As the contact centre evolved in 2018, paving the way for new methods of communication between customers and brands, many organisations began to predict the "death of voice." Countless consumers seemed to show their preference for instant messaging and chatbots, leading some people to assume that the service phone call would soon become a thing of the past.
However, the Director of client solutions for Ventrica, Peter Tetlow, disagreed with these assumptions, and instead shared his own predictions for contact centres and the customer experience conversation of 2019. Here's what Tetlow envisions for the months ahead.
Brands Go Back to Basics
[caption id="attachment_17558" align="alignright" width="200"]
Peter Tetlow[/caption]
According to Tetlow, while trends like RPA and artificial intelligence are exciting in the contact centre space, they shouldn't necessarily be the primary concern of leading brands. Peter believes that in the years ahead, the companies that thrive will be the ones that figure out how to understand the customer journey by going back to basics and making sure that the foundations of their service strategy are solid.
Part of "going back to basics," in Tetlow's opinion will involve simply re-assessing the crucial contact centre metrics that indicate growth in the industry. 2019 may be the year that things like NPS and CSAT come back into the limelight.
Bots and Messaging Evolves
Messaging certainly showed it's potential as the new mode of customer communication in 2018. This year, Peter Tetlow believes that the focus on messaging will continue, with brands using applications to better support their customers. In the meantime, natural language bots will continue to grow to help companies deliver better voice experiences too.
Tetlow believes that providing the right bot experiences will mean exploring the potential of machine learning and bot coaching to ensure that AI can provide a natural end-user experience. In Ventrica's opinion, "bot coaches" will become a common concern in 2019.
Data Management and Analytics
Data is another crucial consideration in the modern age of customer experience and contact centre solutions. With the rise of new regulations like GDPR, businesses will need to think more carefully about the way they collect and manage data. Tetlow also feels that it will be important for companies to understand how to use the data they do have to predict behaviours and improve customer service.
During 2019, analytics will become a valuable differentiator for the contact centre, as businesses who understand their customer will be able to provide the kind of service that keeps their clients coming back for more. Tetlow believes that voice and text analytics will be more widely adopted in 2019.
CX Becomes the Ultimate Concern
According to Peter Tetlow, many predictions made about the contact centre in 2018 focused on things like "omni-channel conversations." However, he thinks that there's no point for businesses to start worrying about moving to different channels until they've ensured that they're capable of delivering the right service wherever they are. In the year ahead, Ventrica suggests that companies will begin to combine their brand image with their CX strategy and look for new ways to make service the focus of their efforts.
According to Tetlow, this process will also require organisations to recognise that digital and non-digital CX can't be managed separately. Instead, businesses will need a comprehensive approach to managing their conversations with customers - whether online or offline.
