centre.
Opportunity: Ideas for Data-empowering Contact Centre Operations
There are several ways in which you can obtain significant value from data already being generated by your contact centre.
- Use data-driven contact centre tools – Several operational enablers like predictive diallers, predictive call routing systems, etc. can plug into your exciting data sources and optimise operational workflows
- Upskill your agents in a targeted manner – Data reveals specific knowledge gaps, personality lacunae, lack of digital literacy, and other bottlenecks that could be holding back agent performance
- Design adoption-friendly self-service portals – By analysing customer interactions, you can isolate the most common problem areas, and design self-service (e.g., chatbot conversations) to address them
- Support product development – Data extracted from customer feedback can be shared with product teams, positioning the contact centre as a core enabler for business growth and innovation
- Drive business continuity during peak periods – Historical data reports can help to predict traffic spikes and extra staffing necessities so that you can prepare in advance, either by hiring or cross-training
- Formulate personalisation strategies – Advanced data analytics tools like speech analytics can help to gauge customer sentiment and pinpoint personas, so you can personalise service delivery for a highly targeted group
Overcoming Challenges: Lessons from Office Depot and ING Bank
Leading organisations like Office Depot and ING Bank have successfully maximised their contact centre data potential. Office Depot switched to a data-driven model for matching customers with agents, reducing call abandon rates, from up to 4% to less than 1%. ING used speech analytics to find a personality lacuna among senior agents (an aggressive tone of voice) and addressed it to increase NPS by 10%.
These are a few examples of how data can be the true monarch of your contact centre operations when applied for the right use cases.
