If you’ve worked in a contact center for any span of time, you’ve witnessed firsthand the massive changes that have occurred in the industry over the past several years.
For one thing, customers don’t just communicate by phone call anymore - it’s no longer even their preferred channel. Email, chat, video, and texting have all arisen as vital communication tools for contact centers that want to stay in their customer’s good graces.
In fact, truly forward-thinking companies have taken these options even further. Warby Parker, an online prescription glasses retailer with a “buy a pair, give a pair” social responsibility commitment, creates personalized videos for customers. They also have a whole YouTube channel devoted to answering questions about Warby Parker and their products - and many of the videos are pretty funny.
These developments are, in part, a response to customers wanting to handle more and more of their problems on their own, without even reaching out to a contact center representative. According to the company Gartner, Inc., over the next several years, customers will begin to manage up to 85 percent of their business interactions without any kind of human interaction.
While this sort of prediction can set off alarm bells for contact center managers, who may worry that there will eventually be fewer jobs in the industry, there’s another way to look at it.
If more customers are handling their problems or requests on their own, there’s the possibility that your representatives will have more time to spend on creative ways of interacting with your customers.
Whether that’s via personalized videos like Warby Parker, sending funny and personal emails, or taking more time to respond to tweets, Facebook posts, and other social media postings, that customer-centric approach could mean more success for your business.
Here are a few of the ways that contact centers are continuing to embrace a growing focus on their customers.
These days, contact center representatives need to respond to customers via multiple channels - phone, text, email, chat, and social media. This means that they need to spend more time accessing customer information, forming helpful replies, and monitoring customer communications.
Because of that, workforce optimization is becoming more important. Since it helps managers and supervisors increase their organization’s efficiency, workforce optimization software is coming to the fore even more in 2016.
KOVA offers the Verint Media Recorder Workforce Optimization suite to help contact centers meet goals in a more efficient, streamlined manner. Included in the suite is:
Thanks to technology, companies have access to more data than ever before. Speech analytics, text analytics, and call recording software (like the aforementioned Verint Media Recorder) make it easy to gather information on customer habits, preferences, and more.
But of course, you have to be able to do more than gather information if you’re going to make use of it. That’s why Verint Media Recorder Text Analytics and Speech Analytics, as well as Verint Media Recorder, allow you to analyze that information as well.
With Verint Media Recorder for Contact Centers, users can not only record screens and audio - they can also search for and playback calls. Recording can also be performed on an on-demand, scheduled, or criteria-driven basis.
Text Analytics and Speech Analytics allow users to search for and analyze customer comments. This can help uncover opportunities to better solve customer problems, identify trends, and more.
The use of workforce optimization solutions and attention to big data are allowing contact centers to become more attuned to their customers’ needs and desires. As we continue into the new year, this will become even more important, with the companies that place heavier emphasis on their customers being the ones to come out ahead.
If KOVA can help you achieve a more customer-centric workforce, contact us today!
